Assimilation of Native American Education During my research in the assimilation of Native American Education, it was both interesting and alarming to learn of how the Americans assimilated the Native Americans into their White society. The focus of my paper is on how the assimilation of Native Americans was carried out in relation to their education and culture change. As well as, listing and describing certain types of schools created by the government to attain this. It is necessary to include how a typical day in the life of a Native American was spent; therefore, I have included a brief description of a day. In conclusion, there is a discussion of the reactions to boarding schools and the changing process in Native American culture and education. Life before Americans Reservation life prior to the European exploration was spiritually fulfilling for the Native Americans. For example, children were seen as the sons and daughters of the whole tribe, not just of those who bore them. The children were taught multiple skills such skills included: herbal remedies, how to worship, how to live off land, their tribes native tongue, and much more. There was no set school curriculum or organized process set forth by the Native Americans, which the Americans found as a flaw or disadvantage for the children. Americans adopted their place in lending Native Americans a hand in the matters of order and civility. Americans used several methods to in attain that Native American assimilate into their culture or White society as they saw fit without regards to old culture practices. Americans carried out several assimilation techniques that forced Native Americans to change their entire belief system, culture, and customs. Assimilation, is ... ... middle of paper ... ...oo late. What was lost of the Native American culture and beliefs can never be fully recovered. Works Cited “Assimilate.” Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. “School as Cultural Warfare.” Not School, 26 Apr. 2005. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. “Boarding School Era.” Prezi.com. Ed. Amber Williamson. N.p., 19 Nov. 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Marr, Carolyn J. “Assimilation through Education.” American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. “Melting Pot.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Spring, Joel H. "Chapter 6: Student Diversity." American Education. Sixth ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 143. Print. Spring, Joel H. “Chapter 6: Student Diversity.” American Education. Sixth ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 145. Print. Bear, Charla. "American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many." NPR. NPR, 12 May 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Through Laws, treaties and proclamations it becomes clear of the transfer of power between Native Americas and colonizing powers within the US and Canada. One significant treaty was Treaty NO. 9 in which Native Americans gave up their aboriginal title and land for money, hunting right, entrance into the christian school system and a Canadian flag presented to the Chief. The treaties described define the cascading effect of how western powers came into control of land at which Native Americans resided in. Specifically converging on the using Native Americans “elites” to influence other Native Americans into adopting western cultural beliefs, overshadowing the diverse Native American cultural practices. The overshadowing and belittling of Native American culture is not only expressed through the several treaties presented to Native Americans across history but also through real life accounts of Native American children adopted into the western school system. This sections places into the prospective the monopolization of Native American land and
In 1887 the federal government launched boarding schools designed to remove young Indians from their homes and families in reservations and Richard Pratt –the leader of Carlisle Indian School –declared, “citizenize” them. Richard Pratt’s “Kill the Indian… and save the man” was a speech to a group of reformers in 1892 describing the vices of reservations and the virtues of schooling that would bring young Native Americans into the mainstream of American society.
Ohiyesa’s father, Jacob “Many Lightnings” Eastman was instrumental in his assimilation into the white man’s culture, beginning with his education. Unlike many other Native American children in boarding schools, Charles learned to read and write in his native language. This progressive program of learning was often criticized because of the fear felt among American settlers after the Great Sioux Uprising. The settlers, as well as the government agencies, sought only acculturation of the Indians into the w...
Our spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding school is an 80 minute documentary that details the mental and physical abuse that the Native Americans endured during the Indian Boarding school experience from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. In the beginning going to school for Indian children meant listening to stories told by tribal elders, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and storytellers. These tales past down from generation to generation were metaphors for the life experience and their relationships to plants and animals. Native children from birth were also taught that their appearance is a representation of pure thoughts and spiritual status of an individual.
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
People have been living in America for countless years, even before Europeans had discovered and populated it. These people, named Native Americans or American Indians, have a unique and singular culture and lifestyle unlike any other. Native Americans were divided into several groups or tribes. Each one tribe developed an own language, housing, clothing, and other cultural aspects. As we take a look into their society’s customs we can learn additional information about the lives of these indigenous people of the United States.
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
At these boarding schools, Native American children were able to leave their Indian reservations to attend schools that were often run by wealthy white males. These individuals often did not create these schools with the purest of intentions for they often believed that land occupied by Native American Tribes should be taken from them and put to use; it is this belief that brought about the purpose of the boarding schools which was to attempt to bring the Native American community into mainstream society (Bloom, 1996). These boarding schools are described to have been similar to a military institution or a private religious school. The students were to wear uniforms and obey strict rules that included not speaking one’s native tongue but rather only speaking English. Punishments for not obeying such rules often included doing laborious chores or being physically reprimanded (Bloom, 1996). Even with hars...
The Native Americans religion "reflected their cultural practices" (Lauter, 5). The Indians religious practices were associated with their me...
This source will equip the argument for utilizing diversity as an educational apparatus that supports student development and learning. The showcase of the impact of diverse student engagement will definitely be useful for providing a strong reasoning for showcasing how the experience of students in the US schooling system shapes the educational experiences of diversified student groups. Dixson, A., & Rousseau, C. (2005). And we are still not saved: critical race theory in education ten years later.... ...
"Native American Youth 101." Aspen Institue. Aspen Institues, 24 July 11. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
This student recognizes that there are two sides to every story, and this argument will probably remain for an extended period of time. However, after gathering all the data from multiple credible sources she does believe that the Indian boarding schools had no place among Native American nations and were destructive to them, because of abuse, the loss of their own culture and language, and forced separation from families and tribes. Many former students admit that the boarding schools effectively taught Native people to view themselves as a sub-class within white American society. What was done to the American Indian nation could be considered as one of the forms of genocide, as explained in the international human rights arena, is "forcibly removing groups of people away from their families and homes.” (Pember 27)
Boarding school experiences resulted in direct causes for interpersonal violence within the Native American communities. While the experiences of Native Americans in boarding schools is not entirely lost on the dominant American population, the brutal reality and resulting consequences for Native communities is not fully appreciated. Poupart (2003) explains that it is estimated that nearly three quarters of Native Americans that attended Euro-American ran boarding schools, where they were forced to assimilate into dominant culture or else, experienced physical and sexual abuse regularly. Native Americans were forced to cut their hair, don dominant culture clothing, were beaten if they spoke their Native language, and removed from their cultural way of life to learn skills that the dominant culture found fitting. In fact, boarding school abuse was so prevalent for Native Americans that there are existing communities where not a single living adult did not experience or witness abuse. What results out of generations growing up in boarding schools is not only a loss of culture, but a loss of
To examine the changing identity of America, one must look first at America’s first citizens, the Native Americans. While no one can simply place all Native Americans under the same group, many of the tribes held the same ideals. One ideal
Diversity in classrooms can open student’s minds to all the world has to offer. At times diversity and understanding of culture, deviant experiences and perspectives can be difficult to fulfill, but with appropriate strategies and resources, it can lead students to gain a high level of respect for those unlike them, preferably from a judgmental and prejudiced view. Diversity has a broad range of spectrums. Students from all across the continent; students from political refugees, indigenous Americans, and immigrants bring their cultural and linguistic skills to American classrooms. Students not only bring their cultural and linguistic skills, but they bring their ethnicity, talents, and skills.