Education and Politics: A Shotgun Wedding. Position Paper.

The document discussed the political realities facing American Indian communities as these communities move toward Indian control of quality education. The experiences with the Pine Point school suggested the 2 major functions of an experimental community school were: (1) to show methods for improving education; and (2) to demonstrate how to put together the resources to establish and nourish a program. The first function demanded educational resourcefulness and the second demanded political resourcefulness. The political dimension is usually unrecognized and underestimated, causing Indian communities to be badly served by schools almost all the time and making them politically dispossessed and relatively powerless. The document covered: (1) the history of the Pine Point Experimental Community School and problems encountered; (2) the legal argument for tribal recognition as political entity; and (3) re-emphasis on the political dimensions involved in alternative programs for Indian students with considerations for organizers of such demonstration programs. (FF)