American Indian youth in the State of Nevada should have the same opportunity to earn a college degree as non-Indian youth, but Indian youth face historical barriers. Some of these barriers are rooted in the European colonization of America, which led to American Indian communities experiencing genocide (the intentional killing of a group of people), pandemics (wide-spread diseases), involuntary relocation (forcing American Indians off their land and moving them to other locations), and forced acculturation (forcing people
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from one culture to adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another culture). The history of American Indian education is inextricable entwined with the federal Indian policies over the decades (Nizhone, 2015).
Pre-Colonization
Before European colonization there was an era of true Native education in which American Indian tribes educated their own children using traditional methods such as storytelling, art, symbolism, and hands-on learning of practical native skills such as hunting, preparing food, building shelters, and the passing of knowledge through oral tradition. Many tribes also used different alphabet systems, and …show more content…
The Bureau of Indian Education funded residential boarding schools and day schools in which cultural assimilation was often the central goal. The government policy to answer to the “Indian problem” was to assimilate the population through taking the children away from their homes to boarding schools, where missionaries would teach them White culture. In boarding school cultural expressions, native language, and other traditions were suppressed and even severely punished. Male children were forced to cut their braided hair, and traditional Indian clothing was forbidden. The forced removal and assimilation of children to boarding schools permanently splintered families (Evans-Campbell,
6
from one culture to adopt the beliefs and behaviors of another culture). The history of American Indian education is inextricable entwined with the federal Indian policies over the decades (Nizhone, 2015).
Pre-Colonization
Before European colonization there was an era of true Native education in which American Indian tribes educated their own children using traditional methods such as storytelling, art, symbolism, and hands-on learning of practical native skills such as hunting, preparing food, building shelters, and the passing of knowledge through oral tradition. Many tribes also used different alphabet systems, and …show more content…
The Bureau of Indian Education funded residential boarding schools and day schools in which cultural assimilation was often the central goal. The government policy to answer to the “Indian problem” was to assimilate the population through taking the children away from their homes to boarding schools, where missionaries would teach them White culture. In boarding school cultural expressions, native language, and other traditions were suppressed and even severely punished. Male children were forced to cut their braided hair, and traditional Indian clothing was forbidden. The forced removal and assimilation of children to boarding schools permanently splintered families (Evans-Campbell,