Native American Culture in Education

Paper Summary:

By analyzing and discussing several articles on the subject, the paper explores the issue of education among Native Americans and shows up the flaws within the American educational system. For example, in "Teaching Indigenous Languages" by John Reyhner, the paper shows how the author examines the topic of making English the primary language of instruction in Native American communities in order to integrate them into the American system. The paper discusses the risks of this move to indigenous culture. Other essays discussed include, ?Effective Instructional Conversation In Native American Classrooms,? (Roland Tharp and Lois Yamauchi).

From the Paper:

"Sociolinguistics is an important consideration. When a teacher creates a mandate (while teaching), the response time of the student is termed as wait time. With reference to Native American students who process a concept ?wholly,? this wait time is longer. Students perform better with longer wait times. In contrast, western classrooms have a "switchboard" style of teaching where the teacher appoints students who will answer questions and how the inter-student communication occurs?much like a switchboard operator who connects speakers. The authors opine from studies that Indian students do not ordinarily react to non-verbal nuances. They spoke with small sentences and sparingly and softly. They had stronger communication as groups. They interrupted more and looked at other students when the teacher was teaching. This would be perceived as non-responsive or rude to traditional teachers. (S. White and Tharp, 1988)"

More papers on Native American Culture in Education:

• Analytical Essay # 28288 : "Native American Unemployment"
• Essay # 63393 : "Education for Native Americans"
• Persuasive Essay # 115622 : "Uniformity in Education"

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