Educator proposes set-aside for Native students

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Access to post-secondary schools is a major stumbling block for many would-be Aboriginal students because entrance requirements may be too high, said an Aboriginal educator.

Doug Dokis, program advisor for Mount Royal College, believes Native students would have a fighting chance of getting into their programs of choice if colleges and universities set aside seats for Aboriginal students based on criteria other than grade point average.

"What we're proposing is that in a program where there are 100 available seats, we're proposing a certain percentage of these seats be made available to Aboriginal students. But not based on lower academic requirements, based on the fact that we would have 10 per cent available to Aboriginal students," said Dokis. He said students would still have to meet the minimum academic standard for programs that are over applied.

"Instead of competing on the overall application process, they would be competing within a 10 per cent area amongst Aboriginal students, so initially you might only have one or two people that even make these requirements."

Dokis said programs at the post-secondary level are based on grade point averages coming out of high school and non-Aboriginal students have higher GPAs, which inevitably push Aboriginal students out of the top percentage of applicants.

"Say you have 600 applicants, and out of those 40 per cent have 85 per cent GPA, so automatically you get three or four hundred in there. So out of the Aboriginal students that applied, only two get in and then out of the 400 they start to look at other things (criteria) and chances are no Aboriginal students will get in," Dokis said. "So having a set percentage [of seats] available to Aboriginal students to compete within a smaller group, the access is more likely but the GPA and the academic standards will stay the same."

Students at Mount Royal feel the proposal has merit and many would benefit from institutions allowing students access based on life experience.

Summer Stone Child has years of practical experience as a nursing assistant, but didn't get into the nursing programs because of lower grades.

"I have 10 years experience in the field. That's not enough for me because of my GPA to get in and I would love to see something happen in that area where there's more support or looking at the experience you have to lead into that program," she said. "I don't believe in lowering the standards for students, but I do believe in making it more accessible."

A May 2002 report by Malatest and Associates Ltd. on Aboriginal education pointed to several barriers faced by young Native people. The findings demonstrate that Aboriginal students had a general distrust of the educational system and a perception that educational institutions had a lack of respect for their cultural differences. The report entitled, International Best Practices in Increasing Aboriginal Post-Secondary Enrolment Rates, identified the expanding of entrance criteria to include non-academic factors. It called for an understanding of the historic and social factors faced by Native students that contributed to a higher drop-out rate in high school.

The Malatest report concluded that colleges and universities must take steps to gain "an understanding of Aboriginal people, and the barriers that are faced by Aboriginal people due to historic and social factors, a key requirement of practices aimed at increasing Aboriginal participation at the post-secondary level."