When many Indigenous children go to school, they do so with historical and cultural backgrounds that may be different than that of other students. During the 19th and 20th centuries, both the U.S. and Canada operated boarding/residential schools specifically for Indigenous youth. Initially run as government-sponsored mission schools1, 2, the first boarding school operated directly by the Bureau of Indian Affairs was run by an army lieutenant, Richard Henry Pratt3, who is oft-quoted as saying that the boarding school’s job was to ‘kill the Indian, and save the man’4. This type of philosophy was deficit focused, seeking to replace what children brought with them from their families and communities5.
Children as young as five-years-old6 were at times forced7, 8, 9 to attend these schools away from their communities, where their Indigenous culture, language, and ways of being were taken away10, 11. These students frequently experienced physical and sexual abuse and at times even death when they were away at boarding schools12, 13, 14. Such shaming school experiences have been noted to result in cultural misplacement and clashes when students returned home to their own communities15, 16, as well as to have intergenerational academic impact such as learning difficulties, repeating grades, and lower overall success in school for the children of residential school survivors17.
Though not all Indigenous children attended boarding schools, many families were touched by this historical educational trauma and continue to carry the remnants intergenerationally. Think about whether or not this is a piece of history that you already knew about.
Sources:
1, 3, 6, 13 EagleWoman, A., & Rice, G. W. (2016). American Indian children and U.S. Indian policy. Tribal Law Journal, 16, 1-29.
2 Hubbs-Tait, L., Tait, D., Hare, C., & Huey, E. (2005). Involvement of American Indian families in early childhood education. In O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.) Contemporary perspectives on families, communities, and schools for young children (pp. 225-246. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing.
4, 10 Davis, B., Dionne, R., & Fortin (2014). Parenting in two cultural worlds in the presence of one dominant worldview: The American Indian experience. In Selin, H. (Ed.), Parenting across cultures: Childrearing, motherhood and fatherhood in non-Western cultures (pp. 367-378). New York, NY: Springer.
5 Deyhle, D., & Comeau, K. G. (2009). Connecting the circle in American Indian education. In J. A. Banks (Ed.) The Routledge international companion to multicultural education (pp. 265-275). New York: Routledge.
7 Sarche, M. C., & Whitesell, N. R. (2012). Child development research in North American Native communities—looking back and moving forward: Introduction. Child Development Perspectives, 6(1), 42-48.
8, 15 Sims, C. P. (2001). Native language planning: A pilot process in the Acoma Pueblo community. In Hinton, L., & Hale, K. (Eds.) The green book of language revitalization in practice (pp. 63-73). San Diego: Academic Press.
9 Tyler, S. L. (1973). A history of Indian policy (Stock No. 2402-00031). Washington, DC: United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED092279
11, 12 Piccard, A. (2013). Death by boarding school: “the last acceptable racism” and the United States’ genocide of Native Americans. Gonzaga Law Review, 49, 137-185.
14, 16 Adams, D. W. (1995). Education for extinction. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
17 Bombay, A., Matheson, K., & Anisman, H. (2014). The intergenerational effects of Indian residential schools: Implications for the concept of historical trauma. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 320-338. doi:10.1177/1363461513503380
Children as young as five-years-old6 were at times forced7, 8, 9 to attend these schools away from their communities, where their Indigenous culture, language, and ways of being were taken away10, 11. These students frequently experienced physical and sexual abuse and at times even death when they were away at boarding schools12, 13, 14. Such shaming school experiences have been noted to result in cultural misplacement and clashes when students returned home to their own communities15, 16, as well as to have intergenerational academic impact such as learning difficulties, repeating grades, and lower overall success in school for the children of residential school survivors17.
Though not all Indigenous children attended boarding schools, many families were touched by this historical educational trauma and continue to carry the remnants intergenerationally. Think about whether or not this is a piece of history that you already knew about.
Sources:
1, 3, 6, 13 EagleWoman, A., & Rice, G. W. (2016). American Indian children and U.S. Indian policy. Tribal Law Journal, 16, 1-29.
2 Hubbs-Tait, L., Tait, D., Hare, C., & Huey, E. (2005). Involvement of American Indian families in early childhood education. In O. N. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.) Contemporary perspectives on families, communities, and schools for young children (pp. 225-246. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing.
4, 10 Davis, B., Dionne, R., & Fortin (2014). Parenting in two cultural worlds in the presence of one dominant worldview: The American Indian experience. In Selin, H. (Ed.), Parenting across cultures: Childrearing, motherhood and fatherhood in non-Western cultures (pp. 367-378). New York, NY: Springer.
5 Deyhle, D., & Comeau, K. G. (2009). Connecting the circle in American Indian education. In J. A. Banks (Ed.) The Routledge international companion to multicultural education (pp. 265-275). New York: Routledge.
7 Sarche, M. C., & Whitesell, N. R. (2012). Child development research in North American Native communities—looking back and moving forward: Introduction. Child Development Perspectives, 6(1), 42-48.
8, 15 Sims, C. P. (2001). Native language planning: A pilot process in the Acoma Pueblo community. In Hinton, L., & Hale, K. (Eds.) The green book of language revitalization in practice (pp. 63-73). San Diego: Academic Press.
9 Tyler, S. L. (1973). A history of Indian policy (Stock No. 2402-00031). Washington, DC: United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED092279
11, 12 Piccard, A. (2013). Death by boarding school: “the last acceptable racism” and the United States’ genocide of Native Americans. Gonzaga Law Review, 49, 137-185.
14, 16 Adams, D. W. (1995). Education for extinction. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas.
17 Bombay, A., Matheson, K., & Anisman, H. (2014). The intergenerational effects of Indian residential schools: Implications for the concept of historical trauma. Transcultural Psychiatry, 51(3), 320-338. doi:10.1177/1363461513503380