The following editorial originally appeared in the Yakima Herald-Republic:
For centuries, white America has sought to reshape, redirect or outright eradicate Native culture.
Under the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the United States government established harsh boarding schools across the West that tore children away from their families for the purpose of bleaching out their traditional beliefs and customs.
Surely by now, you’d think, we can all see the value of understanding and preserving Indigenous cultures.
Apparently not, though.
Nearly a decade after Washington lawmakers mandated that all public schools include a Native studies program called Since Time Immemorial, most districts in the state aren’t in full compliance. A few school boards, it seems, are dragging their feet or resisting the requirement altogether, a recent report in the Washington State Standard suggests.
While a state Board of Education report found that 80 percent to 90 percent of Washington’s school districts are incorporating cultural studies to some degree, no one can say how much they’re putting into it.
But a bill is afoot in the state House that could address that. Whatcom County Democrat Debra Lekanoff is sponsoring House Bill 1332, which would establish minimum standards and a deadline for including Since Time Immemorial materials in all public classrooms.
Adding standards for the curriculum, which is endorsed by all 29 federally recognized tribes, could open the door to state grants that could help administer the program.
Unfortunate as it is that lawmakers didn’t think to include standards when they passed the original Since Time Immemorial bill, revisiting the legislation with Lekanoff’s fixes is the logical way forward now.
This is curriculum that offers direct benefits to every community in the state. Though Native students have Washington’s lowest graduation rates, studies prove that cultural studies improve their chances of success — and lower dropout rates mean healthier, more productive citizens and lower crime rates. Everybody wins.
It shouldn’t be a stretch to understand that students are more likely to engage with their studies if they see themselves reflected in the curriculum. As 19-year-old Miranda Lopez told the Washington State Standard, she had little interest in school until a Native studies course at her high school in Lacey set her on a path to a teaching career.
“So when you put something like this in front of students, especially Native American students … and you tell stories of successful people, it opens up a sea of opportunities for a child. It changes the way they look at life,” she said.
Exactly.
It’s a lesson we should’ve learned decades ago, particularly given the history of this part of the country.
After all these years, maybe the Since Time Immemorial curriculum will help us finally understand.
