Education through Assimilation
After the American Civil War, why did the American government feel the need to place Indian children of the Pacific Northwest in government run schools in order to make these native children fit into the American society? In the essay “Assimilation through Education: Indian Boarding Schools in the Pacific Northwest” by Carolyn Marr, she described the educational plight of Indian children from the 1880’s to the 1920’s. The United States government felt that Indian ways were inferior to those of the dominating white society of the time. Three types of schools were started to educate the Indian children of this period: day schools, mission schools and boarding schools. These schools turned out to be quite costly to the government and the Indian children were separated from their parents in the boarding schools where students were housed. These children experienced the negative effects of strict discipline, poor health conditions, new language, new culture, separation and loss of culture that scarred some children for life (325-28). Assimilating American Indian …show more content…
The privilege to wear their Native American attire was taken from them by the government, it was another example to show that American reforms had more power over the Indians. “The reforms assumed that it was necessary to ‘civilize’ Indian people, make them accept white men’s beliefs and value systems (“History and Culture, ”). During this assimilation, the children went through some experiences resulting in loss of their individual and cultural identity. The leaders of Congress were convinced that this government run education would change most of the Indian population into patriotic members of the American society. Another experience resulting in the loss of identity is unauthorized documentation which changed the identity of the children by forcing actions upon them. These students were unfairly forced into the American
After the American Civil War, why did the American government feel the need to place Indian children of the Pacific Northwest in government run schools in order to make these native children fit into the American society? In the essay “Assimilation through Education: Indian Boarding Schools in the Pacific Northwest” by Carolyn Marr, she described the educational plight of Indian children from the 1880’s to the 1920’s. The United States government felt that Indian ways were inferior to those of the dominating white society of the time. Three types of schools were started to educate the Indian children of this period: day schools, mission schools and boarding schools. These schools turned out to be quite costly to the government and the Indian children were separated from their parents in the boarding schools where students were housed. These children experienced the negative effects of strict discipline, poor health conditions, new language, new culture, separation and loss of culture that scarred some children for life (325-28). Assimilating American Indian …show more content…
The privilege to wear their Native American attire was taken from them by the government, it was another example to show that American reforms had more power over the Indians. “The reforms assumed that it was necessary to ‘civilize’ Indian people, make them accept white men’s beliefs and value systems (“History and Culture, ”). During this assimilation, the children went through some experiences resulting in loss of their individual and cultural identity. The leaders of Congress were convinced that this government run education would change most of the Indian population into patriotic members of the American society. Another experience resulting in the loss of identity is unauthorized documentation which changed the identity of the children by forcing actions upon them. These students were unfairly forced into the American