| Why the Parents Don’t Come
The following vignette is a true story as recalled by Joseph, an American Indian who attended elementary school in the early 1970s. His experiences are certainly not universal and unlikely to happen today. However, his story illustrates the ways in which children’s experiences stay with them for many years to come and can influence their attitudes into adulthood. The teachers and principal of the local elementary school are puzzled and concerned. They have done everything they can think of to entice the parents of their American Indian children to conferences, meetings, and special events. Virtually no one shows up. Joseph, American Indian father of a kindergarten child, could tell them why and hopes to in the near future. As soon as he can convince his wife that she needs to come too. To answer the school’s questions, Joseph needs to tell them about his own experience. It was in the early 1970s, the summer before he entered first grade, that the tribal school was torn down and nearly 100 children were transferred to the district’s public schools. Joseph was assigned to the school his daughter now attends. On the day school began, he and his friends took their first ride in a school bus to their first-ever school experience. Arriving at the school, the older children knew to go straight into the building. Joseph and his first-grade friends, uncertain about what to do, noticed the nearby playground equipment and ran to it with great glee. Within five minutes, the principal emerged from the building, yelled angrily at them, and led them inside, a couple boys by their ears. Joseph was terrified and overwhelmed. Within a few months, 70 of the 100 children had been placed in special education classes. Even at the age of six, Joseph knew that many didn’t deserve to be placed there. A number of boys fell asleep in class because they had been out fishing the night before with their fathers. The girls, too shy to speak up in class, chatted about their schoolwork during recess on the playground. Joseph also remembers a disparity in classroom discipline. Girls could chatter endlessly in class and never be called out. If two Indian boys began to talk to each other, they would be paddled or sent home. Today, Joseph still feels fortunate that he wasn’t sent to special education classes, although he initially was confused by most of what went on. How, for example, could someone look at that big round object on the wall and tell what time it was? What were shapes, letters, and numbers anyway? As he looks back on his first-grade experience, Joseph knows that many of those 70 children did not belong in special education, or they wouldn’t now be in the midst of successful (continued) |
| Field Notes 8.2: Why the Parents Don’t Come (continued)
adulthood. He, himself, holds graduate degrees and is dedicated to helping today’s Indian children gain school success. Joseph knows too why parents with decidedly un-fond memories of their early schooling don’t want to revisit the scene of their unhappiness. He has described the trip from reservation to public school as a trip to a foreign country. Although Joseph is aware that the opening scene with the principal wouldn’t happen today and that his daughter’s school is committed to all its children, he wonders if he will have the courage to tell the school why the parents are reluctant to come. Perhaps his wife can help. |
It is often the parents whose memories of school are not positive who don’t appear for conferences and other events, despite the school’s best efforts. Other parents are too tired, too shy, too intimidated, or too insecure in their knowledge of English. On occasion it may be that the parents truly don’t care, but this is no doubt rare. It is Joseph’s suggestion that caregivers and teachers reach out to children’s parents and family members. Once parents have confidence in their relationship with the teacher, they may feel encouraged to visit their children’s school.
Visiting a reservation, a neighborhood, or a child’s home is an important step toward connecting with the community outside the school. In the next section, we will discuss this wider relationship with others.