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Elders in traditional tribal societies played significant roles in passing down knowledge from one generation to the next. Some of the education was practical in nature. For example, an uncle might teach his nephew to hunt; an aunt might instruct her niece in beading or ribbon appliqué work. Other education was more philosophical in nature. Grandmothers, who often cared for very young children, told stories that conveyed tribal values and ideals. In this way they wove tribal ethics into the fabric of the community. Oratory The Boarding School Era Individual Indians sometimes have mixed views of their boarding school experience. Some made life-long friendships at school; others met and married classmates. For some tribes, boarding schools represented a way to protect themselves from being exploited. The Oneida, for example, willingly sent two children from every community to boarding schools for a boarding school education. This would ensure that there would be Oneida who could read the treaties and advise the council. Overall, the boarding school era had tragic results for Indian communities. Entire generations lost fluency in their native languages and learned twisted histories of their people. However, the experience did not destroy tribal cultures as planned. Ironically, some of the Indian students educated at these boarding schools later used the tools they learned to press Indian land claims, treaty rights and sovereignty issues. Education Today
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Efforts to "civilize" Native Americans included the education of Indian children at faraway boarding schools. Sometimes taken from their homes against their family’s will, Indian children were often forced to cut their hair, wear "European clothing" and speak English. "Boy they were mean to us," one Lac du Flambeau elder remembered. "Nowadays they’d call it child abuse." Punishment for those who resisted could be brutal. "Kill the Indian, save the man," became the motto of the famous Carlisle Boarding School, which attempted to destroy all traces of "Indianness" from its students. Many Native students from Wisconsin attended Carlisle or government run regional boarding schools at Lac du Flambeau Hayward and Tomah. Some students ran away only to die of exposure or to be forcibly returned. "I cried every day until Thanksgiving," an elder who attended the Flandreau School in south Dakota recalled, "I was so lonesome."
Indian Nations are rebuilding their own educational systems. Elders in many communities again play an important role. In tribal schools across the state, native culture is infused into the curriculum. The Menominee Nation and Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa own and operate their own colleges. Like education elsewhere, Indian education is becoming increasingly formalized and reliant on the internet, CD-ROM and other high-tech tools. But in Indian Country, 21st century technology is being used to reintroduce native languages and reinvigorate tribal cultures. The traditional approach to knowledge has come full circle.
