Summary Of An Indian Father's Plea

The kindergarten teacher of a boy named Wind-Wolf, accused the boy of being a slow learner. This angered the boy’s father. Wind-Wolf’s teacher labeled him as a slow learner because he was not accustomed to Western society ways. The father in “An Indian Father’s Plea ” by Robert Lake, effectively utilizes the structure of an argument for his son’s education in his letter to his son’s teacher.

“I would like to introduce you to my son, Wind-Wolf.”(pp.75) This hook that Wind-Wolf’s father uses caught the teacher’s attention instantly because this hook is making a mockery of the teacher. This is a mockery to the teacher because it is telling the teacher that she/he doesn’t know his son at all. So the father reintroduces his son to the

teacher as his claim.The claim was effective because the teacher should had already been introduced to Wind-Wolf and to be introduced again is almost saying she is naive. The father lets the teacher know that his son has seen the world by stating, “At the age of 5 he has already been through quite a education.”(pp.75) Wind-Wolf has experienced education opportunities that his Western peers have not. “As his first introduction into the world, he was bonded to his mother and the Mother Earth in a traditional nature child built ceremony”(pp. 76) This support tells the teacher a little about Wind-Wolf’s background. Showing that she doesn’t know Wind-Wolf at all. So the father feels as if he needs to give information on Wind-Wolf’s experiences. “Wind-Wolf’s educational setting was not only a “secure environment, but it was also very colorful, complicated, sensitive, and diverse.”(pp.76) This tells the teacher that Wind-Wolf wasn’t an uneducated child, but he lived a vigorous childhood.

“It takes a long time to absorb and reflect on these kinds of of experiences, so maybe that is why you thought my Indian child is a slow learner.”(pp. 77)This concession is effective because it is opening up a possible misunderstanding between Wind-Wolf and his teacher. WInd-Wolf’s father lets the teacher feel that there could have been a misunderstanding between the teacher and Wind-Wolf. “So I realize that he may be slow in grasping the methods and tools that you are now using in your classroom, ones quite familiar to his white peers, but i hope you will be patient with him, It takes time to adjust to a new cultural system and learn new things.”(pp.79) This refutation is effective because it is saying that it could be Wind-Wolfs fault as well because he is newly grasping Western culture. The father of Wind-Wolf said it’s going to take time for his son to adjust to his/her teaching methods. So he/she should back off Wind-Wolf and help him adjust to Western Culture.

Wind-Wolf’s father’s call to action was that he want to work with the teacher not against her/him. This supports the father’s argument by giving the teacher a chance to give Wind-Wolf a second chance. This means that she won’t classify WInd-Wolf as a slow learner and will let him share his knowledge with his kindergarten class and reminds the teacher that Indian’s play a significant part in history of Western society.

Wind-Wolf’s father argued effectively in this letter to his son’s teacher, because he is made many claims and he could back them up with support effectively. Even with his many claims he opened up possibly misunderstandings. He made sure that the argument wasn’t one sided and that the argument could help the teacher by giving her/him a call to action.