Boarding School Blues – Chapters 5 – 10

Chapter 5 - Loosening the Bonds

                         ***Photo credit: http://www.hanksville.org/sand/intellect/RapidCity1.html

This essay was written by Scott Riney. His topic is the Rapid City Indian School and details its beginning purpose to its minor evolution during the 1920’s. He likens the Rapid City Indian School to The Carlisle Industrial School for Indians. It was a very rigorous and militant environment and the policy of the school was to assimilate the Indian. So rigorous that the school’s administration decided that dancing, smoking, card playing and eventually social and athletics events needed to be restricted and sometimes prohibited. During the 1920’s (the Great Depression Era), the school became a public school and the curriculum and purpose evolved to a more caring and nurturing environment. Family and the welfare of the child were now the major focus. However, the structure of the national Indian School model was maintained. The Rapid City Indian School closed its doors in 1933.

Chapter 6 – Hail Mary

                      ***Photo Courtesy of Google Images

This essay was written by Tanya L. Rathbun. Her topic is, “The Catholic Experience at St. Boniface Indian School” (1890-1952). The school was conceptualized and initially funded by a nun named Mother Katherine Drexel. The US Government almost immediately procured the schools budget. However, the Catholic Administration remained leery of any Government involvement.

Mother Drexel’s purpose was to Christianize Native American children and this was reflected in the strict Catholic Curriculum and structure of the school. Essentially, it was church and god before academics or the US Government’s agenda for the Native American. Industrial Arts and Trades were not offered at the school. However, the majority of manual labor was done by the students.

During the 1940’s until its closing, the school began to take on orphans of varying cultures and eventually evolved to become a Catholic mission school.

Chapter 7 - Learning Gender

***Photo Credit: http://www.shermanindianmuseum.org/PictureGallery/pages/ChildcareTraining.htm

This essay was written by Katrina A Paxton. Her topic is, "Female Students at the Sherman Institute, 1907-1925." Her focus is to highlight the lack of sufficient opportunities for young women who attended the school during this particular time period. Learning opportunities were less adequate for the young women than the boys. The general attitude of the curriculum and the school at that time was, “the woman belongs in the home.” They were schooled in the domestic arts and were instructed that women must be, “pious, pure, obedient, selfless, meek, and clean.” (Trafzer, et al) They were even encouraged to use soft voices when speaking. This particular “way of being” was surely contradictory to many of the leadership structures and roles of certain tribes.

Chapter 8 - Through a Wide-Angle Lens 

***Photo Credit: http://www.wsharing.com/WSphotosTahlequahCS.htm

This essay is written by Margaret Connell Szasz. Her topic is, “Acquiring and Maintaining Power, Position, and Knowledge through Boarding Schools.” She writes that in one perspective, some boarding schools have served as places where Native American students could receive leadership skills. These acquired leadership skills then ushered some Native Americans to “self-determination.” She even points out that some of the Five Civilized Tribes created their own schools to serve the purpose of developing leadership skills and promoting the importance of education to enrich lives.  I enjoyed reading this chapter and viewing a new perspective. 

***Click on the title of this chapter and you will be linked to a page detailing the history of the Cherokee Female Seminary in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. 

Chapter 9 - Indian Boarding Schools in Comparative Perspective

***Photo Credit: landofhope.wikispaces.com/Rabbit-Proof+Fence

This essay is written by Margaret D. Jacobs. Her topic is, “The Removal of Indigenous Children in the United States and Australia, 1880-1940.” She writes about the similarities of the Native American and the Australian Aboriginal people’s assimilation and boarding school eras. She in fact writes that Native children were not taken to boarding schools for the purpose of education, but rather to render them “useful” as a labor force for employers. Her term is “colonial control.” It was an interesting chapter to read.

Above is the poster for the movie called, "The Rabbit Proof Fence."  This movie is one story of the Australian Aboriginal experience.

Chapter 10 - The Place of American Indian Boarding School in Contemporary Society

Sherman Indian High School 22nd Pow Wow

***Photo Credit: flickr.com by danorth1

This essay is written by Patricia Dixon and Clifford E. Trafzer. The topic is, “The Place of American Indian Boarding School in Contemporary Society.” They focus on the role that Indian Boarding Schools now play in contemporary Native American society. They chose to focus their study on Sherman Indian High School students. It is noted that today, students attend Indian Boarding Schools for a variety of positive and negative reasons ranging from the escape of socioeconomic and social issues to the embracing of a culturally relevant curriculum and school activities. I personally am a supporter of certain Indian Boarding Schools and the roles they play in current times. Provided that they are run well overall.

***Click on the title of this Chapter and you will be taken to a source that details Sherman Indian School in brief.