Recognition of Negligence
"Between 1900 and 1920 the case against off-reservation school was made along four lines: the belief that Indians, either because of inborn racial traits or sheer obstinacy, were incapable of rapid assimilation; the belief that boarding schools, however effective, were unjustifiably cruel to both parents and children; the belief that such institutions encouraged long-term governmental dependency; and finally, the belief that Native American life ways, rather than being condemned as universally worthless and thereby deserving of extinction, might serve instead as a fruitful foundation for educational growth" (Adams).
By the 1920s and 30s, doubt about the boarding school system was growing. Carlisle closed in 1918, and although many schools would remain until the 1960s and 70s, an increasing number of people began to speak out.
The Meriam Report
The Meriam report, published in 1928, was one of the most influential documents in changing the system.
"The most fundamental need in Indian education is a change in point of view.... education for the Indian in the past has proceeded largely on the theory that it is necessary to remove the Indian child as far as possible from his home environment; whereas the modern point of view in education and social work lays stress on upbringing in the natural setting of home and family life" (Meriam). |
"[T]he young child does not belong
in a boarding school. For normal healthy development he needs
his family and his family needs him" (Meriam).
"the provisions for the care of the Indian children in boarding schools are grossly inadequate" (Meriam).
"It is true in all education, but especially in the education of people situated as are the American Indians, that methods must be adapted to individual abilities, interests and needs" (Meriam).
|
A Stepping Stone: The Indian Reorganization Act
"The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934 represented a shift in U.S. Indian policy away from forced acculturation and assimilation" (Rzeczkski).
"The Reorganization Act is designed to set up mechanisms within the tribe which will perform the social services now provided by the government bureau. The result should be a gradual withering of the bureau as the new tribal machinery takes over the load" (Stevens).
|
"Despite its flaws and limitations, the IRA did represent a new recognition of Indian rights and culture" (Rzeczkski).
Whither the American Indian?
Published in 1940, Alden Steven's "Whither the American Indian" analyzed American Indian education.
"Recognizing attempts to drag children from their families and 'civilize' them as a total failure, the aim now is to give a basic education in the three R's without detaching them from their families. . . . This is accomplished to an increasing extent in day schools, which are being established on as many reservations as possible...Native tongues are not forbidden, and an increasing number of Indians are on the teaching staffs" (Stevens). |
"The school program must be carefully fitted to each group since the needs vary so much" (Stevens).
"Indian education is still much less complete than it should be. At least 10,000 children of school age are not oiled in any school. But never has an educational prom been so well adapted to the Indian's problem, and never have there been as many school-age children in school as there are today. The importance of education reflected in the fact that more than half the total staff the Office of Indian Affairs is engaged in this work" (Stevens).
|
"Many Indian problems remain unsolved, but every one has been attacked" (Stevens).
The Indian New Deal Era marked one of the first times the US government had formally acknowledged American Indians rights, including their right to culture. They laid the foundations for intensive reforms. However, a shift in US policy in the 1950's would set back the struggle for American Indians rights for several years.