OCR Text |
Show ABT. V. It is the purpose of this amendment to piace all Indian children in school, either public or private, or in schools maintained by the United Statea for the benefit of Indians. as fa~~ r a~~s~ facilities are .nr~ov. i.d.e d. Any part or parts of'former regulations which may in any way conflict With this amendment are herebjr revoked. Furthering the incentive of placing Indian children in public schools, tuition is bein paid for each pupil whose parent is a non-taxpayer and where t f e pupil is not less than one-fourth Indian blood. Tuition being paid is based on the cost of education of white pupils in the schools where the Indians attend. .~ . Thus in spite of the fact that there are a large number of children in the kouthwest who must be provided with school facilities, it is hoped that annual gratuity appropriations need not be increased and in fact may after a few years be decreased, because so many o? the Indian children elsewhere may be placed in public schools and because in certain sections of the country Indian day schools may be transferred to State control and be maintained as public schools. Another means of reducing expenditures for the maintenance of Indian schools will be the building of more Indian day schools, or enlarging day schools where the school population can be thus cared for. For instance, the Pueblos and the Hopis eould all attend day schools, because they live in villages. Their day schools should be enlarged and their courses should be extended to include six grades, and all of the children of these tribes should be required to attend these schools until they complete the sixth grade. Thus capacity in the boarding schools now occupied by these children would become available. for Navajos and others whose home life makes day schools impracticable for them. While attending day schools Indian children %re largely supported by their parents. .. The day school is the means of gradually withdrawing gratuitous support from the indians. It gives them little or no aid in clothing and subsistence, but it carries civilization to the great mass of Indian homes, while other types of schools do not afford this opportunity so well. The influence of the da schools,,planted almost at the cloor of Indian homes, is not limite 2 to the children alone, but reaches out to the parents and entire community, and every day leaves its per-manent mark. It becomes when properly equipped, managed, and . in the hands of competent teachers the center of community interests. , All kinds of helpful activities in farming, dairying, ydening, stock raising, cooking, canning, sewing, nursing, househo d management, and sanitation may he and are being introduced into these communi-ties, thus increasing the assets of the Nation by improving farming areas and the saving of many lives. The day school is a means of educating children in the subjects commonly given in the public schools wilthout interfering with the i natural and normal relation between chddren and parents, as the case must be when children are laced in school where thev can not return home each night. A S o ~ m mcm am.---During the ast year the following boarding schools have been closed: Crow 6re ek and Lower Brnle in South Dakota; Yakima, Wash.; Cass Lake and Leech Lake in Minnesota; and Crow, Mont. The pup~lsf rom these schools have'been or wlll attend either Indian day schools public schools, mission schools, or be transferred to near-by Indian boarding schools. |