When high school students begin to dream of themselves as pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, and history teachers. Tribal colleges have a responsibility to not only create good models for lifelong learning but also to document them and to disseminate the results of their research. The problems of Indian education are too big for the Indian community to address alone, however, without resources, research, and technical assistance. American Indians represent less than 1 percent of the population of the United States. Because of their relatively small numbers, Native students are often ignored in reports about education, as noted in the task force report and in a recent report by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
Tribal colleges are vitally interested in their children.
They are the future. To the family and the community, however, even one student forced out of a viable future is one too many. Marjane Ambler is editor of the Tribal College Journal .