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Understanding Native Methodology

The anthology by Stephanie Waterson et. al., “Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education”, highlights more of the challenging experience that indigenous people face when attending a college or university . The text includes what the experience is like for a freshman and why the retention rate is high for Natives. Another large topic within the text is how institutions can support the enrollment rate of indigenous people and how they can make the campus seem more welcoming and less challenging or intimidating. The author includes a passage that is by a Navajo student from the University of Arizona, who talks about her experience being a first generation student in her family to reach the college level and what her thoughts are about it. One thing that sticks out is how both the student, and Waterman highlight how the institutions should implement Native Americans into student affairs at all Universities. Student affairs would open a “home” for Natives to go to where they can feel welcome and have a community behind them. 

This source is an important part of my research because it talks heavily about how institutions should be helping Native american populations grow in higher education. Also, similar to the text by Minthorn et. al., this anthology talks about the perspective of a student and how they feel towards institutions helping them feel more accepted into their school. The authors also implement a history of Universities and some of the techniques that were used in the past to bring in indigenous students into their institutions. Along with details about the history, there are also a lot of statistical analysis that are present throughout the book. I can use the analysis from this book to talk about some of the techniques that can be used to aid the recruitment of Native Americans and how they can be altered to use now so that they can make a bigger impact on the numbers. 

From this book, I have learned about techniques, which include implementing more programs that are dedicated to Native Americans. For example, the text talks about how an affairs program would provide comfort for Natives. The University of Arizona has implemented this in the institution and since then has been growing and working to recruit indigenous people from all over the country and look for a variety of tribes.The authors mention “In the past 30 years, the number of Native Americans attending a postsecondary institution has more than doubled” (Waterman et. al., 2013), this can be due to the programs that have been brought to the schools to help further education. 

Citation: Waterman, Stephanie. “Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education”. Stylus Publishing. 2013

URL: https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.ezproxy4.library.arizona.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=14b7d435-5f2d-4625-ae56-66ae4bab9fb3%40sdc-v-sessmgr02&vid=0&format=EK

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Why A Native Population is Important

In the Anthology by Robin Minthorn et. al., “Reclaiming Indigenous Research In Higher Education”, Minthorn informs the readers how important and essential it is to have Native American people in higher education (College/University level education). Throughout the book, she talks about the importance of methodology within tribal people. Also, the authors gives information of the significantly low ratio of indigenous people to other minority groups at mainstream Universities. Another factor that is talked about in her book is the difficulty that Native’s have to acquire the financial aid that is needed to help attend Universities. Along with the difficulty of financial aid, the authors show how society can help indigenous people by offering more Native directed scholarships or money. One of the main purposes of this text is how research into Native Americans in higher education can be implemented and how society can develop more Indigenous leaders. Also, the author, Charlotte Davidson is very informative in describing the “Methodology of Beauty” and how it plays a role in indigenous thoughts and ideas (Davidson, 2018). This specific text within the anthology gives the readers a look into Native beliefs and especially when it comes to moving into a new life and adapting to a new environment. Minthorn and the other authors of this anthology are trying to inform the readers of the background that Native Students come from while preparing for college and other higher education institutions.

This book is essential for my research on Native American higher education because it highlights major points as to why there is a lack of Native American population in Universities. It also addresses how society can aid in improving the indigenous population through funding and also creating a more acceptable environment so it is more comfortable for the minority population. There are also certain traditions and specific tribes that are mentioned in the book that can be used as evidence for unique characteristics. The text is also essential in supplying information on why indigenous research is important and why colleges and universities need Native American within their schools to capture the tradition and make sure to spread the culture with other groups. Minthorn does an exceptional job taking a look at the perspective of an indigenous student and also other groups or ethnicities to relate and compare the two. 

Some specific information I obtained was about how the ideas and perspective of Native Americans that come from reservations and attend all Native schools don’t have the capability to adjust to college. Many Natives also get retained in high school because they lack the motivation and know of nothing but to be engulfed in their traditions and culture. I have also noticed that this research has been going on since the late 1900’s. It has been going on this long and the numbers for indigenous enrollment is still the same as it was during that time? What are the factors as to why it is still so low? It seems as if the same factors happen every year, what are the processes that are taking place to aid the numbers? I can relate to this text because I am Native American and my tribe only represents not even 1% of the University of Arizona and it is only about a 25 minute drive from my reservation to the University. 

Citation: Minthorn, Robin. “Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education”. Rutgers University Press. 2018.

URL: https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.ezproxy4.library.arizona.edu/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=6873e84f-df71-4653-86bb-86ae865e8902%40pdc-v-sessmgr04&vid=0&format=EK

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Ready For Change?

The book by Janet E. Starks, “Factors Influencing the Decisions of Native Americans To Attend Not Attend College Or Vocational School” is a text which includes lots of information and studies that were conducted to see influencing factors. The objective of this text is to inform society on why Natives choose to attend college or not. Starks goes through many factors and looks at many different studies throughout her whole book, but there are a few unique and different factors that have not been mentioned in the research that I have seen. One factor is the “theme” of acculturation, the study that was conducted showed that if students were not able to acculturate, “they would not be able to move forward in today’s society” (Starks, 2010). Starks brings in new subtitles to the different aspect of acculturation throughout parts of the book. The three “Sub-themes” are future advice, assimilation, and annihilation. To test each of these themes, the author went and interviewed Native American College students and was evaluating their answers and how they feel they have changed. A majority of their ideas came in the form that the environment has changed them and acculturation is a real thing for them. Also, many students that their beliefs and cultures have been tweaked due to the University society.  Students also mentioned how their beliefs were destroyed or forgotten about. Starks makes the questions strong and critical to where the interviewees are passionate in their words. Their remarks show the change that they have gone through and some students mourn over the changes and not keeping close ties with their roots. 

This source is convincing because Starks went out and interviewed many students and was able to get out evidence that showed what the college environment can do to Native students and how acculturation is a true factor. This evidence also shows why some individuals probably fear coming to college so that they don’t lose ties to their traditions and their culture. This is a useful source for the topic because of all the factors, acculturation is a unique one that not many people can see. Many Native students also may not realize that they are going through changes and losing ties with their homes because they get engulfed in the culture of being in an urban place rather than being back home where it is structured and small.

From this source, I learned many factors that influence students to attend higher education. The main reason that I found appealing was the acculturation factor. The reason is because many students may not realize that school is changing them and it’s just like history when the institutions would steal their culture and make them into someone that they aren’t. This source can relate to the ecological system because it is part of the setting that natives are put into and how it is changing them. Things I am curious about is how do students who have graduated go back to their homelands and keep up with their cultures after being away from it? Does acculturation spread throughout the reservations? Acculturation is an aspect that has been occurring for many years, do institution mean to do this on purpose?

Citation: Starks, E. Janet. “Factors Influencing the Decisions of Native Americans to Attend Or Not Attend College Or Vocational School”. ProQuest Dissertations. 2010.

URL:https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/docview/835030051/fulltextPDF/AAF6E90184C44A33PQ/1?accountid=8360

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The Ecological Systems Perspective

The journal entry by Jillian Fish called, “Native Americans In Higher Education: An Ecological Systems Perspective”, highlights many of the major topics on why Native Americans are put in a difficult environment in college. It seems as if at some points that Fish is aiming towards the government because they are mentioned many times throughout the passage and are talked about as having a big involvement with Native American education (Fish, 2018). The main purpose of this text is to inform the audience about historical text on what it was like for Natives to attend College and Boarding school. For example, one major quote that early Natives had to deal with was the motto of, “kill the indian, save the man”, which was how Natives were perceived during Boarding School. Fish then begins to speak about this ecological system that has been implemented into the study of Natives in Higher Education and has been used for the past couple of years. The ecological system describes the environment and setting that an individual is put into and how it can affect their performance. The system describes interaction and also the overall development of an individual based on the environment they are placed in. In this case, the individual is a Native student and it describes the interactions that are endured during college or attending a post secondary institution that is, for the most part, predominantly white. A major point that is being made is the idea of an indigenous individual’s college experience and understanding through an ecological systems framework. One aspect of the system demonstrates how their culture, religion, and beliefs are impacted by attending a college institution, furthermore, how it is overlooked by staff and administrative workers, Culture shock is also implemented within this section.  Another part is the motivation that students have to accomplish their goals while being in an environment that is new and not ordinary for their understanding. The history of Natives in higher education is also used in this situation because tying history to modern day education for indigenous peoples is essential for perception and how Natives understand College. 

The article by Fish is a useful and relevant source for the topic because it demonstrates bits of the major problems that indigenous students face, but puts it into an ecological system. For my research, this system can be implemented and shown how students are affected by placing different settings in different parts of the system that Fish demonstrates. The ecological system that is demonstrated could also take an effect on many of the other aspects that were looked at and can relate to how they are being impacted by the surrounding environments. Also, this source is convincing since the data that was collected came from college statistics and also experiments that were conducted by the authors. 

What I learned from this source is how this ecological system works with Indigenous students attending a College or University. More specifically I learned from the text how the environment and the setting that the students are placed in have an impact on their performance and also the way they make their decisions. Given a historical context, the ecological system shows how specific settings can have specific roles in impact which cause Native Students to fear the College environment. Some aspects I am curious about is, will this ecological system ever be altered in any way due to innovation of schooling? By this I mean new ways of learning? Also, will the system be altered if the Universities begin to see a development of more Native Students attending? I feel like the system should be spread and other people should be aware of it, along with the statistics that have been proven. 

Citation: Fish, J. Syed, M. “Native Americans In Higher Education: An Ecological Systems Perspective.” Journal Of College Student Development. 2018.

URL: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/699388/pdf

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Unique But Real Perspective

Many Native Students who do get the chance to attend a post-secondary institution are eager and excited to talk about their experience and be open to it. I was able to sit in with a Native American student from the University of Arizona. His name is Herman “ Atsa’ “Gleason, he is from Newcomb, New Mexico, which is the home for a small Navajo reservation. The reason I have decided to interview this individual is because he comes from a reservation of strong culture and where his Navajo traditions are practiced on the daily. Also, Mr. Gleason attended a high school which was a majority of Navajo students. The school was called Navajo Preparatory School. . The main point of this interview is to see what changes he has to overcome making the switch and what his thoughts are on low Indigenous population in higher education. 

The objective of this interview was to evaluate how a current Native student is dealing with changes from home and how he feels about the low rate of indigenous students. The questions I have decided to ask are how he has been able to adapt and how he feels being an Indigenous student in a majority white institution. The first question I asked is, “What do you miss most about home?”. Herman answered that he misses his elders because they would give him guidance and would take care of him, they would offer the help and support he needed in his low points. Another thing Herman misses from home is the pow-wow which he and his family were really involved in. I also questioned how the change was, from his home on a reservation in a rural area to an urban city. Mr. Gleason mentioned that it was a challenge because he was never exposed to this kind of environment, having a social life like making friends has also been difficult because he was more exposed to his family more than friends. Over the course of his life, he was responsible for making sure that his ranch at home was taken care of, he was always working and had little time to be a kid. Herman stated, ”The first time I was able to hang out with a friend outside of school was my freshman year in high school” (Gleason, 2019). Another question I had for Herman was if he feels safe at the University of Arizona? He answered yes, physically, but when it comes to other making statements about Indigenous students and microaggression comments, he feels he’s in danger. The more important question I wanted to ask this individual is, ”Coming from a reservation, why do you feel the population of Native students is low compared to other minorities and white individuals?” He answered, “From my experience, It is based on how the parents bring up their children, on my reservation, drugs and alcohol is a big problem that has taken over a lot of the families where I’m from, so I feel like the problem with Native students is that the parents aren’t setting a good example for the students.” (Gleason, 2019). 

This interview is crucial to the research I am conducting because it is coming from a primary source who is dealing with changes from back home. This is a convincing source because it is coming from an Indigenous student. One thing that I found unique was how Mr. Gleason mentioned that it is not the students fault for not attending college, but how the parents bring up their children and what they surround them with. Also, I found out that missing the culture is a major impact of some students, which correlates to other texts that were found. Some things I am curious about is, how has being a Native male impacted this experience, is it frowned upon? The information I was able to obtain from this interview was unique and brought up new questions to ask others. 

Citation: Gleason, Herman. Personal Interview. 7, November 2019.

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“I Am Okay With Being Unnoticed

As my curiosity and knowledge grew after the unique information I researched, I decided to interview another indigenous student. I met with a sophomore from Shonto, Arizona who is also Navajo and comes from a very small community, and she was also very involved with ceremonies and traditions in her community. Her name is Deshawna Sherlock and she is an ambassador for Ms. Native UA, she is in the Tohono O'odham Students Association (TOSA), and also in the Indigicats club. Being a female, I was curious to see if she had anything that differentiated the information that was researched. 

This source is an important part of the research that is being conducted because this is a primary source and she is going through the college experience being a Native American female from a small reservation. I started by asking Deshawna how the change was from her home to a big campus in an urban city. She stated that, “It is definitely a bigger campus and I was intimidated because the school was almost the size of my home” (Sherlock, 2019). She also mentioned, she got used to the size and the clubs that involved Indigenous students made her feel like she had a community that can help her adjust to the culture shock that she was feeling. Another question that I asked Deshawna was if there is a high rate of college students from where she is from? She answered that there is not a lot of college students where she is from, her family is mostly scholars or military workers, but she stated “the other families aren’t as involved with school or military service, most dro- out of high school to help their families in their farms or go to work for a small place on the reservation” (Sherlock, 2019). I then asked her, “How do you feel about being a female Native American student in a predominantly white institution?”. The answer Deshawna gave was, “I feel like I am unnoticed in my classes, I sit in the back and no one talks to me, but I am okay with it. I am still uncomfortable with being here because not too long ago the president insulted a group that I am affiliated with so it gave me fear along with anger.” (Sherlock, 2019). Following this, I asked her, based on her experiences and her life, why she thinks the enrollment of Natives in college is low compared to other ethnicities? She replied, “From what I have seen, it is a lot on the parents, back at home, drugs and alcohol have been a major factor. That behavior is then passed down to the kids and it messes up their education. Another factor is the high pregnancy rate, I have 6 friends who I grew up with that were pregnant my sophomore year of high school. Many kids don’t go because they don’t want to leave their younger siblings in an environment like that, they want to be there to protect them.” (Sherlock, 2019).

This is an important part of my research because Deshawna is a current student who is suffering and scared for what’s to come next at the University of Arizona. It is a useful source because it gave me more insight on the issue and some information was unique. Some things I found interesting were the reasons of drugs, alcohol, and pregnancy were major factors in her home. This is unique because none of the other sources that were looked at involve information on these manners.The information I obtained was inevitably unique and can be used to answer another part of why the enrollment of Native American Students in higher education is low.

Citation: Sherlock, Deshawna. Personal Interview. 6, November 2019.

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President Shocker

An article was recently published by the Daily Wildcat about the University of Arizona President, Dr. Robbins. This article by Vanessa Ontiveros called, “Native American Students Demand Accountability From Robbins After Offensive Comments,” talks about the president of A division 1 high class University made offensive remarks towards Native American Students. The objective of this article was to inform the school about the comments that were made towards the Native group and how even the President makes offensive remarks towards students. President Robbins joined the Native American Outreach, Access and Resiliency group (AKA Native SOAR) during class and made comments on how he believes he is Native American. Dr. Robbins stated that he had taken a DNA test to see if he had Indigenous blood, the results came back negative but he told the Native SOAR group that he wanted to get it done a second time because of his “high cheek-bones” (Robbins, 2019). The group took a lot of offense to this comment made by the President and decided to write a letter demanding an apology from Dr. Robbins. Ontiveros also states, “This is not the first time this year the Universities administration has come under criticism by groups of marginalized students” (Ontiveros, 2019).

This source is convincing because of the amount of exposure it got from the around the school especially the Native community, also how it is a recent incident that happened at a top University. The information is useful because it shows why Native students fear attending college, not only is it other students or professors that are making the offensive comments, it can be the President of the school that is making “microaggressions” remarks. This shines the light on how students fear the University level and what they have to deal with while trying to pursue a higher education. This makes Indigenous people offended and it puts a bad representation on the recruitment of Native students to this institution. I can use this information in my research because this is a major factor in the decision making process of attending a college or not for a person from the reservation. If they are not going to get treated right by, especially, the president, then they feel they have no business being here.

From this source I learned why students feel fearful being on this campus and being Native American. From the research I gained through this process, it all correlated to one another in all the systems and in all the environments that Natives are put in. This source topped it all off because of a few words that offended a Native group. Because of this incident, the University has seen a few admitted Native students withdraw from the University of Arizona because they found it a “hostile environment”. This article demonstrates the causes and what Indigenous students have to live with and fight through to become a graduate. I found this article very interesting because it happened within my school and my group of people and I was there to witness all the shock and fear that many Native students felt. The President did come in to apologize but many believe it wasn’t sincere, more that it was staged and meant to be said. With this kind of behavior from Administration, the population of Native students in Higher Education will never peak and will stay low unless changes are made. 

Citation: Ontiveros, Vanessa. “Native American Students Demand Accountability From Robbins After Offensive Comments”. The Daily Wildcat. 2019.

URL: http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2019/11/n-robbins-soar