Tribes Call for Lakota-based Education

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Tribal members in South Dakota are calling for their own Lakota-based curriculum for students.

The Rapid City Journal reports that education was one of the topics discussed at the final day of a three-day gathering of tribes in Rapid City.

Tuffy Lunderman is a council representative for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He estimates that about 80 percent of Lakota children do not graduate from high school.

Lunderman is calling for a Lakota curriculum. He says tribes would still focus on core subjects like reading, writing and math but they would incorporate the subjects with Lakota language, spirituality and history.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.