Too few Native grads

Page 6

Soon hundreds of high school graduations will gather proud parents, relatives and admiring friends to high school campuses across the United States and Canada.

Thousands of graduating seniors will step forward and receive their diplomas while commencement speeches of admiration and admonition will be spoken.

While all this is going on, where will the Natives of Canada be? In some schools in Canada, there will be some who will be rejoicing but for most Native young people, the dream of graduation and fulfilling high school education is remote.

Why have we allowed so many of our brightest, talented and creative Native students to walk away from high school and become another fallen statistic or just another "drop out"? Whose fault is it, or where should we point the finger in seeing so many hundreds of our Native youth fall by the wayside on a defeated path that has no happen endings?

Some could blame the school system, the teachers, the educational process or the teaching methods. Others might blame the government for their failure to rectify the serious attrition rate among Native youth bu where else can we point the finger?

Could it be that Native parents have been silent too long and have quietly allowed their children to come home a failure from school? Could it be that Native students themselves have not been taught the value of a high school education? We, as Native people, spend so much time, money and energy turning our young into "super athletes". We have ignored this same energy and effort to ensure and demand that our young people are not only going to graduate from high school but prepare to further their education.

Reserves across Canada will soon face the same problems Indian people living on U.S. reservations must address, what to do with a growing population of untrained, unskilled Native youth under the age of twenty-five. What will we do with thousands of young people who have not finished high school, who have failed in their first semester of college and given up on education?

If Native people value their future, part of the price that must be paid will have to come from supporting and demanding the quality education for their children. We can no long afford to have our youth quit before graduating, sitting in the back and be ignored in the classroom. We can't sit and watch our most prized Native resource become defeated and unproductive to their communities and people.

Why don't we set a goal for next spring and make sure that there will also be hundreds of proud Native parents watching their children receive their diplomas? Why don't we point the finger at ourselves and say, "I will help change the dropout statistics by working with my own child, son or daughter."

I only know of four simple ways to change the plight of our youth dropping out of school:

First, parents get involved in what is happening to your son or daughter in the classroom. If you care, someone at the school they attend must pay attention to you. Wherever there are supporters and friends of Native people who understand their challenges adjusting to the non-Indian's education, Indian people should reinforce their commitment and concern for the welfare of Native students. Too often we fail to acknowledge and thank those non-Natives who want our children to succeed. Let them know that we are aware of them and appreciate their extra efforts to reach out and touch our children's hearts and spirits.

Second, if our Indian parents valued reading and encouraged their children to read, there could be positive changes of grades and accomplishments in the classroom. It is not that our Indian youth are not intelligent but that they don't know how to read, write and express themselves.

Third, every Indian community should play up Native youth graduating the same as they do hockey players, baseball and rodeo stars. There should be the same kind of recognition to those who have graduated. When we as adults and parents value eduation, so will our children!

Fourth, speaking up and expressing your concern for our child's education is vital. Education and school officials must know that Indian parents collectively will no longer tolerate a "no care" attitude towards their children.

We can no longer afford to have our Native children be "invisible people" in the classroom where they sit and hide in the shadows of silent discontent. It is up to the parents to step inside the school of their children and see what is happening in the educational process of their children.

We are Native people must speak up or speak out and express our displeasure in seeing so many of our youth leaving school as a failure. This is not right and only you can make a difference.

If our Indian people would talk about education and tell their children they value it, then the Native student might see his role and importance of not only surviving in school, but making good grades, contributing his or her talents and graduating.

If one hundred Native parents went to their schools and expressed their concerns, made sure that they are informed what the schools plan to do to alter the dropout rate, then we might begin to see more Native students in the graduating lines in the coming years.

The future for Native people may well depend on how many Native youth can successfully finish high school or college and use their professional skills to save their lands, resources and culture.