National policy and Indian education

Education is a creature of the state. It is subservient to political policies. Political decisions, in other words, define limitations within which schools perform their functions. These decisions provide the legal structure underlying education's goals. The history of American Indian education furnishes a good example of the interrelationship between politics and education. American Indians have long been regarded as wards of the federal government. Their educational history, therefore, mirrors the many shifts occurring in federal policy. To carry out its Indian policy, the federal government has created the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This agency has come to touch virtually every aspect of Indian life, including education. For most of its history, the BIA has fostered a policy of assimilation: Indian children were to be inducted into the ways of the larger society. Recently, however, this policy has come under serious criticism. A new policy is asserted now, multicultural education. What is multicultural education? No single definition adequately covers its usage. All of the different conceptions, however, share one element-a commitment to the value of cultural pluralism. In the words of Hunter: education is education that values cultural pluralism.1 This education seeks to encourage diversity of American society. Multicultural education attempts to help minority groups preserve their sense of ethnic identity. It enhances self-images of minority children by infusing ethnic materials into their curriculum. Content related to ethnic diversity, says Banks, permeate the entire curriculum and should not be limited to social studies, the humanities, or the language arts. Ethnic content is just as appropriate for such areas as home economics, physical education, science, mathematics, and art.2

Economic growth · Economics · Education policy · Higher education · Multicultural education · Multiculturalism · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Education Methods and Practices · Education Systems and Policy · School Choice and Performance

• Experience and Education

  John Dewey•The Educational Forum•1986

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