Boarding Schools for the Indigenous People

The Education System for the Indigenous People

“I must learn about the birds and the rocks and the trees from books instead of daily interaction with them. This is what the White Man says I must do, and I have no choice but to obey,” Way Quah Gishig, who was given the name John Rogers, recounts the bitter memories of his childhood spent in an American Indian boarding school. Many might wonder, why would one loathe going to a place where one can attain an abundance of valuable information? Well, our perception of a boarding school differs greatly from the realities that the Native American students face.

Origins and purpose:

To better understand the problematic nature of boarding schools, we must first discover its origins and functions. Boarding schools are predominantly found in the US and Canada, and they both share similar aims. “Kill the Indian, and save the man” was the ethos instilled by General Richard H. Pratt, a founder of an influential boarding school in Pennsylvania which established a model for other boarding schools. It champions the duty to strip indigenous children from their culture to “Westernise” them and assimilate them into the country. However, the execution of these plans has shown to have great implications.

Problematic nature of boarding schools:

Such systems tore families apart, along with the loss of self-identity. In the 19th century, tens of thousands of indigenous children were removed from their communities and forced to attend boarding schools. They were stripped of all things associated with Native life. They were only allowed to speak the English language and were banned from conversing in their mother tongue. English names were assigned to them, which served as their new identity under the roof of the boarding schools. In the process of assimilating these children into Western society, there was a significant loss of their language and culture as they were taught that it was inferior to the Whites (McCluskey, 2022). Their characters were moulded to fit into Western standards, resulting in the conflict of two different identities that lead a different way of life.

Teachers in boarding schools also exploited their authority, punishing the indigenous children through many inhumane methods. The system used solitary confinement, flogging, withholding of food, whipping and slapping as forms of discipline. The mistreatment of the children resulted in increased vulnerability to mental health disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as intergenerational trauma (South China Morning Post, 2022). Studies have shown that adults who attended boarding schools have poor physical health. They are three times more likely to develop cancer, twice as likely to have tuberculosis and more than 80% more likely to have diabetes as compared to people who did not attend these schools (Brown, 2022). It is evident that the schooling environment was filled with toxicity and prejudice against the indigenous people, making it an unsafe school setting.

Is this still a pressing issue?

Although most boarding schools were closed in the 1980s, dozens of schools remain standing today, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. In Canada, there were remains of more than 1,000 people, mostly children, discovered on the grounds of three former residential schools in Canada (Austen, 2021). The new developments of the situation have increased the public’s awareness on the mistreatment of indigenous people and paved the way for protests to take place. For instance, in 2021, a demonstration was held in conjunction with Cancel Canada Day (which is a day where people gather to honour all the lives lost to the Canadian state) where thousands of people marched throughout the cities in Canada to call for greater rights for the indigenous. Given the decades of injustice for the indigenous people, it is essential that Canada and the US take necessary progressive actions to protect their basic human rights and the ability to freely practice their culture.

References

McCluskey, N. (2022, May 13). Report on Indian Boarding Schools: A Sad and Important Reminder. Cato.org. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.cato.org/blog/report-indian-boarding-schools-sad-important-reminder

South China Morning Post. (2022, May 12). Hundreds of Native American children died in abusive US-run schools. Young Post. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://amp.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/global/article/3177417/us-indian-boarding-school-report-reveals-horrific-treatment

Brown , S. H. (2022, September 13). National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools. Sahan Journal. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://sahanjournal.com/sponsored/national-day-of-remembrance-for-indian-boarding-schools/

Austen, I. (2021, June 7). How thousands of indigenous children vanished in Canada. The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html