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The Seventh Generation: Native Youth Speak About Finding the Good Path Dr. Thomas Peacock Professor Department of Education University of Minnesota, Deluth These kids had to deal with all different kinds of oppression in all its current forms, institutional, overt and covert racism, schools that are not functioning, communities that are in trouble, and they also happen to deal with something that we might call internalized depression.

Dr. Peacock presented the findings from interviews that he and a colleague conducted with 120 Native American students from all over the U.S. and Canada. They asked the students about:

• Their views on schools, teachers, and schooling

• What things impede their lives and what make their lives easier

• How they are trying to follow the Good Path

The findings are also published in the book The Seventh Generation.
Listed below are the key findings:

• The students talked about who they are and all the things that make life tough. All of the students had dealt with multiple traumas, and as a result, they had experienced some degree of “positive affective destruction” (when things get tough people shut down).

• Different people have different breaking points and capacity for resilience.

• The students talked about historical oppression of Native Americans, racism, internalized depression, and the clash between full blood Native Americans and half breeds.

• It seems that we are now in a period of strong cultural and spiritual revitalization in Native American communities.

• Key things that helped the students overcome the difficulties included spirituality, intuition, and prayer.

• Some of the values the students talked about were honoring elders and women, keeping promises, honoring one’s strengths, being kind to everyone, and being peaceful in relationships with other people.

BIOGRAPHY

Thomas Peacock is an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Minnesota, Duluth where he coordinates and teaches graduate programs (M.Ed. and Ed.D.) in education and educational leadership. He is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and a graduate of Harvard University (M.Ed. and Ed.D.) He is author/co-author of Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education, The Seventh Generation, The Good Path, A Forever Story, and Ojibwe Waasa Inaabida Da (We Look In All Directions).