Sherman Alexie's Indian Education

English 1A
26 October 2010
Life of Indian Education Indian education; it doesn’t necessarily mean to get an Indian education rather to be taught how to be Indian. In Sherman Alexie’s short story “Indian Education” the main character, Junior, is taught the lessons of being an Indian. The story is about Junior’s life in school from first to twelfth grade with a class reunion at the end. Through each grade we see Junior growing up as well as lessons to be learned. Junior finds himself facing many stereotypes, racism, and discrimination towards him, his people, and culture. The short story ends with Junior beating the odds and overcoming all the obstacles he faced. Throughout the story “Indian Education” Alexie’s character learns to be an Indian
In the first grade Junior was picked on because he was different than the other boys. “My hair was too short and my U.S. Government glasses were horn-rimmed, ugly.” The narrator states how he is different by having his hair too short and ugly glasses. Having his hair too short shows the other Indian boys that he’s different because in Indian tradition the guys usually grow their hair out. He also states that his glasses are provided by the government which tells the reader that he is poor. Experiencing this poverty is common amongst Indians because many of them aren’t educated enough to get a good job to support themselves. Another example from the first grade is when Junior is given nicknames like “Junior Falls Down” and “Cries-Like-a-White-Boy.” His nickname “Cries-Like-a-White-Boy” hints that there is some tension between the Whites and Indians because as said in the story they’ve never heard a white boy cry. These examples show the narrator is learning of being an Indian because being poor is common within the Indian culture and having unfriendly tensions between the Whites is something Indians have had for decades. In the second grade Junior faces racism and discrimination from his teacher. “‘Tell me you’re sorry,’ she said. ‘Sorry for what?’ I asked. ‘Everything,’ she said.” Here, his teacher is punishing him for no reason. This shows the teacher views herself higher than him and thinks of Indians as at the
However, instead of giving up he looked at the positive and saw math and geometry in it and kept on trying. This can also be seen as a metaphor; As Indians, and the culture of Indians, hardly anything goes right for them. They’re poor, they have poor education, and a lot of them become alcoholics, but for Junior he doesn’t give up, he keeps his head up and despite all of these negative events happening around him he is still able to know that he can choose how his life turns out and not become like everyone else in his tribe. At this same time he shot a basketball his cousin was sniffing cement and his cousin saw beauty and chemistry in this. Junior, learning to be Indian, sees his own family making the wrong decisions on his own because no one is there to tell him what’s right or wrong. Learning to be an Indian can be tough with no supervision and guidance from a more responsible person. He also learns lessons of being an Indian during the seventh grade when he separated from his tribe. “But on the day I leaned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl, I felt the good-byes I was saying to my entire tribe.” Junior left his tribe to get a better education at a white school. Leaving your own people to go live with the enemy is a hard thing to cope with for Junior and his tribe. This teaches him lessons of being Indian because he realizes that living on