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6. Spread Like Wildfire: Importance of American Indian Educators
- University of Nevada Press
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113 I had never been to this particular reservation before and could not help but notice the lonely white crosses, typically adorned with small tributes, dotting the side of the road. Memorials to loved ones lost in traffic accidents. On one ten-mile stretch of the highway, I counted almost twenty crosses, nearly one cross every half mile. The crosses appeared more frequently as I neared my destination. Curious about what I had seen during the morning, after concluding all the interviews on that first day I drove a few miles out the other side of the town and witnessed a virtually identical pattern of crosses along the side of the road. It reminded me of a battlefield. The sad memorials give testimony to a harsh reality of reservation life. In many respects this reservation, like so many others, is a battlefield, and has been one for some time. The centuries of relentless and dreadful assault endured by American Indians resulted in unimaginable loss of life, land, and culture. Even today, ancient wisdom continues to be lost and entire languages forever silenced. In his now classic book The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills (1959) distinguished between private troubles and public issues. For Mills, troubles include the personal problems plaguing the lives of individuals and are part of everyday life. Conversely, issues affect large numbers of people and result from historical events and social structural arrangements . The sociological imagination allows a person to see the connection between troubles and issues. That is, personal troubles frequently have their origin in the larger social history of the group and, thus, are part of the public chapter 6 Spread Like Wildfire Importance of American Indian Educators One of the elders there said, “The news of you getting hired has spread like wildfire through our community. We’re so happy you’re here. In all our whole history of the school system, we have never had an Indian administrator.” —Montana educator, on being named principal of a reservation school 114 a m e r i c a n i n d i a n e d u c at o r s i n r e s e r v at i o n s c h o o l s issues facing society. I did not have to put my sociological imagination in overdrive to see the link between private troubles and public issues on this reservation. Many, if not most, of the little white crosses I saw during my visit to that Montana reservation directly resulted from the quiet holocaust of cultural loss. Personal calamities of alienation, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide, child neglect, and drunk driving all provide sad witness that cultural loss exacts a terrible toll. American Indians remain embattled peoples. Arriving in the dusty little town, I quickly found the school. It looked larger than I expected for such a small community. Laid out in a one-story L-shape, by all outward appearances the school would be largely indistinguishable from any other school in rural America. That perception changed once I walked into the building. Clearly, this school was designed to serve American Indian children. It reflected the students’ tribal heritage in its décor and atmosphere. The participant and I sat in the school’s cultural resource room. Although quite a large room, it had a comfortable, inviting ambience. The staff had filled the room with star quilts, artwork, and posters celebrating Native traditions and leaders. Comfortable couches, coffee tables, soft chairs, and a library rounded out the area. The participant had more than twenty years experience educating American Indian youth on the reservation and strongly believed in the need for greater numbers of American Indian educators. She also believed reservation schools need dedicated non-Native teachers, and that students require the ability to relate to all kinds of different people. She felt culturally sensitive and caring non-Native educators can provide invaluable service. I found her views on schools and tribal culture especially significant. She was preparing to assume a new position as principal of another reservation school and she spoke of her vision and philosophy for the new assignment: I see star quilts. I see artwork. I see staff responding positively to students. I see displays that showcase their tribal heritage, their tribal culture. And the school in [the community where she was going to be principal] there’s nothing. . . . If you can’t make it culturally relative to what these kids know, it’s not...