Boarding School Seasons Summary

With regard to the development of a broader understanding of the pan-Indian identity as relating to boarding schools during the 1900 to 1940 time period, the experiences in these schools served to clarify the fact that Native Americans are not just intended for domestic, low paying, heavy labor work experiences. The rebellion and consistent desertion of these schools by students en masse is a clear indication that the pigeon holed perspective toward those who attended these schools was a narrow one indeed. Brenda J. Child’s preferred source for the writing of “Boarding School Seasons” are actual letters written by American Indian people, both boarding school students, deserters, and their parents. She also utilizes boarding school records, newspapers, photographs, and other historical collections. The theme of the narrative Child has written seems to be that these schools were designed to keep American Indians in a barely get by state of poverty. The true interests and passions of the children were habitually ignored, and many female students were exploited during what was referred to as the “Outing Experience,” where they would go and work extremely long hours, waiting on the adults and children of the home hand and …show more content…
One example of the development of boarding schools took place in Minnesota and the Ojibwes. The ravaging of their timber lands led to fewer opportunities to provide for their families, this destruction ironically done in the name of being supposedly “for the benefit of the people” rather than the individual, and so as a result, many were forced to flee the reservation in order to survive. In the 20th century, reservation experiences like harvesting fruit and wild rice, fishing, making maple syrup, etc., on a seasonal basis, were essential to the lives of