Career Development Needs of Native Americans on Reservations
This paper examines the career developmental needs of Native Americans, with particular attention to those residing on reservations and in urban areas of the Southwestern United States. Drawing on a qualitative review of historical and contemporary literature, the paper traces legislative efforts, vocational training programs, and educational initiatives from the 1970s through the 2000s. It highlights persistent barriers—including high dropout rates, disability, substance abuse, geographic isolation, and cultural conflict with mainstream employment values—while also documenting promising collaborative models designed to support Native American youth in transitioning to postsecondary education and careers. The paper concludes that culturally grounded, tribally led programs have proven most effective in advancing educational and economic outcomes for Native youth.
- Background of the Study: Legislative history and BIA vocational training context
- Methodology: Qualitative, ethnographic literature review approach
- Literature Review: 1970s: Natural resource development and human capital gaps
- Literature Review: 1980s and 1990s: Dropout rates, disability, and unimplemented federal initiatives
- Literature Review: 2000s: Collaborative tribal models and postsecondary transition programs
- Summary and Conclusion: Progress through collaborative, culturally grounded programs
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses a clearly organized decade-by-decade literature review, making it easy to trace the historical arc of policy and practice affecting Native American career development.
- It effectively integrates primary legislative references (e.g., the Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act, IDEA) with scholarly sources, grounding policy claims in both legal and academic authority.
- The paper balances systemic critique—noting that legislation often outpaced real-world implementation—with constructive examples of collaborative models that have shown measurable results.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates historical-qualitative synthesis: rather than collecting new empirical data, it constructs an argument by sequencing and interpreting published studies and government reports across multiple decades. This technique allows the writer to identify long-term patterns (such as the recurring gap between congressional intent and reservation-level outcomes) that single-period studies would miss.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a problem statement and legislative background, transitions into a methodology section that explains the qualitative, literature-based approach, and then moves through three chronological literature review sections (1970s, 1980s/1990s, and 2000s). Each section introduces new sources and builds on the previous period's findings. A brief concluding section synthesizes the overall trajectory. The structure mirrors a standard research paper format while adapting it to a historical review purpose.
Background of the Study
The work of Joseph B. Delcruz entitled "Educational Programs for Native Americans: Implications for Vocational Education Research and Development" states that legislation was enacted in the early 1960s by Congress and the Kennedy-Johnson Administration that was "more responsive to Native Americans" (Delcruz, 1978). Delcruz relates that these legislative changes advanced to the passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act of 1975 (P.L. 93-638), which states in part that "the Congress hereby recognizes the obligation of the Indian People for self-determination" and that "the Indian people will never surrender their desire to control their relationships both among themselves and non-Indian governments, organizations, and persons" (Delcruz, 1978).
Delcruz writes that the problem was that the treaties "contained provisions for vocational training, but the training was superimposed with assumptions by non-Indians as to the type of training and the process of instruction" (Delcruz, 1978). He states that congressional legislation focused on reservation-based development, and that the Indian Self-Determination Act "provides contracting authority for Indian Tribes to assume programs previously administered by the BIA or Indian Health Service" (Delcruz, 1978).
According to Delcruz's historical review (1978), various training programs — specifically the BIA's Indian Action Teams, started in 1972, and the Department of Labor's CETA programs — made provisions for employment on reservations to support tribal development. Delcruz states specifically that the U.S. Office of Education's setting aside of a mere "one percent" for Indians is a "blatant indication that historical relationships change slower than congressional wisdom or social realities" (Delcruz, 1978).
Methodology
The methodology of this study is qualitative in nature and is conducted through an extensive review of the available literature in this specific area of study. It takes the form of a historical review of the literature, drawing on the most relevant and recent information available. While much of this review concerns the law, it is also ethnographic in nature, as it shares the personal stories and experiences of being a Native American Indian within the legal climate of the United States — both in principle and in application.
Literature Review: 1970s
At the time Delcruz wrote his report in 1978, he noted that vocational training had not been gearing Native American communities toward:
"…utilization of our land and natural resources, and has not equipped us to do anything to assume jobs that were related to development of the land and natural resources… If we control our natural resources, then we should develop those natural resources. We can only develop those natural resources if we have the technical skills and manpower to do so… Our people never had the opportunity to participate to any effective degree in the development of their human resources so that they can do these things with their natural resources. People do not realize that we control vast amounts of natural resources and the only reason that we aren't developing them and utilizing them to our benefit is because we don't have the human resources, the trained, experienced people that do it…" (Delcruz, 1978)
These words were reported by Delcruz to have been stated in June 1977 by Warren Means, a Native American and former member of the National Advisory Council on Vocational Education.
Bibliography
Belgarde, Mary Jiron and Lore, Richard K. (2004). The Retention/Intervention Study of Native American Undergraduates at the University of New Mexico. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2004.
Shafer, Michael S. and Rangasamy, R. (1995). Transition and Native American Youth: A Follow-up Study of School Leavers on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Journal of Rehabilitation, Jan–Mar 1995.
Pathways to Possibilities: Supporting the Transition of American Indian High School Youth. [University]. Transition Projects for American Indian Youth.
Native Pathway to Adulthood: Training for Tribal and Non-Tribal Child Welfare Workers. Center for Youth Services, [University]. 2004.
The Path Before Me: Questions to Guide American Indian Youth Toward Responsible Living. 1997. National Resource Center for Youth Services, [University].
Tribal Approaches to Transition. 2004. National Resource Center for Youth Services, [University].
Quotah, Eman and Chalmers, Rebecca (2006). Tribal Programs Harness Cultural Strengths to Improve Conditions for Families and Youth. The EXCHANGE: News from FYSB and the Youth Services Field, April 2006. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau.
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