Trauma in Transition

Abstract

This ethnographic study, conducted among Sioux Indian students in a Canadian prairie high school and reserve, describes the effect of macrostructural factors—factors created by a history of social relationships between Indians and whites—on the academic performance of indigenous students. It is that very relationship that allows educators in the non-Native high school to attribute the cause of low student performance levels to the characteristics of the students, rather than seeing student behavior as a response to an environment that the students experience as hostile. The study provides a description of the students' experiences during the transition from reserve elementary school to public high school. It describes how Indian students respond to a school environment that operates without consideration of In­dian culture. Factors leading to the performance of Indian students before and after the tran­sition between schools are addressed.