Williams Deborah H, Shipley Gerhard P
1Department of Environmental Science, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210 USA.
2Indigenous and American Indian Studies Department, Haskell Indian Nations University, 155 Indian Ave., Lawrence, KS 66046 USA.
Int J STEM Educ. 2018;5(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s40594-018-0114-7. Epub 2018 Apr 11.
Native Americans are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We investigated whether having to violate cultural taboos might be a factor in the decisions of some Native Americans not to pursue STEM degrees. Many STEM faculty likely know very little about Native Americans' historical experiences with an education system that has been used to forcibly acculturate them and so may not be aware of the threat many Native Americans perceive from curricula that claim cultural neutrality yet require Native Americans to violate strongly held cultural beliefs.
We reviewed the relevant literature, surveyed 96 students from 42 different tribes, and interviewed two STEM and two non-STEM faculty at Haskell Indian Nations University. We found that 50% of survey respondents generally observe tribal taboos, 38% would choose not to pursue a science major if they knew or suspected that doing so would require them to violate an important tribal taboo, and 67% would be more likely to take science classes if the science curriculum was more respectful of tribal taboos. The most problematic activities and animals encountered in laboratory classes include, in order of discomfort level, human dissection, human bodies, animal dissection, snakes, spiders, and lizards.
Increasing Native American participation in STEM requires that their cultural concerns regarding STEM curricula be acknowledged and addressed. This is important for several reasons. First, Native Americans have the highest poverty rate of all racial/ethnic groups, while STEM graduates have higher employment rates and salaries than non-STEM graduates. Second, increasing diversity in STEM supports cognitive growth and critical thinking, benefits problem solving, and contributes to increasing productivity, creativity, and global competitiveness. Third, there is a long history of exploitation of Native Americans and their lands by scientists and engineers, so it is particularly important to increase Native American participation so that their interests are represented in these professions. Many Native Americans' concerns can be proactively and reasonably accommodated to provide a more respectful and welcoming learning and working environment and increase their participation in STEM, to everyone's benefit.
美国原住民在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域的代表性不足。我们调查了是否必须违反文化禁忌可能是一些美国原住民决定不攻读STEM学位的一个因素。许多STEM学科的教员可能对美国原住民在一个曾被用于强制使其文化同化的教育体系中的历史经历知之甚少，因此可能没有意识到许多美国原住民从那些声称文化中立但却要求他们违反强烈持有的文化信仰的课程中察觉到的威胁。
我们查阅了相关文献，对来自42个不同部落的96名学生进行了调查，并采访了哈斯克尔印第安民族大学的两名STEM学科教员和两名非STEM学科教员。我们发现，50%的调查受访者普遍遵守部落禁忌，38%的受访者表示，如果他们知道或怀疑攻读科学专业会要求他们违反重要的部落禁忌，就会选择不攻读该专业，67%的受访者表示，如果科学课程更尊重部落禁忌，他们就更有可能选修科学课程。在实验课中遇到的最成问题的活动和动物，按不适程度排序为：人体解剖、人体、动物解剖、蛇、蜘蛛和蜥蜴。
提高美国原住民在STEM领域的参与度需要承认并解决他们对STEM课程的文化担忧。这一点很重要，原因有几个。首先，美国原住民是所有种族/族裔群体中贫困率最高的，而STEM专业毕业生的就业率和薪资高于非STEM专业毕业生。其次，提高STEM领域的多样性有助于认知发展和批判性思维，有利于解决问题，并有助于提高生产力、创造力和全球竞争力。第三，科学家和工程师对美国原住民及其土地的剥削由来已久，因此提高美国原住民的参与度尤为重要，以便让他们的利益在这些职业中得到体现。许多美国原住民的担忧可以得到积极合理的解决，以提供一个更尊重和包容的学习与工作环境，并提高他们在STEM领域的参与度，这对每个人都有好处。
