Attracting Native Americans to computing
Authors: Varma Roli 
Published: July 2009

Introduction

In the last two decades, the racial/ethnic composition of those earning computer science (CS) bachelor's degrees has changed in the U.S. Between 1985 and 2005, the proportion of CS bachelor's degrees awarded to White students declined from 80% to 55%. The proportion awarded to Asians increased from 5% to 12%, to Afro-Americans from 6% to 11%, to Hispanics from 3% to 6%, and to American Indians/Alaska Natives (hereafter Native Americans) from 0.4% to 0.5%. Despite this slight increase, the number of Native Americans pursuing a bachelor's degree in CS has been low compared to their population as well as to other minorities.

Unique historical, economic, and cultural factors set Native Americans apart from the rest of students. The way in which they have experienced modern education, economic conditions under which they live, and distinct cultural traditions they maintain while meeting the expectations of the main stream educational system all play a role in how well Native American students will perform in CS studies. The arrival of Europeans to the U.S. in 1492 marked the assignment of inferior status to Native Americans in comparison with the White race. Historically, Native American education has been addressed as a quandary, as an issue that must be "fixed" by a third party, for example, by the dominant White culture. The U.S. government formed off-reservation boarding schools to assimilate Native Americans to the dominant culture. Because Native Americans were not considered citizens of the United States, they were forced to remain in these boarding schools. When the U.S. government granted citizenship to Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States in 1924, they were allowed to attend regular public schools. Nevertheless, many public schools were geographically inaccessible to Native Americans, and they continued to use the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school system.

Economically, Native American students tend to be consigned to high poverty and rural elementary and high schools, and thus remain at a disadvantage both at home and in schools, with regard to access higher education. Out of 2.5 million Native Americans, almost 500,000 live on more than 300 reservations and trust lands. Only six out of approximately 550 tribes have more than 100,000 persons each, and four tribes have populations of at least 50,000 each; most tribes have populations less than 10,000. Even when Native Americans are not isolated by the remoteness of reservations and size of communities, they face hard economic conditions. For instance, many Native Americans live in poverty compared to the total population. In 1999, the poverty rate of Native Americans was almost 26% compared with the poverty rate of 12% for the U.S. total population. The median family income and per capita income of Native Americans was $33,144 and $12,893 compared with $50,046 and $21,587 for the total population, respectively. Poverty and isolation translate into many other constraints such as health problems, learning disabilities, and alcoholism. Such economic inequalities give rise to less access to and thus success in higher education especially in science and engineering fields including CS.

Culturally, Native Americans maintain tribal traditions, values, and languages. They have humanistic and holistic approaches of learning and knowledge that emphasize the importance of grasping the big picture before studying particular subjects. They consider independence, individualism, and competitiveness somewhat taboo and deem generosity, sharing, harmony and group-oriented learning environments to be more important. Science and engineering curriculum and instructions are based on the philosophy of secularism, reductionism, and compartmentalization. The cultural discontinuity experienced by Native Americans in institutions of higher education is seen as creating obstacles for them to do well in science and engineering fields, including CS.

Despite above circumstances, many Native Americans do well in CS education. This paper considers some factors that drive Native Americans to major in CS and succeed (or not) in completing the degree. It is based on in-depth interviews conducted with 50 Native American male and female undergraduate students who were majoring in CS at six Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs; the Hispanic enrollment must be at least 25% of the total student enrollment) or Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU; the Native American students' enrollment must be 50% of the total student enrollment) in 2004-2005. There are about 30 TCUs in the United States, most of which are located on Indian reservations, and about 200 HSIs, which are spread throughout the country. For consistency in data collection, the author conducted all interviews, which were recorded, subsequently transcribed, and inserted in Nvivo software for analysis. Two independent coders coded the data for reliability and validity. Though there were slightly more students interviewed from HSIs, the total count of male and female students for this study is the same.