Education as a Method of Forced Assimilation

For this blog entry, I choose to write about 19th Century Indian Relations with the United States. In a nutshell, this site sums up some of the major the policies and laws enacted by the US government for the sole purpose of systematically destroying the Native American culture and stealing their land.

There are several interesting points throughout the page explain some of the major laws and policies enacted by the government in order to contain the Native American population and to take their land.  Of particular interest to me was the process of assimilation by the forced enrollment of native children in boarding schools.  After removing many tribes from their native lands and forcing them into reservations, it was decided that Native Americans would never fully assimilate and become Americanized as long as they had a place to practice their traditional beliefs.  In an attempt to eliminate the culture, Native American children were removed from their homes and sent to “Indian boarding schools” specifically designed to strip them of their heritage. 

In 1879, the Carlise Indian Industrial School was formed.  At institutions like this, Native American children were stripped of their identity upon arrival; their clothes, hairstyles, and names were changed and replaced with contemporary American ones.  Speaking their native language or engaging in traditional practices was strictly prohibited and punishable by means of harsh physical discipline.  Children were taught academics for half the day and a skill or trade during the latter half; sewing, cooking and cleaning for girls, cobbling, carpentry and agriculture for boys.  Heralded as a success, the non-natives saw these schools as the standard for reform for the Native Americans.The actual result of the forced enrollment in these schools was great losses for the Native Americans. This deliberate and cruel this act of separating the children from their families lead to the severance important cultural and family ties.

Photo of Native American boy before and after 

enrollment in Indian boarding school

As I read the relevant paragraphs I was appalled by the idea of the government using children so blatantly to achieve their self-serving goals.  They best way that I could sum up my thoughts on the subject were that it was a mental and cultural sterilization and was probably the precursor to the nonconsensual medical sterilizations performed on Native American women in the 20^th century.