The Purpose of Indian Boarding Schools
It is a great mistake to think that the Indian is born an inevitable savage.
He is born a blank, like all the rest of us. Left in the surroundings of
savagery, he grows to possess a savage language, superstition, and life.
We, left in the surroundings of civilization, grow to possess a civilized
language, life, and purpose. Transfer the infant white to the savage
surroundings; he will grow to possess a savage language, superstition,
and habit. Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of
civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language and
habit. These results have been established over and over again beyond
all question; and it is also well established that those advanced in life,
even to maturity, of either class, lose already acquired qualities
belonging to the side of their birth, and gradually take on those of the
side to which they have been transferred.24
In 1879, Pratt used the model that he believed to have worked well with the prisoners in St. Augustine and began another experiment – this time he applied the model to Indian youngsters. At first, students were recruited. Pratt told Indian leaders at the Rosebud Agency that the government was changing policies regarding them. The government now understood that Indians needed to be educated to become equal to the white youth. This could only happen if they were no longer separated on reservations. The government was interested in helping the Indian children by placing them in schools to learn the English language and a trade by going out into the communities. By doing so, Indian children would be “just as competent as the white children.”25
The children were given to Pratt and left their families to be educated Carlisle, Pennsylvania at what is now known as the first government (not missionary) Indian boarding school.
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