Native American Education

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Former South African President Nelson Mandela, a revolutionary and philanthropist, once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” These rich and compelling words, brought forth by one of the strongest proponents of education in the past century, are just some of many spoken in the fight to secure a universal education for all races, genders, and ages. Nelson Mandela, with other education activists such as Marie Clay and Jerome Bruner, spent his entire life preaching the significance and substance of an education. These people, and so many others, acted as a catalyst for an explosion of research and study into the value of education and productive educational methods. Today, educational research has …show more content…
Throughout history, the challenges facing Natives as they fight to receive an equal education have been severe. Despite these difficulties, programs such as the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education, the Native Alliance Initiative, and the Native American Higher Education Initiative are making education much more accessible to Native Americans all over the country. This increased support has had a positive impact on many tribal communities, highlighting the fact that education is truly important. Sarah Butrymowicz, in an article that argues for more government support of tribal education, illustrates this very idea in her interview with Breanne Lugar. Lugar, a resident of Standing Rock Indian Reservation, was able to “move from a job as blackjack dealer to the finance department of the tribal casino” with only a semester of college business classes (Butrymowicz). With just the beginning of a college education, Lugar was able to jumpstart her career; therefore, the opportunities for job mobility are almost endless with the completion of higher education. In essence, education offers career resources and opportunities for members of Native American tribes, and these resources and opportunities give them the chance to receive successful and wholesome careers in their fields of interest. Additionally, primary, secondary, and higher education is essential to …show more content…
In the past decade, scientific discoveries and technology have been increasing at an exponential rate. Because of this fact, our world seems “smaller” than ever— social media, instant messaging, and fast transportation methods makes everything feel much more tied together. Traveling around the world, living abroad for a year, and becoming immersed in a completely new culture are no longer distant dreams; rather, we live in a world full of intercultural and interracial interactions and relationships. Today, it is not uncommon to sit in a room where every single other person has a different race, set of beliefs, and home country. To be able to succeed in such a diverse and multicultural global environment, an education is absolutely necessary. In “Top 15 Reasons Why Education is Extremely Important,” author Kavya Vidyarthi writes: “Tell an uneducated person to work in a setting alien to him, you’d ask him to walk on a path of self destruction. Ask an educated man to travel nations and transmute the barriers of language and culture, you’d be testing his spirit of taking challenges and succeeding in them” (Vidyarthi). Vidyarthi strikes on a very meaningful point: education is important because it leads the path for cultural exploration and understanding. Educated men and women have a deep sense of respect for diversity ingrained in them, and this trait
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