Boarding School Blues Summary

Words: 2192
Pages: 9

1. Trafzer, Clifford E., Jean A. Keller, and Lorene Sisquoc. Boarding School Blues : Revisiting American Indian Educational Experiences. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2006.
Summary: This source is of viewpoints on the education of American Indians in boarding schools. It delivers accounts on many different topics inside of these school systems, from the strict regimens, sports, religion, suppression of native languages, and harsher punishments. Like in other books and articles not all of the descriptions are negative, there were some positive aspects that these students took away from their time at these schools. The first chapter titled “Beyond Bleakness” describes two articles written with a positive and negative outcome. One
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It is stated in the source that most of the student would be considered in the first grade or other grades, but may have been retained in that grade for several years, so many as much as seven to eight years. This source also provides an insight into what made learning so difficult for these children at this time and most of it was due to the language barrier. All these demands of these students and the harsh environments showed and proved that there were impediments for these students that were almost impossible for many to …show more content…
Toledo. This article states that most of the violence today stems from the abuse that happened in boarding schools. Schools today do not have the harsh regiments or abuse, but the notion “not being good enough” still lingers in the minds of American Indian students. This source talks about a project based on healing for these American Indian students who faced abuse, hard labor, and no visits to their family. Dr. Toledo states that many are affected, but few want to talk about what happened to them in these schools. At the end of the article it is mentioned that even though BIA schools have replaced their curriculum to self-determination of American Indian students. Most of these schools are very insufficient in their facilities and in funds. This causes major problems for the change in education for these young students.
How I will use it: This article “A Painful Remembrance” by Mary Annette Pember provides an insight to the long-term effects of the harsh conditions of boarding schools. It also attends to the notion that not all the schools have entirely changed in the way that American Indian students still face an impediment today on their education. I will be able to use this source to aid in my thesis that even though BIA schools have changed their curriculum, there are still obstacles that American Indian students face