English In Indian Schools Summary

On September 21, 1887, the first known policy regarding Indian schools was published; The Use of English in Indian Schools. This document was pulled out from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs written by Commissioner F.D.C. Atkins. The report was written from the perspective of the Commissioner because he insisted the sole use of English within all Indian schools. Commissioner Atkins wrote this outline to the Congress with the viewpoint that it was a subject not only of significance, but of necessity for the Indigenous people to learn English as quickly as possible.
The purpose of Indian people learning English so quickly was so that they could assimilate into European culture and influences more rapidly. The Indigenous
In Atkins demand, he includes statements such as, “the Government has entered upon the great work of educating and citizenizing the Indians” and “they would take upon themselves the responsibilities and privilege of citizenship” (Prucha, pg. 173). Both of which examples leads to the bias that Commissioner Atkins wrote this report, based on an opinion, to be in favor of the white civilization movement. He, also, incorporates reference patterns that are parallel within the Germany and France country expressing that “if the Indians were in Germany or France or any other civilized country, they should be instructed in the language there used” (Prucha, pg. 173). Ultimately, Atkins uses this testimonial as a method to create the idea that it is a normalized policy throughout other countries and that therefore the United States should follow suit. In addition to the other countries ways, Atkins states that there is “no unity or community of feeling can be established among different peoples unless they are bought to speak the same language” (Prucha, pg. 173). At the time Commissioner Atkins saw this policy/report as an act of assisting the Indigenous people into the white culture; however, the longtime results have created issues for the Native Americans in today’s
The effect in today’s society is that Indigenous people, more specifically the Yakama people, have made “difficult decisions about how to raise their children, including whether and where they should attend school, and which language or languages should be spoken at home” (Jacob, pg. 49). However, something to take into deliberation, though, is that the guidelines for Indigenous peoples’ education has evolved throughout the years. So much so, that the Use of English in Indian School was the first policy and the last known policy, in the Prucha book, was on August 6, 1998; the American Indian and Alaska Native Education. In the 1998 policy, there was an executive order from President Clinton that set goals to create a Task Force to supervise the operation of order, offer research, and issue directions for school pilot site; all of which was accomplished with the corporation of Indian organizations. Although, the Government still at the time controlled creating the Task Force the Indigenous organizations had a part of making the decisions with President Clinton. Furthermore, slowly but surely the Native Americans educational system is expanding more and more in the Indigenous peoples