Professor Brian Klopotek

Professor Brian Klopotek

Office Hours: TTH 3:30-5:00

305 McKenzie

346-0903

History of Native American Education

ES 407/507, CRN 15428

TTH 10:00-11:20, 111 GIL

“Kill the Indian, save the man.”-Captain Richard Pratt, founder of Carlisle Indian School

Native American people have been subject to colonialist educational programs designed to erase their own cultures and replace them with EuroAmerican culture and values.This course will examine the ways culture and knowledge were transmitted traditionally in Indian communities, the ways the federal government and church organizations intervened in that process, the economic, racial, and cultural logic behind these actions, and the ways Native people have been affected by— and responded to— the situation up to the present day.Readings for the course will reflect Native responses to assimilationist educational policies and discuss the policy makers themselves.Student participation in class discussions is crucial.

Books (available at U of O bookstore):

Brenda Child,Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940.

Francis LaFlesche,The Middle Five: Indian Schoolboys of the Omaha Tribe.

Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa),From the Deep Woods to CivilizationDeep Woods

Basil Johnston,Indian School Days.

Tsianina Lomawaima,They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of the Chilocco Indian School

David Wallace Adams,Education For Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928.

Margaret Connell Szasz,Education and the American Indian: The Road to Self-Determination Since 1928.THIRD EDITION ONLY

Reading packet available at ______.

Articles in packet and on reserve:

Keith Basso, “Stalking with Stories,” fromWisdom Sits in Places

Selections fromFirst People, First Person(Dartmouth student testimonies)

Angela Cavendar Wilson, “Grandmother to Granddaughter: Generations of Oral History in a Dakota Family” fromNatives and Academics.

Academic honesty is expected at all points in your education.Acts of academic dishonesty will result in an F for the class and referral to the appropriate disciplinary board.

If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please make arrangements to meet with me soon.Please request that the counselor for students with disabilities send a letter verifying your disability.

Grading for the course:

Participation/attendance: 15 points

Three reading response papers, 3-4 pages apiece: 15 points each

Take home final: 10-12 pages: 40 points

Schedule (subject to change):

Sep 30 Introduction

Oct. 2.Traditional education

Readings: Stalking with stories, Keith Basso

Oct. 7 Missionaries in the early colonial years

Reading: The Middle Five, Francis Laflesche

Oct. 9.Discussion: Laflesche

Finish Laflesche

Oct. 14The campaign to assimilate Indians

Reading: From the Deep Woods to Civilization, Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)

Oct. 16Discussion: Eastman

Finish Eastman

First reading response due Oct 16 (Thursday)should respond to Basso, Laflesche, and Eastman.

Oct. 21Film: In the White Man’s Image

Readings: Selections from Education for Extinction, David Wallace Adams

Oct. 23 Development of Boarding Schools and assimilationist policy

Readings: Boarding School Seasons

Oct 28Brenda Child Guest Lecture

Finish Child

Oct. 30 Indian education in the South under segregation

Readings: Selections from Education for Extinction

Nov 4Discussion: Adams

Readings: Selections from Education for Extinction

Second reading response due Nov. 11 (Tuesday)should respond to Adams and Child

Nov 6 Guest Lecture: Jason Younker, Oregon Indian Education

Begin Lomawaima

Nov 11Sports and boarding schools

Readings: They Called it Prairie Light, Tsianina Lomawaima

Nov. 13Discussion: Lomawaima

Finish Lomawaima

Nov 18 The Meriam Report, Shifting federal policy

Readings: Selections from Education and the American Indian, Margaret Connell Szasz

Nov. 20 Indians in public schools.Discussion: Szasz

Finish Selections from Szasz

Third reading response due Nov. 20 (Thursday)should respond to Szasz and Lomawaima

Nov. 25 Indian Self-Determination: tribal schools and other Indian-run schools

Readings: Indian School Days, Basil Johnston

Dec. 2 Canadian boarding schools, “Sorry Books,” and redressing past injustice.

Finish Basil Johnston

Dec4 Indian education in the 21st century: Tribal colleges, tribal collegians

Readings: Dartmouth College Grads tell their stories; Angela Cavendar Wilson, “Grandmother to Granddaughter: Generations of Oral History in a Dakota Community.”

Dec. 10TAKE HOME EXAM DUEWe will have a take-home exam that I will hand out on the last day of class.It will be due in the Ethnic Studies office (201 McKenzie Hall) by 11:30am.

maybe tuesdays are lectures and thursdays are discussion in general

Reading responses specify themes, questions, insights, problems in readings

think about gender, race, blacks, power, culture, assimilation policy, returnees, disease, sports, religion, repression of religion, cultural knowledge, the names, tribal colleges, day schools, boarding schools, Indian schools in the south