God Dogs and Education: Comanche Traditional Cultural Innovation and Three Generations of Tippeconnic Men

ABSTRACT In my dissertation, “God Dogs and Education: Comanche Traditional Cultural Innovation and Three Generations of Tippeconnic Men,” addresses two interconnected themes: it provides a biography of three generations of Comanche men, Tippeconnic, John Tippeconnic and Norman Tippeconnic, and it offers an examination of the Comanche cultural principles, or ethos, that guided each of them through three different historical eras in the years, 1852-1987. In this research I examine the transition that Comanche people made from their origins as Shoshone people to a distinct group that controlled the majority of the southern plains. I argue that that the Comanche ethos enabled our people to become the dominant plains horse culture. I also argue that it was this cultural ethos that provided the Comanche with the ability to deal with the involuntary changes impressed upon them as their way of life on the plains ended and the reservation period began following the Red River War. I contend that the Comanche ethos was ingrained in most aspects of rearing children. Further, I explore the methods Comanche people utilized to instill this ethos in their children. This dissertation argues that the transmission of cultural values survived another involuntary transition in the early twentieth century as the Comanche reservation was broken up into allotments. I explore the lives of three generation of Comanche men, Tippeconnic, John Tippeconnic and Norman Tippeconnic whose lives spanned the pre reservation era, the reservation era, the allotment era and the post allotment era. In addition, this dissertation explores the methods in which pre reservation Comanche men achieved social status and contends that the horse was the primary vehicle for both the transference of the Comanche ethos and the method to attain social status. The areas of critical examination include the aforementioned historical periods but also the adoption of western based education. My primary argument is that John Tippeconnic was able to successfully shift the method whereby Comanche men could achieve social recognition and prestige in the twentieth century to education due to the Comanche ethos

Using Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Assessments to Ensure that American Indian and Alaska Native Students Recieve the Special Education Programs and Services They Need

The American Indian and Alaska Native Education Research Agenda (Research Agenda Working Group, Strang & von Glatz, 2001) represents the most recent formal call for research leading to improved assessments for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students with special learning needs. Similar calls were recorded at hearings and published in commissioned papers in the early 1990s (Cahape, 1993; Johnson, 1991). The disproportionate number of AI/AN students receiving special education services and identified as limited English proficient (LEP) indicates an ongoing need for the research. This Digest briefly reviews the legislation and literature pertaining to the influence of language and culture in making referrals, administering assessments, and providing appropriate services and programs to AI/AN students

AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: FACTORS RELATED TO THEIR UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE ENTRANCE.

The purposes of this study were to identify selected characteristics of American Indian entering freshman students and to identify selected factors related to the increasing number entering two- or four-year colleges or universities. In addition, the identified characteristics and factors were compared with a sample of Mexican American/Chicanos and in selected areas with other white/Caucasians to determine similarities and differences between the three groups. Six research questions were formulated and examined to achieve the purposes of this study. The data were extracted from the annual freshmen surveys for fall 1966, 1972, and 1978 of the Cooperative Institutional Research Project (CIRP), and the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS). The variables selected and analyzed from the annual freshmen surveys were sex, age, high-school rank, concern about finances, enrollment status, need for academic help, probable major field of study, probable careers, highest degree planned, type of institutions attended, control of institutions attended, regions of institutions attended, and reasons for selecting a particular institution. NLS variables used were community orientation, family orientation, work orientation, self-concept, locus of control, socioeconomic status, sources of planned and used financial aid, and information on continuing college students. The statistical procedures used to analyze the data were frequency counts, percentages, and the t-test of significance. The data indicated that changes had occurred between 1966 and 1978 on selected characteristics of American Indian entering freshman students. The comparisons of American Indian with Mexican American/Chicano and/or white/Caucasian entering freshman students showed more similarities than differences on selected characteristics, particularly in 1978. The findings showed community orientation, family orientation, and work orientation were not associated with entrance into college for the three groups studied. Whereas, self-concept, locus of control, and socioeconomic status were associated with entrance into college for the three groups. Sources of financial aid varied for each group, and at least 70 percent of all students from each group continued in college. Further study is recommended on American Indians at all levels of higher education because data is not plentiful

The design and operation of a versatile vapor-liquid equilibrium still

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