BISMARCK - Reports based on standardized tests from the past school year show that American Indian students in North Dakota lag behind the general population but stack up well to Indian students in other states.
The tests show improvement by Indian students in some areas but demonstrate that significant disparities still exist in education.
On the North Dakota State Assessment, 50 percent of Indian students measured "proficient" in reading, compared with 75 percent of the general population. In math, 47 percent of Indian students achieved the "proficient" level, while 73 percent of all students hit that mark.
In both subjects, Indian students showed slight improvements over the previous year. Math scores for Indian students have more than doubled from two years ago.
The North Dakota State Assessment is given to students in grades 3 through 8 and 11. It is used in part to measure schools' compliance with federal standards under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Of course, according to those responsible for Indian education, these test results aren't an indication of Indians falling behind in education. They're an indication that the tests themselves are racist:
"Some people think that standardized tests measure things worth knowing," said Bobby Ann Starnes, president of Full Circle Material and Curriculum, a Helena, Mont.-based organization that strives to improve Indian education. "I'm not one of those people.
"Those tests are biased in favor of middle-class, suburban kids," Starnes said.
Mary Rousseau, director of higher education for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, agreed. "I don't they are fair to Native students," she said of the tests.
Why aren't the tests fair to Native students? The tests given to the students are uniform. This is why they are called "standardized" tests. They are the same for everyone. So, in suggesting that they are somehow "unfair" to one demographic, you are also suggesting that there is something different about that demographic.
So what difference between Indian students and the rest of North Dakota students is being suggested here? That Native American students aren't as smart or as capable as other students? I don't believe that for one minute.
I think the problem with Indian students is not who they are but rather the environment in which they're being raised.
Here in North Dakota we have an unemployment rate of just under 3%, which is one of the lowest rates in the nation. Yet on our state's Indian reservations the unemployment rate is hovering in the mid-sixties. There is no reason for that number to be so high in an economic environment where business are not just calling for workers, but demanding them.
To me, this all indicates one thing: We are doing Indians a grave disservice by keeping them on the reservation. Which isn't to say that we're forcing them to say on the reservation, because we aren't. But we are giving the incentives to stay there along the lines of government entitlement and special privileges, and that has made the problem worse. The handling of the reservation system to this point has only created a series of isolated communities where dependence on government welfare programs is the rule, not the exception.
Giving American Indians endless entitlements and tax breaks has done nothing but provide that culture with an excuse not to better themselves and advance with the rest of American society. It is true that American Indians have not always gotten a fair shake from the American government, but politicians - both on state and federal levels - have been throwing tax dollars at Indian reservations for generations. When are we going to admit that this endless stream of "the government will take care of you" baloney isn't working? When are we going to admit that all of the entitlements and "programs" have done nothing but enable a culture of sloth, crime and rampant substance abuse?
If we want Indian students to do better in school we need to stop telling them that they are owed something and stop making borderline racist excuses for them (see above) when they fail. These Indian students are every bit as capable as other North Dakota students, and given the number of social programs and tax dollars made available to them by our government they certainly don't lack for opportunity.
What they need is a change of attitude, and that's only going to come when we end the stupidity that is the reservation system.
Sadly, though, now that the gaming system has taken root on these reservations I just don't see that happening. Gambling interests spread a lot of money around in Washington D.C., and because of that I think the reservation system will continue despite its ill effects for the Indians themselves.