Selma, forgive me, Life is complicated and I wrote the last post to Harry thinking that he had asked the question since I was reading his prior to your post. Please accept my apology and what I was saying about culture as being to you. The position I staked out was to Harry and his post rather than to you which was just a misunderstanding due to my haste.
Thanks for posting the article. Ray ----- Original Message ----- From: "Selma Singer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Keith Hudson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "mcore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 10:49 AM Subject: Re: Schools/education > Ray, if I understand you correctly to be saying that this program ignores > cultural learnings that do not fit into the standards of the dominant > society, I believe you are making the same point Brad made about the > individual-i.e., that the program is tailoring the standard expectations of > the dominant society to the individual child so that she/he will fit in > better. > > Please correct me if I am misinterpreting or misconstruing anyone's > statements. > > Selma > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ray Evans Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Selma Singer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Keith Hudson" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "mcore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2002 8:22 PM > Subject: Re: Schools/education > > > > > I am particularly interested in the response some of you may have to the > > > idea that each child should have a program individually tailored to > > her/his > > > needs and that some children will graduate at 14 and others at 21. > > > > > > Selma > > > > > > This is the same as musical instruction. My daughter's good friend in > the > > third grade was playing the Mozart A Major Piano Concerto which I played > in > > High School. My daughter had the same Earth Sciences course in middle > > school that I had as a non-science student at the University of Tulsa, > while > > others at University had the "Music Appreciation" course in college that I > > had on the reservation in 9th grade. The only order to learning is > within > > the discipline and is limited by psycho-physical considerations, otherwise > > we are speaking of social realities. The social realities are also the > > issue with Campbell in British Columbia. > > > > Does anyone know whether the Chugach program is Aleut, Indian and Inuit? > > Those communities up there are Native. There was also that key word > about > > culture in the article. I was interested in why they didn't mention that > > but all of the articles about Tar Creek and the Quapaw Reservation (where > > I'm from) always mention the town and never anything about it being Indian > > either. There was also the comment about alcoholism which is another > code > > word for Indian used by the media. The program resembles a program used > > on our reservation as I said and another that I read about at a > reservation > > in Washington State. Often the Tribes go out looking for a White Man to > > come back and teach us our realities because the government will not allow > > us to use our own. So if we want our own processes then we must find > some > > White Man who has developed a business around that "white" version which > is > > then authenticated and OK to us on the reservations. It happens > regularly > > and the politics of it is well known in Indian country and is assumed. > > > > By the way, wampum is made from a shell, is a Lavender purple and comes > from > > a particularly difficult part of the shell to harvest and work with. It > is > > easier now with machines and one can imagine how difficult it was before > the > > use of metal tools. The color is sacred and the value is both that and > the > > extreme difficulty in manufacturing it from the shell that has little > color > > in it. The confusion is with the belts which are a form of heiroglyph to > > record contracts. They are called Wampum belts whether they have wampum > > beads in them or not. But the conversation was interesting. > > > > Regards, > > > > REH > > > > > > >
