How we fail aboriginal students (Calgary Herald)

17 Sep How we fail aboriginal students (Calgary Herald)

Lack of funds and support for reserve schools jeopardize the futures of First Nations kids, national chief says

 

BROKEN PENCILS – Twenty years of local control hasn’t fixed First Nations education, and 9,000 students risk being marginalized the rest of their lives.

In a four-part series, Journal reporter Elise Stolte asks why, and finds one school that bucks the trend.

Today: A bleak report card

Saturday: The madness of teacher turnover

Sunday: Enoch school’s fragile recovery

Monday: Ermineskin school an oasis amid turmoil

Cynthia Cowan claimed every student-of-the-month award in Grade 9 at her small reserve school just outside Edmonton. Then she transferred to the city and discovered she was far behind. She felt lost, nearly failed Grade 10, then dropped out.

Now she faces an agonizing choice for her five-year-old daughter, Jaizy. Stay on reserve and risk academic failure, or bus her to the city and risk the isolation of losing her cultural identity.

Cowan isn’t alone.

More than 9,000 aboriginal children go to school on reserves in Alberta and most of those schools are failing. …Go to article.