Conference addresses culture in curriculums

Observer Staff

11/5/2003 12:00:00 AM

A recent event on the Isabella Reservation intended to educate the educators who work with Native American students.

About 200 academic officials representing area schools and universities attended the first "Culture and Curriculum Conference for Educators" at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort on Sept. 12.

A broad range of topics was offered, from "History of Indian Education" and "An Indigenous View of Education" to "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and "Saginaw Chippewa Tribal History." The conference was sponsored by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Education Department.

"We had a wonderful response," said Education Director Angeline Matson. "In addition to education staff from area schools, we hosted all 10 students from Bay Mills Community College's Teacher Education program, as well as students from Central Michigan University's Education program."

In his keynote address, National Indian Gaming Association Chairperson Ernest L. Stevens Jr. touched on the positive impact of Indian gaming on academics, but mainly addressed the importance of education itself.

"Success in life is dependent on success in education," said Stevens. "Fourth grade was the highest grade I really completed. I tried junior high and high school, but I was a bad student. I wasn't dumb; I just didn't want to work. And I wasn't just a bad student; I was a bad boy. Drugs, alcohol, gangs�I was suspended from school and finally dropped out altogether. I figured I'd just get a job. I was a big, strong kid, and I'd been a man since I was eight years old because I had to help raise my family. My parents divorced when they were very young, and my mom was an alcoholic.

"I couldn't get hired as a dishwasher. As a six-foot- three Indian kid with a ponytail in Green Bay, Wisc. in the 1970's, I was apparently unemployable. I knew I had to finish school somehow. An Indian lady paid me a $70 per week stipend to study for my GED. It took me six months to prepare, and I still thank God for multiple choice questions being on the test, but I passed."

Stevens went on to college, where he developed an interest in helping others overcome their personal struggles.

"I've learned a lot about activism from my mother. She's a recovering alcoholic, now 30 years in recovery and a counselor. She and I both turned our struggles around by helping other people. I'm a recovering racist because I had to recover from the way I was treated. Years after I had applied for work at all those places in Green Bay, some of those same people who turned me away called me for references for themselves. And I helped them, and that helped me.

"Education is not just about teaching and learning; it's about saving lives. People in education are role models. I would be dead or in prison if not for educators. I like sports figures-I admire Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali-but the people who've had the most influence in my life have all been educators."