Gyasi Ross: Formal education is in the genes of our Native DNA

Native grads, please recognize that you all come from noble histories of FORMAL education. That’s right—“formal.” Many people would lie to you and say that Native people have not had much success in educational systems. Those are filthy lies and are intended to make you think less of and devalue the powerful educational structures of your ancestors and also to second-guess your ability to compete in these western institutions. You can compete. In fact, you SHOULD succeed and excel. Education is in your genes—follow me for a second:

1) Native people, for tens of thousands of years, developed individual talents for the benefit of the community.

2) The way that many of those communities developed that talent was via “societies” or guilds that were constructed to develop expertise in a particular discipline (seamstressing, hunting, war/fighting, fishing, medicine/healing etc). These societies were formalized and structured (and oftentimes involuntary), not just a bunch of Indians running around naked in the woods.

3) Those societies taught the individuals the VERY BEST PRACTICES of how to be successful within that discipline.

4) The Natives who were educated within that discipline were expected, in exchange for that education and support of the community, to contribute to the community utilizing the tools learned during that education.

5) For example, when a young person grew up in a hunting society and developed an expertise in hunting, they didn’t learn to hunt simply to feed themselves. No, they were expected to provide also for their family and for the community at large.

6) Those societies were interdependent—e.g. the hunters' hunting skills were useless without having the proper shoes fabricated from the seamstressing societies. And all societies needed the medicine societies for when the inevitable injuries came.

I reiterate: Native students, FORMAL education is hardwired in your DNA through tens of thousands of years of survival.