미국 원주민 아이들의 학업성취도 - 미국에서 가장 학업 성취도가 낮음

[navajo]

아래 글에는 미국 원주민(인디언)들의 학생들 학업 성취도가 흑인이나 멕시칸보다도 못하다는 내용이 실려 있습니다. 영어 읽기나 수학에 있어서 백인들과는 거의 1/3 정도에 지나지 않는다는 것입니다. 그것은 그들이 그만큼 지적 능력이 부족하기 때문이 아니라, 학업에 관심이 없도록 만드는 그들의 환경 문제 때문입니다. 여기서 그들의 문제를 이대로 둘 것인가? 하는 생각을 갖게 합니다.

출처 - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/native-american-achievement-gap_n_3762687.html

Native American Achievement GapWidens As Black And Latino Students Make Gains

The Huffington Post | By Rebecca Klein Posted: 08/15/20133:38 pm EDT

Native American students have notshared in the recent rise in educational performance achieved by AfricanAmericans and Latinos, according to a new study from theEducation Trust.

The study, titled “The State ofEducation for Native American Students,” looked at the National Assessment of Educational Progress achievement scores and found that the gapbetween white and Native students had widened, while it had narrowed betweenwhite students and both black and Latino students. Native American studentsincluded both American Indians and Alaska Natives.

In 2011, only 18 percent ofNative American fourth-graders were performing at proficient or advanced levelsin reading, as compared to 42 percent of white students. The results weresimilar for math scores.

The study also looked at NativeAmerican students' access to Advanced Placement-level courses, collegeenrollment rates and college graduation rates.

Only 76 percent of NativeAmerican high school students attend schools that offer AP classes, as opposedto 89 percent of African-American students and more than 90 percent of white,Latino and Asian students. Only 52 percent of Native American students whograduated in 2004 attended college right after high school, and of thesestudents, only 39 percent had completed a bachelor’s degree by 2010. Incontrast, 72 percent of white students enrolled in college directly from highschool in 2004, and 62 percent of these students had attained a bachelor'sdegree by 2010.

The report strongly suggests thatschools around the country are failing Native students.

"Our country's focus onraising achievement for all groups of students has left behind one importantgroup –- Native students," said Kati Haycock, president of the EducationTrust, in a press release. "To ensure that all Native studentssucceed, we must do more and better for them starting now."

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RiShawn Biddle, communicationsdirector for the National IndianEducation Association, said that schools need to start reflecting Native culture in theircurriculum.

"They're attending schoolsthat are often low-performing. They're in schools where they don't havehigh-quality teachers ... Our students need not only high-quality teachersacademically but also culturally competent teachers,” Biddle told TheHuffington Post. "What we've seen is that high-quality educationincorporates not just the academics but language and culture."

He also noted the harmful effectsof Native American school mascots. Despite rising opposition, a number of highschools still have them -- not to mention the controversial nameof the NFL's Washington Redskins.

"Schools that have Nativemascots reflect stereotypes that are harmful and negative," said Biddle."That's negative reinforcement of their values."

The Education Trust studyreported that some states have higher-achieving Native American students thanothers. For example, while more than 25 percent of fourth-grade Native studentsin Oregon were proficient or advanced in reading, less than 10 percent ofNative students were proficient or advanced in reading in Arizona, Alaska andNew Mexico.