Montana tribe opts for schools off reservation

[Francis Hult]

San Francisco Chronicle

 

Montana tribe opts for schools off reservation

Better education offered at in-town schools, they claim

 

One of the last traditional chiefs of the Crow Indian tribe, named Plenty Coups, had a vision as the Old West was fading. Education would be the way of the future, he said - a choice to be either the "the white man's victim" or "the white man's equal."

 

Roberta Walks Over Ice was among those who heard that message, from her grandfather. She then continued the tradition, preaching the value of education to her daughter, Jasmine, 15.

 

But the zeal for learning that took root in such families is now coming with a cost. Many families like the Walks Over Ices are deciding that off-reservation public schools in this small, mostly white ranching town are a better choice than schools on the reservation.

 

Hardin High School, 55 percent white in 2000, is now 70 percent American Indian. On the reservation, at Lodge Grass High School, more than a third of the student enrollment in 2000 has melted away.

 

Full story:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/08/MNC210TBC6.DTL

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