Why is indigenous education different to non-indigenous education

Out of 500,00 aboriginals within Australia about 350,000 live in towns and cities and about 100,000 live in remote areas which includes 30,000 children. In the urban areas the education and any issues are usually the same as non-indigenous education 90% of the time. Some of these problems that are affecting education for the non-indigenous would be the same for indigenous children like access to good schools, teachers and a stable family structure, which affect all children's education. One problem is that most of the teachers who teach indigenous children are non-indigenous teachers so therefore do not usually have a great knowledge of the aboriginal history or know what it is like to be an indigenous child. For instance teachers expect their students to look them in the eye when spoken to. Indigenous children as part of their culture are told never not to look an elder in the eye as it is a sign of disrespect. Teachers who do not understand their culture would think their behaviour is rude and disrespectful and even appear stupid. This would affect their confidence and possibly their learning. However In the remote areas there are another set of major problems affecting indigenous children's education.

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