Native American, Gifted

Indian Boarding Schools

Native American children, beginning in the 1870s, were subject to a national policy of “Americanization.” The instrument of this process was the Indian boarding school. The original missionary-led schools on reservations were replaced by Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and many Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes to attend boarding schools on the reservation or far from home in Indian Schools in cities and towns. These schools had as their goal the extinguishing of Indian languages (students were not allowed to speak their own languages); the replacement of Indian foods, clothing, and customs with European American ones; and the training of Indian children for [Page 634]vocational and agricultural work. Enrollment in these schools grew steadily, with the highest enrollment in the 1970s of 60,000 students out of a population of about 500,000 children and adults. Since that time, it has been documented that these students suffered psychological problems, abuse, and mismanaged and inferior education at most of these schools. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 encouraged community schools and community input into the educational process, resulting in many large Indian boarding schools being closed in the following decades. By 2007, only 9,500 American Indian children lived in Indian boarding schools, out of a rapidly growing population of 1.5 million.

Because the purpose of Indian boarding schools was complete assimilation, those students who adapted best to European American culture were recognized as the best and brightest. Students who obeyed the rules and passed courses with excellent grades might be recognized with awards, special tutoring, and occasionally scholarships to colleges. No efforts were made to identify or educate Native American students who did not assimilate or perform well in what was, for them, an alien culture. In each generation, a few extraordinarily resilient Native Americans not only succeeded in these schools, but have gone on to become leaders, educators, and policymakers.

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