Soaring on the Wings of the Eagle: Wellness of Native American High School Students.
1999; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2156-759X
Autores Tópico(s)Youth Development and Social Support
ResumoThere are many definitions of the term, Native American. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (1988) legally defines Native American as a person who is an enrolled or registered member of a tribe or whose quantum is one-fourth or more, genealogically derived from Native American ancestry. The U.S. Bureau of the Census (1991) relies on self-identification to determine who is Native American. Oswalt (1988) points out, however, that a person is considered an Indian by other individuals in the community, he or she is legally an Indian...[in other words], if an individual is on the roll of a federally recognized Indian group, then he or she is an Indian; the degree of Indian is of no real consequence, although usually he or she has at least some Indian blood (p. 5). The term Native American as used here, refers to any individual who self-identifies as Native American and maintains cultural identification as a Native American through membership in a Native American tribe recognized by the state or federal government or through other tribal affiliation and community recognition. Currently, an estimated 2.3 million Native Americans live in the United States and the population is steadily growing (USBC, 1991). Native American people exhibit varying levels of acculturation, and they not only come from different tribal groups with different customs, traditions, and beliefs, but also they live in a variety of settings including rural, urban, or reservation (Garrett & Garrett, 1994). Native Americans represent a wide-ranging diversity illustrated by 252 different languages and 558 different tribal nations (Russell, 1988; Thomason, 1991). At the same time, a prevailing sense of Indianness based on a common worldview and common history seems to bind Native Americans together as a people of many peoples (Herring, 1990; Thomason, 1991). Although acculturation is a major factor in the Native American worldview, there tends to be a high degree of psychological homogeneity and a certain degree of shared cultural standards and meanings; based on common core values that exist for traditional Native Americans across tribal groups (DuBray, 1985; Heinrich, Corbine, & Thomas, 1990; Honigmann, 1961; Oswalt,1988; Peregoy, 1993; Sue & Sue, 1990). Nationwide, the Native American population consists of a large proportion of young people with an average age of 17.3 years and an average life expectancy of 47.5 years, compared to 29.5 years and an average life expectancy of approximately 75 years for the rest of the U.S. population (Office of Minority Health [OWH], 1990). From an educational standpoint, the relative youth of this population would seem to imply enormous social and economic potential. Several studies have demonstrated that tests and teacher reports shoe that Native American children function at the average to superior range up to the fourth grade (Cummins, 1992; Deyhle, 1991; Hornett, 1990; McLaughlin, 1994; Tierney, 1992). However, although many Native American children enter school with an eagerness and willingness to learn, beyond about the fourth grade, their academic performance rapidly declines (Cummins, 1992; Sanders, 1987; Swisher, Hoisch, & Pavel, 1991), resulting in a 40 to 60% school dropout rate, the highest in the nation (National Center for Education Statistics [LACES], 1991). Several reasons for this trend have been suggested, including changes in the quality of family life, institutional racism and discriminatory practices, the cultural irrelevance of educational curriculum, and the social and economic pressures related to competition for success (OMH, 1990; Tierney, 1992). The current social and educational status of Native Americans may serve as an indicator of the social costs of dropping out of school. Statistics show that Native Americans have the highest suicide rate (15%j), a median income that is only 50% of that for Whites, an alcoholism rate that is double the national average, and have some of the highest rates of poverty, (244%) and unemployment (40% to 80`h) in the nation (Hodgkinson, 1990; LACES, 1991; OMH, 1990; USBC, 1991). …
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