Intro to American Indian Studies

Summer 2018

Avery Stoll Week 4 Blog 1

I found the concept of boarding schools really interesting. There were several pros as well as several cons as to how they were executed, as we talked about in class. For every pro there seems to be at least one con and I would like to talk a little more about these in this post.

One pro was providing Native children with an education on reading, writing, and math so that they would be able to find work after their time at the boarding school was over. This is good because the school is providing them with tools to be a providing member of society. The problem is the society they are shaping them for is white society, not their Native society.

Another pro of boarding schools was they gave Native graduates a credibility. So if they made it through boarding school they were considered better than someone who had not made it through school. While this is true, employers still failed to hire them just for the fact that they were Native. So yes they had an education, but they couldn’t use it like a white person could.

One more pro of Natives attending boarding schools was they were being taught how to fit in in the modern white world. This was a good thing because the jobs in the white world off reservations were a lot better and more equipping to provide for a family than jobs on reservations. On the flipside, after attending boarding schools and being cut off from their tribal ceremonies, language, and practices, Native children didn’t really know how to be Native anymore. So they didn’t fit in in white society and they didn’t fit in in native society, what were they supposed to do?!? This caused some major turmoil and existential crises for many Natives. Some ended up relearning their Native language and practices and assimilated back into their tribe, while others left their tribe all together and did their best to assimilate into the white society. So while boarding schools had some pros, in my opinion they caused bigger issues within the Natives than the good aspects were worth.

 

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1 Comment

  1. makayla7 July 3, 2018

    I believe that there were many pros as well. But the attendees of the schools faced so much abuse and misconduct that the positives are often overshadowed by the negatives. But, the last pro you mentioned is the one that I agree with the most. The boarding schools helped the Native Americans assimilate into the cultural norm that was present off of their reservations. Converting to a white citizen gave the Indians a bigger advantage of acquiring a job in modern world. But even though they had this advantage, they were still Natives and I’m sure jobs never overlooked this fact. Most whites believed that Indians were less than and not worthy of a job in their society.

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