Native Americans: Assimilation Through Education

Native Americans: Assimilation Through Education

?America is known as the "melting pot" of the world. It is also said that "education is the key to success." These quotations are often used as words of encouragement and enlightenment without really thinking in depth about their meaning. Society rarely stops to think if these celebrated quotes are matters of choice or force. History has shown that loss of identity, culture and traditions have been some of the negative results of producing the "melting pot" that is known today. Americans see education as a form of advancement in society. They never took into account the way other cultures educated themselves. Historically, however they only saw that others were not educated the formal "American" way. The assimilation of Native Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through reservation and boarding schools was anything but choice, rather genocide through education.

A boarding school is a school where some or all of the students study and live during the school year. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "bed and board," meaning food and lodging. These schools started in Europe in the early medieval times. Children were sent here to broaden their horizons. In 1744, the U.S. adopted this method of schooling with the opening of West Nottingham Academy in Maryland. The earliest boarding schools were finishing schools for white, wealthy, Christian boys. They were also attended by children of the clergy and the school's faculty. Living at school was a welcomed solution to the sometimes difficult daily travel of students to a local school house. Many schools also had religious origins. Boarding schools took on another life when schools were opened specifically for Native American children. Sadly, these schools were not established for education but rather assimilation (History of Boarding Schools).

Native Americans are the indigenous people of the United States. They are composed of 562 federally recognized tribes and many other tribes which are not recognized (Bureau of Indian Affairs). Most of Native American history has been recorded by Europeans after their immigration to the Americas. Many lived as hunting and gathering societies. In most groups the women carried out sophisticated cultivation of the land; growing maize, beans and squash. The men hunted for meat. This way of life differed greatly from that of the Europeans. Nonetheless in some cases, they met these bearded people with enthusiasm and accommodating hospitality. It is because of their aid that the first waves of settlers were able to survive in this new land they knew so little about (Native American History).

In time, the Europeans grew to disregard all respect for the valued land and resources of the Native Americans. They displayed insatiable greed and arrogance with their intent to conquer this new continent with brutal attacks and invasion. The people of the land tried to co-exist with these new enemies, but as time went on more problems arose. The Indians realized that the invaders would come in overwhelming numbers. In addition to all of their weapons, white men also brought deadly diseases to this new world. Measles, small pox and yellow fever are just a few of the many diseases that severely crippled the Native Americans and wiped out entire villages (Native American History).

?In the early 19th century, the idea of "civilizing" Native Americans in preparation for U.S. citizenship became a top priority. Assimilation became the consistent policy throughout American political administrations. The ideology of Manifest Destiny also became an integral part of the American Nationalist movement. A result of this is the now famous Trail of Tears march in which hundreds of Cherokee died from starvation, exposure the elements, and illnesses. The ever growing arrogant attitudes of whites led to the Indian Wars, the Indian Removal Act and the worst massacre of all, the battle at Wound Knee in 1890. Here warriors, women and children were ferociously slaughtered by the U.S. Cavalry. Here after the U.S. government began Relocation Programs. Native Americans were taken from their homes, stripped of their customs and forbidden to speak their native languages. Their children were taken from them and sent to schools to "civilize" them and forced them to abandon every aspect of their heritage (Native American History).

?Before being forced to assimilate, the way Native Americans were educated was not in the traditional sense that society knows today. There were no lesson plans or courses to attend. Native American education was strictly oral and experience based. In the Indian culture, the elders were great preservers of history. Traditions were passed down from generation to generation. There were no books written, stories of the land were told to the people of the village by their ancestors and elders. The language was taught in the home, there were no written tests to ascertain whether the children comprehended it or not. The way of the land and way of life was learned through experience and observing those before them. They believed in the gods of the land, Mother Nature was the driving force that allowed them to co-exist with all of the creatures of the land. They believed if they worshiped and respected the land, they would survive as their ancestors had. Education for Native Americans was a way life not a formalized separate entity. Every day was a learning experience. The Europeans did not understand this way of life. In the eyes of the Europeans this was a primitive, unknowing way of learning. It was partially for this reason that they set out to "Americanize" these unsophisticated peoples.

?Federal Indian policy called for the removal of children from their families. In most cases this meant the children were enrolled in government run boarding schools. Policy makers believed in these institutions that young people would be immersed in the values and practical knowledge of the dominant American society while also being kept away from any influences imparted by their traditionally-minded relatives. The first schools were set in the post Civil War era, where attention of idealistic reformers of the time turned to the plight of Indian peoples. They believed that with the proper education and treatment, Indians could become just like other citizens thus changing the perception of Indians and making them somewhat equals (Marr).

?In an attempt to educate increasing numbers of Indian children at a low cost, the federal government established day schools located on various reservations. An annual appropriation of $100,000 was authorized by Congress in 1870 for the support of industrial schools and other schools among tribes. These schools were the most economical because they were cheap to operate and there were no costs in transporting the children. Day schools were run by various churches and missionary societies. By regulation, attendance was made mandatory on many reservations for all native children ages six through sixteen. The government also hoped that the children would return home and influence their parents with this new education. Faith in the effectiveness of these schools began to dwindle. The argument was that no matter what was taught in the schools during the day, the children returned home to their traditional way life thus forgetting all that was taught to them in the school (Keohane).

?Reservation schools and mission schools offered a better way of accomplishing the Americanization of Native Americans. Children attended these schools eight months out of the year. They were only permitted to go home during the summer months and occasionally during a short period at Christmas time. Although the children were now removed from the daily influence of home, the assimilation process was not moving at as fast a pace as the government would have liked. Allowing the families to visit the children often during the school year was found to be one of the reasons for the lack of assimilation. During the visits, they would often speak in their native language and stay in contact with their tribal ways. This of course was seen as counterproductive in the eyes of the assimilators (Keohane).

?The third and final attempt to find an effective way of assimilation through education was the adoption of the off-reservation boarding schools. Children were taken from their homes, in many cases sent hundreds of miles away from their family, language and native ways. The idea of putting Native Americans in boarding schools originally started as an experiment with Native American prisoners and became the model upon which this latest national effort was patterned. There was a strict regimen enforced at these new schools. This land of Christians was convinced that "Christian" civilization was for the