Ethics

Most of the American citizens today are not aware of the stories pertaining to the Indian boarding schools, institutions which have started their operations on the first day of November 1878 upon the opening of the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania by Captain Richard H. Pratt (Keoke  Porterfield, 2003). These institutions were founded in order to transform Native Americans from their tribal and uncivilized ways (De Leeuw, 2007) to the modern and educated European culture (Keoke  Porterfield, 2003). At first glance, it may appear that the aforementioned goal is of pure political nature that the government has executed in order to solve the problem with the Indians during that time (Bear, 2008). However, a critical analysis of the issue will reveal that the Native American boarding schools are places which have catered to activities that have brought physical, psychological, and ethical abuse to the students (Bear, 2008). In connection to this, the basis for the selection of this topic is based on the notion that the modern American citizens must be knowledgeable of the nature and dimension of the boarding schools in order to gain sensitivity to the issues and apply the lessons of the past in the evaluation of present national concerns. Furthermore, it is believed that the analysis of the Native American boarding schools will help readers in the analysis of their personal culture competency. Hence, the approval of this essay topic is of considerable significance to the modern American culture with respect to the study of ethics and social implications.

Captain Pratt, the founder of Native American boarding schools or Indian boarding schools popularized the following phrase kill the Indian, not the man or in other variations, kill the Indian, save the man (Keoke  Porterfield, 2003, n. p.). This phrase was actually the goal in the foundation of boarding schools because the American government during that time wanted to achieve a renewed and transformed form of the Native Americans in order to make them less likely to engage in rebellions and other military engagements against the US government (Keoke  Porterfield, 2003).

Moreover, fulfillment of the said goal was also in accordance to the colonialism concerns of the US government and this is based on the fact that material and geographical features of the boarding schools were directly maximized in order to impose improved colonial projects for the Native Americans (De Leeuw, 2007). These projects are characterized in the examination of the students as individual subjects in the context of the multiplicity and plurality of the colonial aspects (De Leeuw, 2007).

The utilization of boarding schools was the sole and most effective method that the government officials considered for the transformation of the Native Americans and such kind of process involved the usage of various brainwashing techniques (Keoke  Porterfield, 2003). Characterizations of these techniques include the establishment of boarding schools away from the home settlements of the Indian families, enforcement of the students to wear military uniforms while inside the schools premises, prevention of students to speak in their native language, separation of siblings from each other in the boarding schools and ensuring that they will never get the chance to connect with the other, instilling in the minds of the students that their traditional way of life is inferior, and in worst cases, instructing them that their old manners of are savage and are of demonic origin, and, the instruction of students with manual skills like cooking for girls and carpentry for boys (Keoke  Porterfield, 2003). Aside from these events, the students of the Native American boarding schools were also physically transformed as illustrated in their before and after photographs which clearly depict the physical alteration of the features of the students from having long hair, native clothing and dark skin to the acquisition of European-inspired physical features (De Leeuw, 2007).

Consequently, it can be seen from the abovementioned evidences that the Native American boarding schools rendered traumatic experiences to the participants (Bear, 2008). If students nowadays will attain additional knowledge on the concrete features of the boarding schools then they will be more likely to appreciate the things that they enjoy today and to be able to assess their personal competency in the socio-cultural heritage of their community. Hence, the approval of this essay topic is essential in the achievement of additional and up-to-date knowledge of the lessons of the past especially if it involves the analysis of the Native Americans, a portion of the American population which has greatly participated in making the USA achieve the international status that it posses today.