Indian Boarding Schools Research Paper

Indian “boarding” schools were places of reformation. At first the adults were targeted, but after their efforts were proved futile because of too much resistance, they switched to the children, who were of course more pliable. At first Christian missionaries established some on the reservations where schools were too far for the children to attend, but then the government got even more involved. So even though there were day schools on the reservations, the “… reformers preferred off-reservation boarding schools where children could be isolated from the “contaminating” influences of parents, friends, and family.” Simply put, the sole purpose of the schools was to “…restructure the Indian’s minds and personalities.” Their appearances were changed (hair was cut,

One example of a Native American that went through this “education” is Helen Sekaquaptewa (Hopi). She recalled the day that her and the other children were rounded up and forced into the wagons to be taken away. “Evenings we would gather together in a corner and cry softly so the matron would not hear and scold or spank us… We were a group of homesick, lonesome, little girls…” Some kids died because they contracted diseases from children from different tribes, such as trachoma and tuberculosis, and some even committed suicide because of the harsh conditions. Albeit they were very controversial, and still are today, there were some positive outcomes/aspects of these boarding schools. It connected tribes that would have never come in contact, formed close bonds between the children, led to jobs in the Indian government, marriages between classmates, political and personal alliances, buying houses in urban areas, and multiple tribal universities and community colleges were founded, but at a very steep price. The negative aspects most definitely outweighed the