‘Numbers Game’ Played in Indian Education Program

I was surprised to read that one of your contributors to a story on Indian education said, “We can’t teach anyone to be an Indian.” I hope that was a misquote. Good Lord, we’re not trying to teach children to “be” Indians. We don’t expect them to mount their ponies, wrap themselves in skins, strap bows and arrows on their backs and ride off into the sunset to live off the land. What we do want to teach them is that their ancestors were Indians, and they did live that way, and they did play an important part in the history of our nation and that they should be proud of their Indian heritage.

I agree that the Indian culture should be in the regular history curriculum, but can you remember how Indians have been depicted in the past?

In Westminster, we have our children studying their Indian culture. We want to give them every benefit they are entitled to whether they have a “number” or not. And while we’re speaking of “numbers” for documentation purposes, how do you justify this: If an illegal alien’s child arrives at our school, we must take him or her. No questions can be asked. We also have a free lunch program. Parents fill in a simple form stating their income and sign it. The child then gets a free lunch every day on the “word of the parent.” We don’t ask for documentation of the “numbers” they put down on this form.

We also have a bilingual program in our district. Any parent who writes down that a foreign language is spoken in their home gets special attention.

OK, it’s not the child’s fault, I’ll accept that. Let’s not worry about the “numbers game.”

Now we get to the Indian Education Program, including the descendants of the people who were here in North America before any of our ancestors. These people must have a “number” that was issued to their ancestors in 1910, 1928 and 1940 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. When parents fill out the form that says they are of Indian heritage, they sign a statement that says falsification of information is subject to penalty under law.” Isn’t that enough? It’s enough for any other group of people or program.

By the way, I do not receive any salary from the Indian Education Program, and I am not Indian.

GUY CARROZZO

Sequoia School principal

Westminster School District

Guy Carrozzo is supervisor of the Indian Education Program .