When Ahniwake Rose's 8-year-old daughter goes to her elementary school in November, she will have to explain to her teacher why she won't be participating in the Thanksgiving Day pageant. The fairy tale of a budding Indian-Pilgrim friendship, performed by non-Native students in craft-paper headdresses, disrespects her heritage -- and it's something the little girl can't support.
Rose, who is Cherokee and Muscogee Creek, names this as just one moment of many that Indigenous students have to navigate in an educational system that renders them invisible.
"Ultimately, it’s about doing things with us and not to us."
Indigenous children around the world have long been denied the right to celebrate their roots while getting a comprehensive education. They're up against major inequalities, from structural racism embedded in school systems to inaccurate retellings of history.
Aug. 9 is International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, a time to acknowledge the struggles and celebrate the resilience of Indigenous communities, while also shining a light on the inequalities they still face. This year, the theme is the right to education for Indigenous children around the globe.
The state of global Indigenous education
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While Indigenous communities have long-established ways of balancing tradition with education, advocates say the pressure to participate in mainstream -- or non-Indigenous -- life has made public schooling almost inevitable. But that doesn’t mean Indigenous students always feel welcomed or embraced.
According to UNESCO, there are an estimated 370 million Indigenous people in the world -- nearly 5 percent of the global population, living across 90 countries. Their right to education is protected by the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which extends to most regions where Indigenous peoples live.
But while it's written in print, advocates say education equality in practice is still a fallacy.
"It's a school that teaches our kids who they are is real and livable and viable."
Professor Chris Sarra, chairperson of the Stronger Smarter Institute in Australia, says Indigenous people know how to resolve the issues they face in education. But they need support.
"The formula for successful outcomes is very, very simple, but the work is very, very hard," Sarra tells Mashable via email. "For Indigenous Australians, the key to success is to nurture a positive sense of identity, to engage positive community leadership and to nurture high expectations relationships."
Rose, who is the executive director of the National Indian Education Association, tells Mashable she is constantly thinking about what a school inclusive to Indigenous identity would look like -- especially for her daughter.
"It's a place without mascots or paraphernalia within the school that makes our children feel like they are less-than," she says. "It's a school that doesn't celebrate Columbus Day. It's a school that doesn't ask our children to dress up as Pilgrims and Indians on Thanksgiving. It's a school that welcomes our elders and our perspectives and our contributions. It's a school that teaches our kids who they are is real and livable and viable."
Take note of these five issues Indigenous students still face around the globe -- and how you can support their right to education.
1. The devaluing of Indigenous teachings
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Indigenous communities often operate independently from non-Indigenous governments. As a result, many have developed their own educational systems and cultural teaching methods -- many of which are based around the value of the natural world.
"Our students need to have an inclusion culture in the classroom."
But these methods of teaching aren't always valued by non-Indigenous society. This threatens community-based education, as students are encouraged to embrace more mainstream methods that don't often celebrate Indigenous identity.
"Our students need to have an inclusive culture in the classroom," Rose says. "That's an infusion of their ways of knowing and their culture within curriculum and lesson plans."
What you can do to help: Make an effort to support Indigenous education. Donate to organizations working to teach and preserve Indigenous culture. Organizations such as the National Indian Education Association and the Center for World Indigenous Studies both take contributions to fund their work promoting the importance of Indigenous education.
2. Institutionalized racism
One of the main barriers for Indigenous children -- both in schooling and beyond -- is overwhelming racism and bias. Because global societies have largely been built through violently claiming Indigenous lands, this bias is embedded into the foundation of non-Indigenous education.
"We have the capacity to be exceptional."
Sarra says this often leads people from outside Indigenous communities to see these students as unable to succeed academically.
"We need people to believe that we can be as exceptional as the next person," Sarra says. "We have the capacity to be exceptional. Indigenous people should trust and believe in our own ability to be exceptional."
What you can do to help: Reframe the way you think about Indigenous students and educational systems -- in your own country and elsewhere. Sarra puts it simply: "People can help us by explicitly rejecting negative, stereotypical views of Indigenous students."
That means valuing Indigenous educational methods as valid, and Indigenous students as capable learners.
3. Discouragement of celebrating Indigenous language and identity
Indigenous communities speak the overwhelming majority of the world's 7,000 languages, a clear indicator of rich culture and deep history that can aid any learning environment. Yet, these languages are threatened when teachers discourage young children from speaking them in the classroom.
Non-Indigenous modes of education -- both public and private -- often ignore or discourage the culture, languages and practices of Native students. But these three things, Rose says, are vital to success.
"Our students do better when they are grounded in who they are, and when they are comfortable in the classroom," she says.
What you can do to help: Support Indigenous communities in your local area by supporting their right to education and beyond. In doing that responsibly, however, it's crucial to allow the communities to define what that support looks like -- so reach out and start a meaningful conversation.
To find local tribes in the U.S., visit here. For an interactive map of Indigenous communities around the world, visit here.
4. The whitewashing of history
In public and private schools, history is often constructed in a way that erases the struggle of Indigenous communities. Perhaps one of the most notable examples is how Thanksgiving in the U.S. has been twisted into a more comfortable narrative with the aid of school curricula.
Not only is this a disservice to Native students, but it also furthers the pervasive stigma and misunderstanding of Indigenous populations around the world.
"We were the first people on the land, and every student in any country needs to have a base understanding of what that means."
Rose says this isn't just about history -- it's also about overlooking current Native contributions in the classroom.
"This is a living government…" she says. "We need to cover what Indigenous people are currently contributing to the economy, to politics, to education and to the environment that we can all learn from. Our people are living people."
When we present a skewed view of history, we can't responsibly account for the past -- and move toward a better future.
"We need to provide an education to all students, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity, about Indigenous peoples," Rose says. "We were the first people on the land, and every student in any country needs to have a base understanding of what that means."
What you can do to help: Seek out responsible tellings of history -- especially those told by Indigenous communities themselves.
For books on Indigenous history, sort through some "essential reading" from the First Nations Development Institute here. For current events coverage through an Indigenous lens, check out resources like Native Peoples magazine in the U.S., National Indigenous Television in Australia, CBC Aboriginal in Canada and Indian Country Today for world news.
5. Low graduation and enrollment rates
All this inequality takes a toll -- and that impact is incredibly apparent when faced with graduation rates for Indigenous students.
"We're rural. We're isolated. We're high poverty -- and we are dealing with all the issues rural, high-poverty schools are faced with," Rose says. "I don't think this is unique to the United States. This is across the world."
Here are the global facts:
According to the National Indian Education Association, 22 percent of Native people over the age of 25 have not graduated high school. The dropout rate for white students is less than 5 percent. For black students, it's less than 10 percent.
According to the United Nations, only 40 percent of all school-age Inuit children in Canada are attending school full-time.
In Australia, enrollment of Indigenous high schoolers stood at 60 percent in 2013, far below the 80 percent average for all Australians, according to the U.N.
According to the United Nations, 85 percent of Indigenous children in Latin America and the Caribbean begin secondary education, but only 40 percent complete that level.
"No one has bothered to talk to Indian people [about education] -- and now people want to know why our kids feel disenfranchised from the education system?" Rose says.
What you can do to help: Advocate for teachers to take up an investment in Indigenous communities -- and pass on that investment to students in the classroom. Rose says this requires teachers and school systems to increase professional development around Indigenous and Native issues.
And, according to Sarra, it also requires the overall support of Indigenous students.
"Ultimately, it's about doing things with us and not to us, embracing our humanity, and nurturing programs and policies that promote positivity, hope and a lifelong love of learning," he says. "Educators can help us to be strong in culture and smarter in our educational outcomes."
Topics Social Good Racial Justice
