Native American Education Research Paper

Indian boarding schools were established in the late 1800s as a way to assimilate Native Americans into the dominate society. The idea is that if an American Indian can farm, communicate with English, and rid themselves of their traditional ways then they can seek the America dream. A great deal of policies have been passed to gear Native Americans towards non-Native ways, but the practice that had a profound effect was the focus on Native American children. Indian boarding schools were develop by the federal government and religious organizations to assimilate the Native American children into the dominate culture (Brave Heart, Yellow Horse, & DeBruyn,

We will begin by discussing the first article that was written in 1981 by Steve Murray and Luther Tweeten named, "Culture, Education, and Economic Progress and Federal Reservations" and was published in the Growth & Change academic journal. This article takes a look at the economic issues in Indian reservations across the country and explains them in a mathematical form to explain why they are generally poor and struggling communities. Two negative things about this article is one, it is not specifically written for the topic of Native American education, and two, the article is almost thirty years old now. Although this does not make the article irrelevant because it does provide factual information about the current times in which it was written, and it does extensively discuss problems and

American Indian children face a number of significant challenges. Like many other oppressed populations, many are born into communities that experience widespread of poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence and chronic health problems at much higher rates than non-Native communities. Historically, US government policies have tried for years sought to destroy some characteristic of the American Indian culture, dominion, and way of life contributed greatly to these tragic circumstances.

“Man is not at peace with his fellow man because he is not at peace with himself; he is not at peace with himself, because he is not at peace with God.” Thomas Merton

1. Boarding schools for native americans began in 1860 on the Yakima reservation in the state of Washington. Herbert Welsh and Henry Pancoast created the boarding school, the goal of the boarding schools were to assimilate Indian tribes into mainstream of “the american way of life”. They thought using education would be their best tool to succeed this goal. They wanted the indian people to learn the importance of private property, material wealth and monogamous families. Reformers thought it was necessary to civilize indian people. They felt boarding schools were the ideal way to assimilate indian youth. The first lesson from boarding schools would be; reading, writing, speaking and learning english. They also wanted indian youth to be individualized. The end result would be to eliminate indian culture. Richard Henry Pratt, owned and operated one of the most well known boarding schools, Carlisle Indian School. His motto was “Kill the Indian, save the man”. He hoped indian children would not return home to their reservations, but instead become a part of the white community. Pratt and other off-reservation boarding schools took away any outward signs of tribal life the children brought with them. Long braids were cut from the children, they were forced to wear uniforms. They were given “white” names and surnames. Traditional native food was forbidden and they had to eat foods of the white society along with

Starting off as a plan to assimilate and educate Native American Children, the boarding school program resulted in the stripping of culture and native identity. The cultural deprivation process began in 1860 when the Bureau of Indian Affairs established the first on-reservation Indian boarding school in Washington state. The main goal of both the boarding and day schools was to assimilate Indian children into the “American way of life” (American Indian Council).

There are many important points in this paper. First of all, the predisposition that the new arrivers had towards Native American people, I believe that that selfish and wrong way of thinking that they had was the source of the holocaust that followed. Because, these new arrivers had the belief that everybody that thought in a way different to theirs, was mistaken and that they have the right to change the others’ “wrong” thinking, simply because they thought that the way they perceived things was the “correct” one. Therefore they did not allow the Native American people to show them or to share with them their beliefs, they simply imposed all their rules, beliefs, values and way of thinking. The previous fact also reveals the feeling of superiority

It’s important to me that Native American cultures are taught, especially when the schools’ population is over half Native American. Not only, is it educational but it teaches other valuable life lessons like tolerance. As disappointed as I was over not having more Ojibwa classes while I was younger, I’m glad a new generation of students can learn. Maybe one day, one of those children could teach Ojibwa to students. Even in college, Native American topics are taught more. New majors are being created as a response to this change.

The education of Native Americans has been a priority as early as 1819 when the Indian Civilization Fund Act passed (), which helped assist missionary schools in providing education for Native Americans. By the late 19th century, boarding schools became the norm for Native Americans students. Taken from their local tribes, these students were forced to assimilate to American culture and standards with the famous motto in place "kill the Indian, save the man". The focus being less on educating the children and more on making them 'civilized ', following the lead of White people. Today, most

In the late nineteenth century, there were attempts to enlighten Native Americans to the European culture. The attempts were to make Native American views more civilized, in order for them to be viewed as equals. In this effort, there was a push to have the Native American children taught in schools. The teaching was to take place in a boarding school. The boarding schools were mainly operated by Christian evangelist. This goes along with the idea of making them more like them, since the main religion at the time was Christianity. At theses boarding schools, the children were taught not to talk in their native language, which is a huge change in culture (JBT Author 2).

Why are Native Americans underrepresented in the various healthcare fields in the United States? Is it because they lack access to educational opportunities in that field? What are the challenges that face Native Americans when it comes to the education and curricula they need to forge ahead and become representative in the healthcare industry? These questions and other issues will be addressed in this paper.

Educating the youth has always been a large part of Native American culture. Parents, family members and the entire society ensured that a child would grow up with a firm knowledge of history, culture, and spiritual practice, as well as skills in arts, crafts and making ones way in the world. Throughout the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries however the role of community in educating youth was usurped by outside influences. From missionaries, to boarding schools, the imposition of Anglo education on Native American tribes has long been a source of pain and difficulty for the Native American students forced into religious or federal institutions. However, in the later half of the twenty-first century the educational picture

Commonly referred to as the American Indian boarding schools, these schools came into existence in the late eighteenth century but later experienced increased presence in the Indian American community during the nineteenth century (Judy & Bennett,1986). Indigenous peoples view the introduction of residential schools as one of the most painful chapters in the history of their culture. Several studies carried out a by anishanaabe affiliated outfits have indicated that

Between the years of 1870 and 1996, more than 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly removed from their communities, and sent to Indian residential schools. Generation after generation of indigenous children were denied the right to speak their own language, explore spirituality and to learn about their rich cultural history. These schools were designed to assimilate indigenous children into the society of the European settlers. It was under that system that Aboriginal children were required to attend schools that would ‘take the Indian out of the child,’ in hopes to solve the ‘Indian problem’.

To add insult to injury, the first efforts of assimilation through boarding schools was headed by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in 1879 (Marr, n.d.). Pratt is known for saying, “kill the Indian and save the man” and believing that Native Americans were inferior to white people (Marr, n.d.). Pratt believed that the only way to add Natives to the American melting pot was by transforming them through education.