Historically, Mexican education for indigenous children has reinforced linguistic ethnocide and assimilation in inefficient schools of low educational quality. Assimilationist policies generated interethnic, political, and economic conflicts. Recent constitutional changes resulted in minimal changes nationally, but a recent Oaxacan law protects…

Three graduate courses on indigenous education at the University of Massachusetts focus on developing critical thinking skills, the need for indigenous people to educate themselves, education as a tool of colonization, and the relationship between indigenous issues and educational reform. The study of indigenous education should be incorporated…

Educational reforms in Mexico to preserve indigenous linguistic and cultural rights often originate in Mexico City and lack grassroots support. Although native language instruction improves literacy development and preserves culture, Native parents may reject it because Spanish is the language of status. However, some indigenous communities in…

A University of Yucatan (Mexico) professor who taught a Mayan linguistics course to indigenous teachers in Mayan discusses three issues that are central to understanding how indigenous education interacts with pan-Maya identity: the importance of locally developed Maya literature, the symbols used to define Maya culture, and a conflict over Maya…

Guatemala is overhauling its justice system to be more congruent with its indigenous reality. A Rafael Landivar University program trains indigenous legal translators not only in legal and linguistic aspects, but also in strengthening indigenous identity and student commitment to the community. Challenges and future plans are described. A former…

In Chiapas (Mexico), the public schools call themselves bilingual, but in reality they consider traditional languages inferior and teach only in Spanish. Sna Jtz'ibajom, a Chiapas group that preserves Mayan culture through oral and written literature, founded a community school that has taught over 2,000 men, women, and children to read and write…

The Browning (Montana) school district on the Blackfeet reservation teaches Blackfeet studies, language, arts, and crafts. Discusses the benefits of Native studies for Native and non-Native students, the value of experiential learning and storytelling, and the importance of respecting elders' rights to impart certain knowledge at the right time…