Description
American Indian Education recounts that history from the earliest missionary and government attempts to Christianize and “civilize” Indian children to essentially the most contemporary efforts to revitalize Native cultures and return keep an eye on of schools to Indigenous peoples. Extensive firsthand testimony from teachers and students offers unique insight into the varying experiences of Indian education.
Historians and educators Jon Reyhner and Jeanne Eder begin by discussing Indian childrearing practices and the work of colonial missionaries in New France (Canada), New England, Mexico, and California, then conduct readers in the course of the full array of government programs aimed at educating Indian children. From the passage of the Civilization Act of 1819 to the formation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824 and the established order of Indian reservations and vocation-oriented boarding schools, the authors frame Native education through federal policy eras: treaties, removal, assimilation, reorganization, termination, and self-determination. Thoroughly up to date for this second edition, American Indian Education is essentially the most comprehensive single-volume account, useful for students, educators, historians, activists, and public servants interested within the history and efficacy of educational reforms past and present.