This is why Indian movements like AIM came into existence. They did not want their reservations terminated, but instead sought self-determination, to be autonomous nations no longer dependent upon the U.S. government. They specially desired that their cultures be preserved, more than that that their cultures flourish. Towards this end, AIM in 1972 established two survival schools in order to address the exceptionally high drop-out rate among Indian students and the lack of native culture being taught. They were the first models of community-based, student-centered teaching with ethnically correct curriculum operating under parental …show more content…
They wanted to draw the attention of the dominant society to what was transpiring on reservations and for a time they had the focus of the nation, but what would prove to be more beneficial over time was not that they attracted notice form white society but that they drew the awareness of their own people. This activism prompted more and more Native Americans to protect and cherish their traditional practices and beliefs because the American Indian Movement was never only a social crusade, it was also concerned with a renewal of spirituality. They wished to perpetuate not just language, or history, or traditions, but native religious beliefs as well. AIM members believed that only through religion would their people find the resolve to overcome detrimental government