Imagine one, dwindling culture that has a 152% higher chance at winning the lottery compared to another population. Except the reward they win is not wealth, it is the rate of injury. For the Native American people, this statistic is true when juxtaposed to other Americans (Demographics). Similar to this, many unbalanced problems where Native Americans are on the inferior side of the scale compared to Americans with an alarmingly superior side, have appeared in native culture. The roots of these issues can be found starting in 1860, when the United States government established American Indian boarding schools to help bring education to the “lacking” Indians. However, the priorities of these schools transformed into assertions of, “kill the
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In fact, according to “Statistics on Native Students,” in 2011, only 27% of Native population spoke another language at home. Before boarding schools, 100% conversed in their native tongue. This elimination of native language has caused important stories regarding the entity of native history and culture to disappear. The lessons from the stories are lost. One crucial value taught to Indians through these lost stories was the appreciation of the land. Instead, agricultural techniques useful to white Americans were taught in schools. So few Indians today speak their native language that meaning is no longer held to these principal native beliefs such as love for all land and the vitality of community. However, Indian culture was greatly influenced by community and passed down through crucial beliefs by way of native language. The American agricultural ways influence today’s native life because agricultural tools and methods are used on native land. However, this disrupts the fundamental value of Indian culture about the respect to the land, causing the loss of imperative culture. Boarding school’s tore this idea from the minds of the …show more content…
Today, many American Indians have trouble saying “I love you” to one another (O’Connell). Others also have trouble providing a nurturing environment. The central Indian importance of family and community was torn from the native children. Being raised in a neglectful environment where “except in cases of emergency, pupils shall not be removed [from boarding schools] either by their parents or others…” led to problems such as abuse and detached, disengaged families and communities (Trennert). Students became detached from one another with the core (American) value teaching of individualism. However, this “opposed the basic Indian belief of communal ownership” (History and Culture: Boarding Schools). Students were also ripped from the community at age 5 and isolated until age 18 when they were thrown back into a society they no longer knew. This left no time for them to create the necessary ties for a successful Indian life. Students were also told that their parents were not coming for them because they did not love them (O’Connell) when the truth was that parents could not legally rescue their children. This raised distrust among the children when they were allowed to return home after age 18. These of-age students also did not know how to function in a communal body just like they were incapable of communal and family emotions because of the cloud of distrust and individualism. This inability to possess affection,
In fact, according to “Statistics on Native Students,” in 2011, only 27% of Native population spoke another language at home. Before boarding schools, 100% conversed in their native tongue. This elimination of native language has caused important stories regarding the entity of native history and culture to disappear. The lessons from the stories are lost. One crucial value taught to Indians through these lost stories was the appreciation of the land. Instead, agricultural techniques useful to white Americans were taught in schools. So few Indians today speak their native language that meaning is no longer held to these principal native beliefs such as love for all land and the vitality of community. However, Indian culture was greatly influenced by community and passed down through crucial beliefs by way of native language. The American agricultural ways influence today’s native life because agricultural tools and methods are used on native land. However, this disrupts the fundamental value of Indian culture about the respect to the land, causing the loss of imperative culture. Boarding school’s tore this idea from the minds of the …show more content…
Today, many American Indians have trouble saying “I love you” to one another (O’Connell). Others also have trouble providing a nurturing environment. The central Indian importance of family and community was torn from the native children. Being raised in a neglectful environment where “except in cases of emergency, pupils shall not be removed [from boarding schools] either by their parents or others…” led to problems such as abuse and detached, disengaged families and communities (Trennert). Students became detached from one another with the core (American) value teaching of individualism. However, this “opposed the basic Indian belief of communal ownership” (History and Culture: Boarding Schools). Students were also ripped from the community at age 5 and isolated until age 18 when they were thrown back into a society they no longer knew. This left no time for them to create the necessary ties for a successful Indian life. Students were also told that their parents were not coming for them because they did not love them (O’Connell) when the truth was that parents could not legally rescue their children. This raised distrust among the children when they were allowed to return home after age 18. These of-age students also did not know how to function in a communal body just like they were incapable of communal and family emotions because of the cloud of distrust and individualism. This inability to possess affection,