I have been teaching English composition for almost 9 years at a 2-year branch campus near the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. The composition of my students is mostly Navajo with some Hispanics, Zuni, and Caucasian. Based on my observation, the majority of my students in remedial English composition classes had difficulties in reading…

Preserving the unique contours of cultural communities is integral to the rich weave of our collective human heritage. However, the postcolonial United States (US) educational paradigm, reflected in curricula and standards based on white middle-class norms, has a flattening effect on the vibrancy of diverse languages and community traditions.…

With so much unknown about autism, the disability tends to reflect the sociocultural preconceptions people project onto it. The predominant narrative in Western society of autism as a "disease" within the medical model contrasts with the more positive, empowering view of autism as a "difference" in the social model and neurodiversity movement.…

Intelligence and creativity are concepts used to describe the efforts of human beings to achieve the highest aspirations of the human brain-mind-spirit system. Howard Gardner, intelligence and creativity researcher, applied his Multiple Intelligence theory to case studies of creative masters from seven intelligence domains developing a template…

Describes the peacemaker system employed by Navajo communities. Suggests that, unlike the European-derived legal system, it utilizes a healing ceremony in which instigators are surrounded by family and friends. Discusses the role of the "naat'aanii" ("one who speaks wisely and well"), who uses persuasive powers to restore harmony and peace. (AJL)

Navajo and Anglo college students' time orientation scores from the Future Time Orientation (FTO) Scale (Bristol & Amyx, 1996) were analyzed and compared. Anglo students were found to be significantly more future time oriented in two of the three dimensions: temporal distance and involvement with time. Future time orientation was used to explain…

Indigenous minority children within many multiracial communities appear to suffer educational disadvantage reflected through poor school retention and school achievement. As part of an on-going research program aimed at understanding students' motivation and school achievement this paper examines the relations and effects of parental and teacher…

This study compared cultural differences in the eyewitness reporting of Navajo and mainstream-culture third graders who were questioned 10 days after an event. Mainstream-culture children reported more information overall but the groups did not differ in accuracy. Active participation affected the amount of information reported by…

Describes the work of three bilingual story tellers, one Navajo and two Hispanic Americans, who communicate about their own language and culture while increasing the respect for other cultures of those who hear them. Storytelling is an excellent way to introduce children to other languages and cultures. (SLD)

Discusses two approaches to minority education--the cultural difference and the secondary discontinuity--and presents a hybrid theory that emphasizes the role of compliance. The article then describes an experiment based on these theories and conducted by the Kamehameha Elementary Education Program (KEEP) with native Hawaiian children and with…

This paper discusses the evolution of missionaries' role in U.S. settlement and education, focusing on the impact on American Indian languages. Missionaries did not know the respective cultures of the American Indian tribes they worked with, and they viewed cultures different from their own as inferior. They could not conceive of any difference…

This paper describes research into the nature of the achievement goals and values held by students from Window Rock High School on the Navajo Reservation (Arizona). It examines the compatibility of these student-held goals and values with goals and values promoted by classrooms and schools, and the impact individual, family, peer, class, and…

Discusses the collaborative efforts of the Hawaiian Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) and the Navajo Rough Rock Community School in Arizona to develop educational practices and strategies that would help minority-language children succeed in school. Examines the modification of KEEP strategies for use with Navajo children. (16 references)…

Discusses the tremendous barriers to success in college that Navajo students face. Discusses five major forms: financial difficulty, family obligations, prescriptive attitudes toward Standard American English, instructor/faculty ethnocentrism, and ambivalence toward Western education. Discusses ways faculty can work to mitigate these barriers as…

School motivation and achievement for an individual is the product of a complex set of interacting goals, goals which may be more or less significant to individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This paper describes a project which examines the nature of goals held by students from different cultural groups, the compatibility of these goals…