Wrapping Up Foundations of American Education

Good day!

We are quickly approaching the last week of class and I want to make sure that everyone is aware of upcoming assignment deadlines.

1.)  School Board meeting report and agenda are due at the end of the month - April 30th.

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2.)  The Educational Innovator presentations dates are as follows:

Wednesday, April 28th
Loreli - Horace Mann
Memoree - John Dewey
Kara - Booker T. Washington

Friday, April 30th
Ro - Catherine Beecher
Yvonne - Linda Brown Thompson
Shyanne - Jose Angel Gutierrez
Nevada - Deborah Meier

3.)  Extra Credit: School Board Member Interview - Due May 5th, 5:00 p.m.

5th Posting: Tribal Dissolution: Oklahoma & Catholic Outposts: The Ojibwa and Sioux

As Native tribes began to disband in the late 1800s John Benedict, a Muskogee leader, was appointed as the first U.S. superintendent of schools in Indian Territory.  His leadership was not as well received as one would have assumed.  He pointed out the short comings of the boarding, day and neighborhood schools, including the education offered in orphanages.  He highlighted the defects in supervision, financial management, poor attendance, and the lack of English in the curriculum.  He pointed blame to the tribal leaders stating that the schools hired unqualified teachers.  After five years and guided reinforcements Benedict reported that improvements had been made.  A general understanding and trust surfaced between Benedict and the tribal leaders as schools for teachers were developed (Normal Schools) and school attendance increased.

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Although education improved and teacher requirements increased not all schools had the financial viability to stay open.  Orphanages in Indian Territory became stricter in taking in orphans and become diverse within them.  There were four types of orphanages in existence – African-Indian and black home (Taft), state orphan home (Whitaker), denominational (Murrow, Goodland) and federally supported (Sequoyah, Wheelock). 

The first recorded Native American child to enter a denomination orphanage was Navajo child named Mary Carleton. The child was given her christened name by the Sisters of Mercy in Sante Fe with her last name given for General Carleton who found the infant on a battlefield in New Mexico in 1865. The focus of this orphanage was not to take in Native orphans but that of Anglo and Mexican heritage. Catholic orphanages in the Northern Plains focused upon tribal orphans particularly in the Dakotas and Minnesota.
Unlike the Five Civilized Tribes’ state run orphanages who received federal and state monies, the initial denominational orphanages of the Plains were supported through whatever meager donations could be scoured up through charity. Many missionaries learned the languages of the Plains Indians in order to preach and teach. The patience practice of language learning built trust between the people and the missionaries and small numbers began to convert to the religion brought by the missionaries. Once converted, they were expected to convert others. The orphanages’ curriculum stressed religious practices, English, and vocational training (agricultural - males, domestic operations- females).

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The experience to learn more about the creation of orphanages in the United States to house children from all aspects of ethnic lives leaves me in a somber mood. Although the orphanages had their place in history; to care for children by providing food, shelter, and an education I am saddened to learn of the circumstances of child placement, misuse, and abandonment. Yet, there were positive aspects of the institution as well – they were located on reservations which allowed the children to maintain contact with their tribal group, education was offered, and basic needs were provided. As in all circumstances, consequences are balanced through both positive and negative outcomes for those who make the decisions and for those who live out the decisions that have been made for them.

#4: Chickasaw, Choctaw & Creek

The call for orphanages for the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek paralleled the stories of the Seneca and Cherokee – Civil War, forced removal, and disease.  Each nation, considered members of the Five Civilized Tribes, found that they were not immune to the government’s compulsory removal from their native lands.  Determined as a nation, each tribe made it their business to tend to their own orphaned children.  If a family member could not care for the orphaned, half-orphaned, or destitute child the institutional orphanages would. 
                                                                                                                        
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The nature of the orphanages were the same as most others in the nation during that time.  The curriculum focused on an English speaking emphasis that supported reading, writing, arithmetic, sciences and vocational trades.  Most children, if not adopted or taken in by a family member “graduated” from the orphanages.  Girls left at the age of 16 and boys left at the age of 18. 

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Through the Dawes Act individuals who were eligible for the allocation of property were awarded land, this included orphaned children.   Allotment rolls were made public, and for the shysters, they turned their attention to find the orphaned children and then become their court-appointed guardian. Most of these children did get the opportunity to be equal owners of their estates, in most events; the children were seen as a link to a valuable commodity leading to financial gain rather than be cared for by a loving adult.   

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It would be hard pressed to not admit the sadness that I felt as I read the accounts of orphaned children being used by adults for monetary gain.  The children, relying so heavily upon those around them – to care and to love them, but instead finding themselves being neglected and in some cases treated as indentured servants upon their own property.

Foundations: Announcements

There are several announcements to be shared:

1.)  There we be NO CLASS on April 12th since we watch the 3rd School video in its entirety on Friday.  If you did not attend class the video can be accessed from either Jenn DeCoteau or Rhonda Breuer.  The note sheet and video are on my desk.  Please do not remove the movie from the Education Building - it may be watched in the Teacher Education lab.  Please have this made up by Wednesday (April 14th).

2.) School Board meeting report and agenda are due at the end of the month - April 30th.

Image from http://www.languageconnections.com/newsletter_content/October_2009/thumbnails/Announcements_clip_image002.gif
3.)  The Educational Innovator presentations dates are as follows:

Wednesday, April 28th
Loreli - Horace Mann
Memoree - John Dewey
Kara - Booker T. Washington

Friday, April 30th
Ro - Catherine Beecher
Yvonne - Linda Brown Thompson
Shyanne - Jose Angel Gutierrez
Nevada - Deborah Meier

Lastly, everyone should be working on their fourth personal posting of their Native American boarding school blog.  When we get back together as a class next week Wednesday we will again share through our book talk conversations.  Please check in with the UTTC librarian regarding your library book, some of you may need to renew.

Have a great weekend and see you all on Wednesday!

Third Posting - Orphans Among Us: Cherokee

In 1871 the Cherokee Orphan Asylum was funded with $4,000 appropriated by the National Council of the Cherokee. A building was provided but the materials and necessities of its inhabitants were few and of poor quality. The educational system was undeveloped and learning a second language (English) determined if you “graduated” from the institution – although it was not a boarding school.
The institution was headed by William Ross, principal chief, who pushed for the education of the orphanage’s children. The institution was overseen by the Cherokee Board of Education. The board handled established schools within the nation; day or neighborhood schools, boarding schools, and the orphan asylum. The board, in its duties, hired and fired teachers and administrators, organized the school districts, and evaluated the schools.

Image to the right was found at picasaweb.google.com/.../ARu_IwrP1dE_vEGHSNkmgw

The orphanage was the first of its kind in the Cherokee Nation. As one of the Five Civilized Tribes, the Cherokee realized that through their years of contact with whites, the removal from tribal homelands, rebuilding in a new geographical region, illnesses, and the American Civil War that orphanages were the best solution to ensure that their children were to be cared for by their people. Therefore, they adopted and implemented the educational, political, and religious ways of the white culture and brought these practices forth into the orphanage system.

Unique to other institutions of its kind during that time the children of Cherokee Orphan Asylum were able to retain their cultural identity. Only Cherokee children were permitted to reside within its walls and youngsters were not placed in white homes to work and live. In addition, the children were not indentured to white adults as laborers or apprentices. Their teachers and administrators for the most part where Cherokee. In fact, it may have been rare for a child to see a “white face” during a days’ time.
In the early 1900s tribal disbanding and the General Allotment Act (Dawes Act) meant that educational systems that were ran by the Five Civilized Tribes were being slowly taking apart. The federal government held the fate of how monies were to be spent to educate Native children. Doors began to permanently close. However; the Cherokee orphanage held strong and placed the institution under the jurisdiction of the Indian Bureau.

Image above from picasaweb.google.com/.../PY4fuQtcOGNzu6CzuRfAng

The First Solution: Seneca

The Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children was the first of its kind in the nation as it housed Indian-only orphans.  Construction of the first building began in 1855 and its walls became filled with children and personnel within the year.  The 100 acres that would house the facility was located on the Cattaraugus Reservation in the far western side of the state of New York.  

The need for the orphanage sprang from the death of one man – a man who in his passing left a large family with a great deal of extreme need.  Supported by missionaries, philanthropists, the state of New York and Senecas the institution adopted the common school agenda.  The agenda, itself, meant that there would be education for all with the goal in mind of creating a national identify.  With this in mind, the notion set forth that through these diverse backgrounds had to develop a shared set of attitudes and values – to be Americanized!

A myth sprung to the forefront – immigrants wanted to be Americanized.  This, as the book explains, is far from the truth.  In the 1830s and 1840 immigrants held tightly to their traditional ways especially in the areas of language and religion.  They lived in neighbors both in urban and rural settings to maintain the ethnic customs.  It was only in the late 1800s when immigrant parents decided that they had to relinquish aspects of their cultural identity in order for their children to be successful in American schools. 

With this said, the book goes on to explain that Native American experiences paralleled the immigrants but in reverse chronology.  The author states that in the early 1800s most Indian groups accepted, or at least accommodated to education that aimed to assimilate and acculturate.  As time went on, the attitude changed.  Why?  Due to the disruptiveness of cultural cohesiveness of the late 1800s.  Children and families were faced with the trauma of removal.  Children were being taking away from their homes to be forced to become Americans – it no longer was a choice it was a demand.

The orphanage was highly cared for by hired personnel.  Unlike the boarding schools of that time that were in the practice of having the children assist in maintaining the campus grounds and cleanliness of the indoor environment.  In fact, the ratio of adult-to-child in 1855 was 1:7 compared to other orphanages whose rations could sometimes exceed to 1:100. 

Nonetheless the discipline of the orphanage was harsh as it followed a military style of routine and consequences.  All facilities that housed children, immigrants and Native Americans, used military policies.  Haircuts were the very first event that took place to those who arrived.  The reason, health and hygiene would be the expected response.  The overall fear of head lice spreading throughout a facility was ended when haircuts were performed.  This was not the only thing that was terminated – so was the identity and individuality of the child. 

Records show that children who attended the orphanage had both positive and negative recollections.  For the most part, in the earlier years the institution was quite enjoyable.  As time passed a few negative memoirs surfaced.  Events and special occasions were the most often mentioned when it came to the good times.  Discipline and illness were noted as the negative. 

The doors of the orphanage were closed in 1955 with great fight.  The Senecas had hopes that it could be turned into a vocational high school or an Indian college along the same lines of Haskell but their attempts failed.  However, it is noted that many of the orphans who attended Thomas went on to go to off-reservation boarding schools such as Haskell, Carlisle, and the Hampton Institute in Virginia.

Lunch Anyone?

Please note that we will be meeting at the Fortune Cookie for class this Wednesday, March 24th at 12:30 pm.  We will have a "book talk" class meeting, so be prepared to talk about your first reading section of boarding school book.


In addition, please make sure that you are getting into your blogs and posting both your personal and peer responses.  We are just getting started on our second blog so I encourage you to stay with the deadlines for each week, we all know how stressful it can get when we fall behind.


Image from http://www.streamys.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/time-is-ticking.jpg