Education - The White Man's Way

By the late 1870s the government began to spend considerable sums to educate the Indians.  Both boarding and day schools were established on the reservations, and the more promising students were sent East to gain a "higher" learning at institutions such as Pennsylvania's Carlisle Indian School, where courses included practical subjects like agriculture, cooking, housekeeping, simple mechanics.

Differences between school administrators existed but they all shared a common contempt for traditional Indian life.  Students were forced to dress like whites, adopt white values, and speak white man's language.  "All instruction must be in the English language" read the manual of regulations for Indian schools.  "Pupils must be compelled to converse with each other in English and should properly be rebuked or punished for persistent violations of this rule.  Every effort should be made to encourage them to abandon their tribal language."

For some, this brutal culture transformation ended in tragedy.  Of 112 Apache children sent to Carlisle School beginning in 1886, 30 were dead of white man's diseases within three years and another 12 were sent home seriously ill.

Between 1868 and 1901, $240 million was spent on supporting Indians.  One-fifth of that went into repressive education.  How ironic that the two main goals - self-sufficiency and assimilation into white culture were still unrealized.  The Native Americans had an identity, a culture, and a heritage - they didn't want, nor need to become white.

Next time...one bit of "feel goodness"
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Today in Pioneer History: "On February 22, 1819, Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sign the Florida Purchase Treaty, in which Spain agrees to cede the remainder of its old province of Florida to the United States.