EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT FOR INDIAN ADULTS: THE ROLE OF SELF-DETERMINATION

The Indian Education Act (IEA) has been funded since 1972. This Act, guided by traditional theories of education reform, assumes a positive relationship between increased educational attainment and employment for Indians. The present work represents the first assessment of the relationship between education and employment for Indians which utilizes data reflecting the impact of the IEA. A secondary analysis of the data file provided by the Office of Indian Education's 1981 National Indian Adult Education Needs Survey was used to examine relationships between educational attainment and employment, unemployment, and underemployment for Indians. This secondary analysis shows that the relationship between education and employment for Indians is not simple and direct, but is mediated by factors related to geographic region, degree of tribal organization, and the extent of self-determination exercised in adult education programs. The theory-testing results of the present work are developed and applied to present a theory of self-determined Indian adult education for social change. A critical model of education for social change in the Indian community is presented which incorporates and applies the adult education theory and pedagogy of Paulo Freire. The relationship between critical adult education, consciousness, and social change is presented in a model which shows the promise for social change held by the IEA and Indian self-determination rights.