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Education among the Sioux people has reached crisis proportions. Only 23 percent of Sioux children graduate from high school, and among that group, only 17 percent go on to college. College graduation rates among all Native Americans hovers at around one percent, compared to just over 17 percent for the entire U.S. population. Homelessness, poverty and learning disabilities contribute to the drop-out rate, as does the lack of reading and writing experience. Statistics show that over 90 percent of 10th graders in reservation schools did not read a single book outside the classroom over the course of a year. Parental involvement is only part of the answer.
Lack of transportation keeps truancy rates high, and lack of electricity in many homes prohibits students from doing schoolwork after dark. Cultural gaps between the mostly young, non-Indian teachers and Indian students, and high teacher-turnover rates make it difficult for children to bond with their instructors. Most reservation classrooms are in a deplorable state: many without heat in the winter or air-conditioning in the summer, when outside temperatures can exceed 100 degrees. Many Sioux don't trust public schools because for many generations, their family's children were sent off to boarding school where they were forced to assimilate to white culture. Today, many reservation schools are run by "outsiders," who don't always honor the Lakota culture. On Pine Ridge, there is the Red Cloud School, a catholic boarding school, and the Pine Ridge School, which is run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. High School students have to be bussed off the reservation.
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