American Indian families and socialization
American Indian families are characterized by their emphasis on extended family structures, where responsibilities for child-rearing are often shared among various relatives, including grandparents and other elders. This communal approach fosters close relationships and a strong sense of support, with children frequently turning to their elders for guidance and wisdom. Cultural values, deeply rooted in spirituality, prioritize respect, generosity, cooperation, and the understanding of traditional gender roles.
Socialization within these families differs significantly from mainstream practices; American Indian parenting may be perceived as permissive due to a lack of physical discipline, focusing instead on helping children discover their identities. When American Indian children enter school, they often exhibit learning styles that emphasize group orientation and holistic thinking, which can clash with the competitive and individualistic nature of the standard educational system. In response, efforts have been made to integrate American Indian cultural values into curricula, particularly through reservation schools, which aim to preserve native languages and traditions. Programs like the Cradleboard Project and Native American Learning Way are examples of initiatives designed to bridge cultural gaps and promote understanding between American Indian values and mainstream education.
American Indian families and socialization
Significance: Traditional American Indian culture values harmony, balance, cyclical thinking, cooperativeness, respect for age, and interdependence, while mainstream American culture values linear thinking, time management, competition, youthfulness, and independence. These differences are sometimes a source of conflict for American Indian children raised to respect traditional values.
In the early twenty-first century, around three million American Indians lived in the United States, about one-fourth of them on reservations. Although American Indians are a diverse group, anthropologists have identified certain common characteristics and socialization patterns that apply generally to American Indian culture, especially on reservations, where traditions are followed more closely.
Family Patterns and Characteristics
In American Indian culture, the basic social unit is the extended family. Mothers and fathers share the responsibility for the nurturing and care of their children; however, members of the extended family are also likely to take responsibility for the care of the young. American Indian children usually know the members of their extended family and often turn to them for help and advice. It is a tenet of the American Indian culture that the older members of the families have wisdom; therefore, it is natural for children to look to their elders for advice.
Traditional American Indians believe that every child should receive unconditional love and caring and that all adults are responsible for helping children develop naturally. American Indian parents are often regarded as permissive by non-Indians because they do not discipline their children or punish them physically. However, American Indians tend to believe that, rather than telling children who or what they should be, adults should help them discover who and what they are.
Spiritual values are important within the American Indian culture. Members of this culture teach their children to be respectful and generous, to live in balance, to withstand hardship, to cooperate with others, and to receive blessings appropriately. Children are also taught the proper roles for men and women, because traditionally male and female roles have been highly specific and differentiated in American Indian culture. When teaching cultural values, American Indian parents and tribal elders use modeling, examples, and stories, training their children largely through an extensive oral tradition.
American Indian Children in School
By the time they enter school, American Indian children often have a world orientation that differs from that of their non-Indian peers. During the socialization process, they have developed learning styles and ways of thinking that are very different from those of white, middle-class children. In public schools, they are likely to be less competitive, more group-oriented, and quieter. Their learning style is likely to focus on relationships, and they are likely to be comfortable attending to several tasks at the same time and to be holistic thinkers. Therefore, these children may find it difficult to meet the expectations of public schools where competition, independence, and assertiveness are generally prized and where abstract problem solving, specific thinking, and performance of discrete tasks usually dominate the curriculum.
Civil rights activity during the 1960s and 1970s and the many problems experienced by American Indians in schools run by white people caused Congress to pass laws that give American Indians control over reservation schools and that encourage them to develop curricula that include both Indian cultural values and native language study. The process of returning control of the schools to the tribes began with the Indian Education Act of 1972 and was carried further by the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. Both the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the 1990 Native American Languages Act encouraged self-determination and the preservation of native culture.
In order to help parents train their children to participate in the mainstream culture, many tribal colleges have Head Start programs that not only teach preschool children but also offer instruction in parenting skills. To help non-Indian educators and others understand their culture, several well-known American Indians developed teaching programs to explain native values. Activist and singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, for instance, developed the Cradleboard Project. Integrating modern technology and using standard learning tools, this curriculum introduces children to American Indian ideas and values. Furthermore, writer and Iroquois oral historian Paula Underwood developed Native American Learning Way, part of the Past is Prologue Educational Program, which follows a Native American learning approach. The Native American Learning Way consists of a curriculum that brings American Indian ideas into all subjects taught in elementary schools.
Bibliography
"Cradleboard History." The Cradleboard Teaching Project, www.cradleboard.org. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
"Past is Prologue." Schreiner University, www.schreiner.edu/academics/academic-support/cil/pip/index.aspx. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
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Red Horse, John G. "Family Structure and Value Orientation in American Indians." Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. DSHS, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
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