When native americans were sent to boarding schools, they were completely stripped of their identity. They were forced to change their appearance and the way they talked. They removed their traditional clothing and were given ‘modern’ clothing. They also were forced to cut their long hair and make it shorter. Many children also faced abuse through their time at the boarding school since they would often get punished if they were caught speaking their native language and the environment was very harsh since the children experienced lack of food, poor sanitation and overcrowding areas. To this day, these boarding schools had a big impact on the native american communities due to loss of culture and trauma passed down from generation to generation. Due to the children getting punished every time they used their native language, kids grew up with fear of using their language or forgot about it therefore, they never passed down the language to the next generation. Many native americans were given trauma from these schools and eventually, the trauma was passed down which affected the mental health of many native americans. They often suffered from low self esteem and community issues. All these problems eventually lead to mental health incomes and education levels.
These issues caught my attention because there are similar issues that i have seen that reminded me of this such as the way some schools have racist and sexist school rules such as controlling what women can and can’t wear and punishing them when they don’t follow the dress code but when a man does it, they let it slide. People of color are also statistically more likely to get harsher punishments when disobeying rules than white peers. Many schools have also had students, primarily african americans, change their hair because it ‘doesn’t fit the guidelines’. The hair that many african americans are culturally significant to them and hold cultural meaning but some schools make it harder for students to wear their hair due to expectations and following the ‘white culture’. Some schools also restrict students from using any other language other than english because the rest of the languages are considered ‘informal’ in white culture which is frustrating for those whose english isn’t their first language.