Thursday, March 10, 2011
Deep Question: "True Diaries"
I believe that the school policy on the reservation for all teachers to live on the reservation contributes to a lower quality of education for those students. Do you think if this policy did not exist, a different or better body of educators would choose to work at the school and therefore improve the educational value to the students?
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This is an interesting point, Doug. Thinking about it, I do think they could recruit better teachers if they did not require them to live on the reservation. I'm assuming most teachers with families would not want to uproot from their neighborhoods to move into a society which would expose their children to numerous negative influences. Not saying that children won't know about these realities, but that it is not an ideal community to raise a family. Issues of safety and violence are probably also concerning. For someone who hasn't grown up on a reservation, I believe it would be a big culture shock. One that probably scares away many great teachers.
ReplyDeleteI also feel that they could recruit better teachers if they were not required to live on the reservation. I think that the students that live on the reservations, would have more opportunities if they had more resources and various types of teachers available to them. Arnold must have realized, even before his teacher told him, that he should go to another school, because the teachers couldn't offer him the quality education that he desired. Having said this, I don't think that Arnold should have been treated the way that he was, by the other Indians, just because he wanted a better education and a brighter future for himself. It would be interesting to see what kinds of changes would take place if that policy no longer existed.
ReplyDeleteI think this may have been an attempt to have teachers feel connected to the reservation, however it didn't appear to work. I felt connected to this aspect of the novel as a future teacher. I think it demonstrates just how important it is to know your students, and validate their experiences, whatever those experiences may be. I think what these teachers lacked was training on how to teach American Indian students. I think it would be awesome for more American Indians to be recruited into teaching to make the education experience even more relevant and powerful. It seems that Kaite has seen some of this in/around her hometown in Northern Wisconsin.
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