Indian Education

Jacinda Willeto
1/23/09





Indian Education
By, Jacinda Willeto

My Grandpa is a Native American from the tribe Mandan Hidatsa. When my Grandpa was younger he went to an Indian boarding school and I got the chance to ask him about his shocking story. I thought I had it hard at school, but since I asked my Grandpa about his school experience I now know compared to that I am lucky. My Grandpa’s name is Winston Mason I learned a lot about him but this would be the first time to learn about his story about when he went to an Indian boarding school. Grandpa went to a regular day school until third grade, then his parents sent him to a boarding school in Elbwoods, North Dakota. My Grandpa said it was like being in the military, you had to follow strict rules and if you didn’t you suffered corporal punishments. Some kids were punished so badly that they didn't return home. And the number one rule was to not speak your own language or else you were whipped or your mouth was washed out with soap, just like your parents threaten to wash out your mouth with soap when you talked back, this time they actually did it to you.
You had chores to do everyday, and even the 1st graders had to do chores. And when my Grandpa was eight he and his seven year old cousin Chico were sent to a boarding school in South Dakota, which was far away. They were sent to a catholic boarding school where the nuns were more strict than the matrons at his other school. When the students forgot and spoke their language the nuns put their hands on a desk and whipped their hands with the edge of a ruler. They were taught that their native ways and language were pagenistic and sinful.
Even when my Grandpa was young he believed his ways were not wrong. “Even at that young age I believed that our native religion, our culture, and our language was beautiful.” Most Natives Americans went through boarding school to become successful in life but Grandpa believes that native students were emotionally and mentally damaged to the point that they could not function effectively for the rest of their lives. Well when my Grandpa was attending catholic boarding school for about six weeks, his cousin Chico was severely punished for some minor infraction. My Grandpa was very upset so he took him and they left school in the middle of the night. Imagine being only seven or eight years old trying to find your way back home. It was early fall and while they were traveling they found gardens with vegetables still in them so they ate those while they walked at night. They traveled through the night and hid in hay stacks in the day a couple of times they caught a ride in boxcars with hobos, they spent daylight hours with them under train trestles. They shared their vegetables with them and they shared their food with them. “Sometimes Chico would get tired and cry so I had to be strong for both of us.” My sister is ten years old and she would probably get lost just being a few blocks from our house.
It took my grandpa two weeks and he traveled over 300 miles to get to his grandmothers house. “We came walking over the hill to our Grandma's house one evening and she cried when she saw us. She was so angry she took us from our parents and said we would never have to go back to boarding school.” I asked Grandpa what he learned from boarding school. “ I learned to lie and be decietful in order to protect myself. I don’t believe I learned anything productive during my boarding school experience. I guess if anything I learned was to be tough.”
A lot of natives today have been affected by boarding schools and many became dysfunctional and turned to alcohol to cope with their inability to be successful in the mainstream culture. I learned a lot of great things from grandpa and one was never be ashamed of who you are no matter where you come from, no matter what race, and never let anyone tell you other wise. Native culture and people has been through a lot and one major thing is their culture is leaving everyday. It's hard because soon native culture will be all forgotten and the only way to fix this is to teach native youth about it.
– ahhe’e (Thank You)