Difference between revisions of "426--Week 12 Questions/Comments--Tuesday"
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To answer Rebecca's question, I think the intentions of the missionaries, teachers, and other policy makers were self-centered and ridicuolous. I do not think they wanted to genuinely help the Native Americans, their lives seemed alright without the Anglos interference. All their 'help' did was to break down a lot of tradition and history before it could mostly be recorded somehow. I feel like the policies were really intended to get rid of the Native Americans, I mean come on, they wanted the Native Americans to assimilate into white culture, which meant a radical change in a lot of Natives's way of life. I think some of it was religion because for some reasons the Christians couldn't comprehend the idea of freedom of religion in this country, everyone has to be Christian to them, regardless of the basic right. They felt for Natives to be citizens they also had to be Christian, they couldn't keep their previous religion. I'm not really sure how much was racism... -- Ashley Wilkins | To answer Rebecca's question, I think the intentions of the missionaries, teachers, and other policy makers were self-centered and ridicuolous. I do not think they wanted to genuinely help the Native Americans, their lives seemed alright without the Anglos interference. All their 'help' did was to break down a lot of tradition and history before it could mostly be recorded somehow. I feel like the policies were really intended to get rid of the Native Americans, I mean come on, they wanted the Native Americans to assimilate into white culture, which meant a radical change in a lot of Natives's way of life. I think some of it was religion because for some reasons the Christians couldn't comprehend the idea of freedom of religion in this country, everyone has to be Christian to them, regardless of the basic right. They felt for Natives to be citizens they also had to be Christian, they couldn't keep their previous religion. I'm not really sure how much was racism... -- Ashley Wilkins | ||
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| + | The missionaries, teachers, and policy makers appear to have had mixed motives for their actions towards Native American children in the boarding schools. I believe that many of them genuinely thought their actions were for the benefit of the children. For instance, one official is quoted as saying, in reference to the naming process, that there was "no reason why we should ruthlessly thrust upon him our English names...We want to educate the Indian--lead him on, not stamp him out." (30) That said, a number of them were undoubtedly motivated by racism or an attitude of cultural superiority. Religion also played a large role in boarding school life and clearly motivated at least some of the policies. It seems clear based on the amount of time spent on religion and morality that one of the primary goals of the teachers and missionaries was to promote conversions to Christianity. --Sarah Gardner | ||
