Arguments for Integration in the Field of Education in Northern Michigan

Multicultural Education, Spring 2004 by Beardslee, Lois

The Setting

I am a Native American with advanced college training, specifically in the field of education. I live in northwest lower Michigan, a region especially well known for racial discrimination. For several years, I have been speaking and writing about the socioeconomic effects of racism, especially in education, upon Native Americans.

During recent years, I have increasingly encountered denial on the part of educational professionals in this region as a response to statistics on race. During 2002 I spent nine months reviewing and renewing my statistical sources for use in nonfiction essays and presentations.

Those statistics that I have been able to renew have been consistent with sources I used a decade ago, indicating very little progressive change in socioeconomic behavior toward Native Americans in the field of education. Significantly fewer statistics are available today than a decade ago, and even the quantity of statistics can be interpreted as a cultural indicator in terms of interracial relations. Sometimes problems can be kept out of sight, out of mind.

For the purposes of statistical presentation, I have created a fictional Native American female character, Jane Doe, or Jane Wawauzhukgiishkwe. Statistics about Jane are presented in comparison to the general population, which includes both sexes and all ethnic groups.

Considering Jane

On a nationwide scale, Jane is four times more likely to have a college education, specifically an associate's degree. She is half as likely to earn a bachelor's degree after completing an associate's degree. Jane is one fourth as likely to go on to graduate school and one seventieth as likely to earn a doctorate. Jane is twelve times more likely to be unemployed (Lynch, 201; Pavel, et al, 2002; Anonymous, 1997; Anonymous, 1999). Jane is ten times more likely to commit suicide. However, that likelihood increases significantly, if Jane obtains a college degree (Hodgkinson, et al., 1990).

If Jane lives on or close to a reservation, she is ten times more likely to receive a tribal job than a non-tribal job. If hired on the reservation, she is likely to receive ninety cents on the dollar compared to an off reservation job. If hired off of the reservation, Jane is likely to receive equal pay for equal work outside of the field of education (Hodgkinson, et al, 1990; Anonymous, 1999).

If hired in the field of education in the United States, Jane will receive seventyone cents on the dollar compared to a nonIndian in the same position. Jane is three times more likely to work in a custodial/ maintenance position than in a clerical, technical, or teaching position. If hired to teach in higher education, Jane is half as likely to receive a tenured position. Native Americans are least likely to have tenure of any ethnic group in higher education (Anonymous 1999).

If Jane obtains credentials in the field of higher education, she is, on a nationwide scale, twenty five times more likely to be professionally unemployed, compared to twelve times more likely in other professions. In addition, Native American staff and faculty in institutions of higher education tend to cluster in five states with the five highest Native American populations and then to cluster within regions and tribal communities in those states. The highest numbers of such employees are in Oklahoma and Arizona (Anonymous, 1999).

The majority of institutions hiring Native American staff are tribal junior colleges, most of which are scheduled to lose 100% of their federal funding under the Bush administration's proposed 2004 budget, potentially increasing underemployment for Native Americans with graduate degrees in the field of education. Further, the regional clustering of Native American employees in educational institutions with highest Native American enrollment leads to counter-clustering of geographical areas with little or no Native American employment in the field of higher education.

The Reality in Michigan

This is especially true in the state of Michigan, where Native American employment in higher education not only clusters, but is already well below the national average. Michigan ranks ninth in the nation in terms of Native American population and ranks on the bottom in terms of Native American employment in higher education (Hodgkinson, et al, 1990).

In higher education in the state of Michigan, statistics begin to break down and become unavailable. There is a heavy reliance on word of mouth and speculation among Native American educators, writers, and activists. There appears to be only one full time Native American faculty member within Michigan's state university/ college system, and the bulk of his duties includes strictly Native American related program work. he works at Michigan State University, in the southern third of the state. all other Native American academics work as coordinators or clerical staff in Native American student/studies/recruitment programs or in adjunct and part time capacities. A few have, over the years, appeared as guest speakers.