Many people are not aware
of the languages and cultural
barriers the minority child
often faces in school, according
to Robert Egbert, dean of
Teachers College at the
University of Nebraska -Lincoln.
Egbert spoke at the
Conference on Teacher
Education held last week at the
Nebraska Center.
"We punish a minority child
who speaks the only language
he has learned before starting
school," he said. "We also tend
to disapprove of the child's
entire heritage, thus alienating
him more from society."
Robert Mackey, executive
director of the Nebraska Indian
Commission, told the group
that the curriculum in the
Lincoln Public Schools is
turning out students who go on
to become professional men.
Panel member
Mackey also said that in the
lower echelons of the school
system the opportunities
offered to minority children
are lacking.
He said that only 45 of
about 25,000 students who
graduated from the Nebraska
public schools this spring were
American Indians. In addition,
22 American Indians have
studied this past year at the
University of Nebraska, he
said, but there has yet to be an
American Indian graduate from
the University.
"The system is not adequate
to provide a meaningful
learning experience for our
Indian kids," Mackey said.
Not alone
"We are not alone in being
deprived a good education," he
said. "We are finding a lot of
white kids from all phases of
the economic scale being
deprived of a good and
meaningful education because
the system is failing."
Mackey said that a major
problem facing the American
Indian child is the language and
cultural barrier,
"Teachers that are hired are
probably not capable of
dealing with or understanding
the problems affecting the
Indian child," he said.
It would be helpful,"
Mackey said, "to have material
which relates to the minority
child, in addition to the regular
material found in all schools. A
minority child should be able
to relate to what he is learning.
Regionalize examples
"It is important to
regionalize learning examples
in the areas where the child
lives," Mackey said. "Don't
stereotype!"
Mackey explained that an
Indian child cannot relate to
stereotyped pictures which
depict American families eating
breakfast and the father leaving
for work. Too often, Mackey
said, the picture shows a
$25,000 homo wilh a Cadillac
out front, a large breakfast on
the kitchen table which was
cooked on the latest electrical
appliances and a new 17-floor
office building in the
background.
"An American Indian child
cannot relate to this scene
because his home is usually a
shack," Mackey said. "The
Cadillace out front is probably
an old pick-up truck and the
all-modern electrical kitchen is
just not there. Also, there is no
17-story office building where
the father goes to work. Most
often the Indian father works
tucsday, july 3, 1973
in the fields, topping beets, or
is out digging ditches."
Established in 1970
The Nebraska Indian
Commission was established in
1970 by Gov. Norbert
tries to avoid politics, but that
the issues inevitably involve
them in the political arena.
"We are encouraging our
children to stay in school and
work within the system," he
said. "Even though we, along
with the other minorities, are
first came to Nebraska she was
shocked to find that the
American Indian was looked
down upon.
"I was always taught that I
was bettor than others," she
said.
She said that there is a
22822
Tiemann as the Office of
Indian Affairs and later
changed its name. Mackey said
the commission is slowly
making gains in the area of
education.
"We are accomplishing our
goals slowly, but surely," he
said. "We are studying the
ixoblems carefully using the
system that exists, because as
bad as it is, it is the only way."
Mackey said that ihe
Nebraska Indian Commi
treated as second class citizens,
we are telling our children to
stay in the system, to get theii
education and to use the
system to change the system."
Karen Buller
Another member of the
panel was Karen Buller, Indian
counselor in the department of
Ethnic Studies at UNL.
Mrs. Buller, who is from
Oklahoma, said that when she
definite need in the teachers
college progiam and in all
public schools for more
opportunities in Indian
educa' ion.
"It is often too easy to
write off the Chicano or Indian
child by saying, 'What's his
problem,'" Mrs. Buller said.
Chicano problems
Omeio Suarez and Delia
Vallejo, both students at
University of Nebraska -
9
mma
Carolyn Mountjoy
School of Journalism
"We want to get people out of the
customary way of looking at
education," Erwin Goldenstein said last
week at the Conference on Teacher
Education at the Nebraska Center.
Goldenstein, professor of history and
philosophy of education, and director
of the TTT (Training Teachers of
Teachers) Project said a major reason of
the conference was to show different
approaches to teacher education.
"School administrators need to see
themselves as teacher trainers,"
Goldenstein said. "The University is no
longer the isolated mecca it was 10 to
20 years ago."
Cooperative schools
The TTT project is also known as the
Cooperative Schools TTT Model. Used
mainly as a model for teaching
elementary schoool, it is based on the
theory that all phases of society need to
be involved in the education of children.
Goldenstein said that efforts have
culminated in the cooperative school
project in which Teachers College and
Arts and Sciences faculty members,
along with candidates for masters and
doctorate degiees, went to the public
schools this past year to learn about
children and the problems the public
school teacher has in helping children
learn.
Goldenstein said that people will
model the behavior they are taught. He
said that the cooperative schools TTT
Model has great potential and that many
educators familiar with this model felt
that the ideas found in it should be
shared.
Cultural seminars
Goldenstein said that the cooperative
schools model deals with the
development of cultural seminars
involving blacks, Chicanos, American
Indians and whites. It also includes the
development of the open classroom
with interest centers for different tasks.
Donald McCurdy, professor of
secondary education, said that it was
felt it would be Iruitful to have a
conference showing the existence of a
number of teaching models of different
orientation which ;ne being used at the
University.
Another model for teaching which
was discussed at the conference was the
NUSTEP Model which is used primarily
in the secondary schools.
Identify skills
"The NUSTEP model attempts to
identify the skills needed by teachers
and to recognize that nor all teachers
are alike," McCuicly said. It pi ov ides for
openness and flexibility in teaching."
Two other teaching models were also
discussed at the conference, the
NUMcRel model and the Concordia
Professional Education Major Model.
Roger Egbert, UNL Teacher s College
dean, spoke on "Needed Perspectives in
Responding to Issues and Models in
Teacher Education."
He said he is concerned that people
think about the decreasing lifespan of
jobs and of industry as a whole, as one
of the most important issues relating to
teacher education.
Education for iidults
"No longer can we jusl teach
students between the ag'.'s of !3 and 18,"
Egbert said. "I tan not emphasize mote
the need for counselors and teachers tor
adults."
Egbert said that another issue
teachers must face is the changing
lifestyle. "We have tended to ignore the
changing lifestyle and have felt it would
take care of itself," he said.
"We have to help people to be more
flexible and vice versa, we too need (o
be more flexible," Egbert said "We too
readily accept what someone dues just
in the name of touching. We accept
standardized achievement tests and
other ways of evaluating students
blindly," hi! said.
"Instructional decisions are marie by
those directly involved will) the
child --the teachers," Egbert said. "No
Jean, administrator or school
superintendent should assume that any
decision he m.ikes automatically
influences the leal mug and development
of the child."
Lincoln, addressed the
conference on the problems of
the Chicano people.
Suarez said that the
problems of the Chicano
people are not as strong in the
Lincoln-Omaha area as in
Western Nebraska.
Both Suarez and Vallejo said
that Chicano's also are
regarded as second class
citizens and that most of the
Mexican-American children
drop out of school.
"At the present time,"
Suarez said, "the Chicano
student is full of frustrations."
Suarez said that either
educators are not aware of ihe
language barrier facing many of
the Chicano students or the
educators choose to ignore this
problem.
Retarded or slow
"Too often," he said, "if a
teacher cannot cope with or
communicate with the Chicano
child, the child is classified as
retarded or slow."
Suarez said that he felt
nothing was being done about
the language barrier.
Another speaker, Lela
Shanks, said that the white
child needs the black, Indian or
Chicano child in his school far
more than the minority child
needs to be there.
"Until you can get the
majority of white parents to
realize the need for that
minority child and to accept
the fact that a white child faces
many of the same problems of
the minority child, nothing
much more can be
accomplished.
Mrs. Shanks said that except
for the language and cultutal
barriers faced by the Chicano
and an Indian child, all
children face the same type of
problems in school.
KRNU on air
first session
KRNU is broadcasting from
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday
through Friday during the first
five-week session. KRNU, the
School of Journalism's
laboratory station, plays
current hits and rock except on
Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday evening when
classical music is on the air
from 0 to 9.
KRNU (90.3 fm) also
broadcasts live minutes of
news five minutes before the
hour.
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