How far have public schools really come?

I found this great article from the Seattle PI about Native American dropout rates in Washington State:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/417108_nativeeducation22.html

The article highlights a young woman who dropped out of her Seattle high school when personal and family issues prevented her from have the time to complete her school work.  Apparently, this student is among many Native Americans in the Seattle area who struggle with finishing high school and going on to college.  According to the article, 11.5% of Native American students dropped out of high school in the 2007-2008 school year, which is higher than the dropout rates of any other minority group.  Why do young people from First Nations have such a difficult time making it through school?

The answer, as the article reveals, stems back quite a few decades, when white settlers forced Native American children to attend English, Catholic schools.  They had no say in the curriculum or even the language in which their lessons were taught.  This led to feelings of oppression and inferiority, feelings which are still prevalent today in many young Native Americans’ lives.  Although modern Washington public schools are far from what they were in the 19^th century, some issues still remain.  The article brought up the point that teachers continue to be predominately white…and thinking back on my elementary and high school years, I never had or even knew of a teacher who was part of an Indigenous group.  Honestly, I rarely saw teachers who were of any minority group at all.  Thinking about this makes me realize that although I did work hard in school to get good grades and make it to college, I was also very privileged in that I had a consistent feeling of comfort and security in school.  Native American students are missing this key ingredient to their success, and therefore they must work extra hard to make it as far as I have made it.  I really hope that in the near future, an increasing number of Native American students will make it to college and become teachers themselves, so that they can make students of every heritage feel comfortable, and at the same time raise awareness of the culture and struggle of the First Nations of Washington.

-Rachel Wolk