SIOUX FALLS, S.D.-
South Dakota lawmakers have sent to Gov. Mike Rounds a plan to give South Dakotans a better understanding of American Indian culture by making it a permanent priority in public schools.
Both legislative chambers have passed a bill offered by the Republican governor that would set up an Indian Education Office and an Indian Education Advisory Council with representatives from each of the state’s nine tribes.
The legislation ensures that Indian education will be permanent part of the state content standards so a future governor can’t do away with it, said Marcia Zephier, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe who is on the advisory council and testified for the bill.
“And then it gets the ball rolling in terms of individual school districts starting programs in their schools,” Zephier said.
The measure requires all new teachers from out of state and those who were certified after 1993 to complete a three-hour course in South Dakota Indian history and culture.
It also includes a pilot program to offer Lakota language instruction to teachers, which could be extended to offer Lakota language instruction to Indian students. And it requires the state Education Department and the advisory council to establish a curriculum in Indian history and culture.
“The spirit of the bill is to look at the K-12 curriculum and to say, ‘What do we want all students in South Dakota who go to public school to know about our native population?’ Anything dealing with tribes and native people and history and culture,” said Gail Swenson, supervisor of Indian Education in the Sioux Falls School District.
Keith Moore, state Indian education coordinator, said the academic success of Indian students does not match that of the general school population. Indian students’ tests and scores are below par, and efforts are under way to raise achievement levels, he said.
The average ACT college entrance score of South Dakota students is 21.8, Moore said, but the average for the state’s Indian students is 17.5.
Indians are the state’s largest minority group and make up 8.4 percent of the population, or about 63,000 residents, according to the Census Bureau.
Besides helping Indian students academically, the effort also should help race relations, said Zephier, who teaches the Native American Connections classes at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls. The classes are offered to students of all races.
“I hope that we can educate not only Indian students but our non-Indian students about the rich traditions and cultures of our ancestors,” she said. “And hopefully that will help relations statewide between Indians and non-Indians.”
Student Genevieve Gregory, who is part Indian, said the class teaches the culture from the native perspective.
“It’s from our side and it’s more in depth,” she said. “They don’t go into depth in certain history classes and don’t explain why we were mad or retaliated.”
Amanda Larson, who is white, said the class expanded her understanding of Indian culture, which should be a priority in a state with a high Indian population.
“We learn about the Germans and all these European people,” she said.
