The Christian Science Monitor has an excellent article on the state of American Indian education. It begins:
On a snowy December night, nine teenage girls sit shoulder to shoulder around the kitchenette table, telling stories. Not dorm gossip, mind you, but stories that have been passed down for generations in their native cultures.
One reads a favorite Navajo picture book in English – a modern twist on an oral tradition. When she comes to a part that should be sung in Navajo, she hesitates, then passes it to a friend who remembers – mostly – how to sing it. The singer wears a black T-shirt with white lettering: “You laugh because I’m different. I laugh because you’re all the same.”
The article — the first of two — is highly recommended.