Culture and Indigenous education.

Culture in modern times is seen as a sense of political thought rather than artistic ideology, with evolving needs and concerns with the growing number of migration and multiculturalism in counties. ‘Culture is a form of politics’ (Leonardo, 2009, p.3). It is a sense of achieving justice for those minority groups, what gets done with culture? E.g. the equivalence of culture with behavior, the treatment of women in relation to religion and the ways in which educational industries are structured all fall under the notion of cultural politics.

 For example in relation to the students from the Indigenous cultural background schooling is seen not so productive over a vast majority of them. In relation to Indigenous students within schools, there is a conflict between the thoughts of parents and the educators.

-Educators stress on parental attitude & home environment which effects retention rates and levels of absenteeism.

-Parents stress on school related factors such as poor teaching and inability to interact with Indigenous students in the same way they do with non-indigenous students.

 They have many disadvantages to way they aren't so productive in the classroom which include the fact that coming from the Indigenous culture, for most their first language is not English. Also the fact that there is a low rate of actual Indigenous Teachers in the educational system, this also affects the Indigenous students as they do not feel a cultural belonging or a sense of being able to communicate at a cultural level at school. As seen in the article on SBS news with the stricking headline,

'Appalling' conditions Indigenous schools

By Micheal Kenny, 1 Oct 2013 places emphasis on current curriculum and the physical states of Indigenous schools that are in appalling conditions. It is said that due to the physical state of the schools that Indigenous students attend is one of the main factors to which there is low attendance rates of Indigenous students. As Karina Lester an aboriginal language worker believes and states that the current school curriculum is generally out of step with many Indigenous students because it tends to be developed by bureaucrats in faraway capital cities who have little understanding of the day to day needs of remote communities. In my point of view I agree with Ms. Lester’s view as she makes an important point that government policies and school curriculum decisions are made by people who are not firsthand witnesses of the state of some indigenous students within schools. I also found Ms. Lester’s view that a key part of fostering cultural identity in remote communities lies in encouraging the teaching of local Indigenous languages in schools. I believe that the school curriculum should include in its system the teaching of Indigenous languages as it is a key factor allowing Indigenous students to feel a connection to their homeland and also encouraging them to attend school as they build a sense of cultural identity within schools.

For more information refer to the full article: 

 http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/10/01/appalling-conditions-indigenous-schools

Also to have a thought of Indigenous students perspective and ambitions of where or what they want to be in life this link will give you a perception of the sense of ambitions that some Indigenous students have.
VERY TOUCHING!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zHIeglzFv38 

References:

Leonardo, Z. (2009). Affirming ambivalence: Introduction to cultural politics and education. In Z. Leonardo (Ed.), Handbook of Cultural Politics and Education (pp.1-48), Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.