Tracing the history of American Indian education from the coming of the white man to the present day, this position paper presents evaluations and recommendations from an Indian point of view. Among the major topic divisions are: (1) Historical Background; (2) Government Support of Early Indian Education; (3) Early Education Falls Short of Its Goals; (4) Civil War Marks the Turning Point in Improved Education; (5) Successful Indian Operated Schools; (6) The Treaty Period; (7) The Allotment Act; (8) Education, Coercion, and Religious Persecution; (9) The Meriam Report; (10) The Indian Reorganization Act; (11) World War II; A Period of Retrogression; (12) Federal Funds That Support Indian Education in Public Schools (Impact Aid, the Johnson O'Malley Act, and Title I funds); (13) Public Schools Have Failed Indians; (14) Special Subcommittee Hearings on Indian Education: 1967-69 United States Senate; (15-17) The Failure of Federal Schools: Historical Development, Evaluation, and Recommendations (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Boarding Schools, Day Schools, etc.). Emphasizing the racial, religious, and instructional inequities found in the Federal Schools, the latter part of this paper focuses on the cause-effect relationship of poor, insensitive education and poor mental health as manifest in Indian student drug abuse, criminality, low achievement rates, cultural conflicts, and general unhappiness. (JC)