ASSIMILATION THROUGH
EDUCATION:
EDUCATION:
In a newspaper article from the Seattle time, writer Marsha King provides a history of the abuse and cultural genocide practiced in Native American boarding schools from the 1800s to 1960s or so. This article directly connects to Sherman Alexie’s novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, particularly in terms of the confession Junior’s teacher, Mr. P, makes to Junior regarding his own guilt about his past involvement in unethical boarding school practices on the reservation. According to King, the boarding schools made it very difficult for Native American children to have any communication with their families at home. Rather, the schools practiced heavy indoctrination which ultimately made children feel “alienated, abandoned and not sure whether to identify with the white or Indian world.” Mr. P elaborates on the types of indoctrination boarding school teachers were encouraged to enforce when he admits to Junior that back then he, as well as the other teachers, believed that the schools had to “kill the Indian to save the child” This primary source teaches about my Native Americans topic by showing their education resources that Americans provided them to get educated and have a better life. I have learned about Native Americans Education, Assimilating into American Culture, and their way of living after this event.
|
Map showing the Great Sioux Reservation, subsequent loss of land to the federal government, and current holdings of the various Sioux reservations.