Thinking Indian: How we think by Richard B. Williams, published: Oct 12, 2009  in Indian Country Today.

This article was  written by Richard B. Williams,  formerly a teacher at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and now President and CEO of  the American Indian College Fund.   At the university  he taught American students with learning disabilities, and Indian students who were at varying learning levels. In this article, he  focuses on how to cope with the cognitive challenges American Indian students face when acclimating into the mainstream.

Mr. Williams points out that although the Indian students are intelligent and their scores on the ACT were high enough to allow them admission into the university, they were challenged by the “academic methodology and pedagogy.” Mr. Williams figured that the way to overcome this problem was by learning to teach to the cognitive strengths of the students. Mr. Williams makes the following observation:

“Throughout my life, I often heard people say, “You Indian people are different.” Although their meaning was derogatory, inside I knew we were different in some way. I have known many intellectually talented Indian people in my life. Many were unrecognized geniuses, sometimes only possessing an eighth grade education. I began to wonder why these brilliant people, my heroes, [were] unsuccessful in their academic pursuits.”

He began conducting research on the human brain and its functions. He arrived at the conclusion that all brains process information the same way, unless there is damage from a brain injury or disease such as Alzheimer’s or autism. To  account for the fact that process information differently form Western Europeans, he concludes that the different “Indian thinking style” can be attributed to a greater reliance on oral communication as the central mode for learning together with a greater reliance on intuition.

He further states,

“…There has been significant research related to Indian students and learning modalities, styles and specialized pedagogy, but it is often juxtaposed with Western theories of learning and cognitive processing. The tribal colleges have intrinsically become centers of “Indian thinking” and need to continue their practices and research to improve American Indian student outcomes.”

Mr. Williams presents his argument eloquently and provides sound evidence to substantiate his findings.

Suggestions for  reading activity based on this article:

Group Discussion Exercise:

Have students read the article in its entirety, and search for any unknown vocabulary words.

Place  students in groups and have them answer the following questions

1. Mr. Williams states, “Throughout my life, I often heard people say, “You Indian people are different.” Although their meaning was derogatory, inside I knew we were different in some way…”Explain his meaning.

2. Do you think people from different cultures  process information differently from people in other cultures? Explain why or why not.

3. Do you think people in your culture learn differently from people in other cultures? Explain why or why not, and provide examples.

Tags: ACT, Alzheimer's, American Indian College Fund, Autism, learning disabilities, Richard B. Williams, University of Colorado