Education for extinction : American Indians and the boarding school experience, 1875-1928

Book

Education for extinction : American Indians and the boarding school experience, 1875-1928 / David Wallace Adams.

Summary:

The last "Indian War" was fought against Native American children in the dormitories and classrooms of government boarding schools. Only by removing Indian children from their homes for extended periods of time, policymakers reasoned, could white "civilization" take root while childhood memories of "savagism" gradually faded to the point of extinction. In the words of one official: "Kill the Indian and save the man." Much more than a study of federal Indian policy, this book vividly details the day-to-day experiences of Indian youth living in a "total institution" designed to reconstruct them both psychologically and culturally. The assault on identity came in many forms: the shearing off of braids, the assignment of new names, uniformed drill routines, humiliating punishments, relentless attacks on native religious beliefs, patriotic indoctrinations, suppression of tribal languages, Victorian gender rituals, football contests, and industrial training. Many students converted to varying degrees, but others plotted escapes, committed arson, and devised ingenious strategies of passive resistance. Adams recounts the various ways in which graduates struggled to make sense of their lives upon returning to the reservation and selectively drew upon their school experience in negotiating personal and tribal survival.

Record details

ISBN: 0700607358
ISBN: 9780700607358
ISBN: 9780700608386
ISBN: 0700608389
Physical Description: xi, 396 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, ©1995.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-390) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: pt. 1. Civilization. Reform -- Models -- System -- pt. 2. Education. Institution -- Classroom -- Rituals -- pt. 3. Response. Resistance -- Accommodation -- pt. 4. Causatum. Home -- Policy.