| OCR Text |
Show 4 REPORT OF T m SECRETABY OF THE INTERIOR may be the most serious handicap, particularly since no school ha6 sn ample supply of supplemental texts by other authors. Very few schools have libraries, and it is exceptional for a school to make annual purchases of library books. Dormitory rooms are frequently without chairs. Laundry machinery in many cases is out of date, inefficient, and more or less dangerous. Many of the quarters for teachers are not comfortably furnished. During the year the Institute for Government Research, a non-governmental agency, completed an independent survey of the economic and social conditions of the Indians. The department invited the institute to make the survey, which was begun in 1926. The institute's report was transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior on February 21, 1928. This was the most thorough and compre-hensive survey of Indian affairs ever undertaken. The report, which is entitled "The Problem of Indian Administration," comprises 872 pages. It contains many constructive suggestions and recommenda-tions for the betterment of all branches of the service. The officers of the department, have heen studying it intensively, and some of the recommendations havo already been incorporated in the Indian program. As the inadequacy of the educational system for the Indians was one of the reasons for the department's request for the survey and report, the following summary of the findings of the investigators on this subject is of especial interest: The survey staff finds itself obliged to say frankly and unequivocally that the provisions for the care of the Indian children in boarding schools are grossly inadequate. The d ~ eits deficient in quality, quantity, and variety. The m- eat -~ rotectivefo ods are milk and fruit and veg-e tables.. -~ articularlvfr esh green vegetables. The diet of the Indian children in boarding. s chools is generally notablg. lacking in these protective foods. The boarding schools are overcrowded materially beyond their capacities. The medical service rendered the boarding-school children is not up to a reasonable standard. The medical attention given children in day schools maintained by the Govern-ment is also below a reasonable standard. The boarding schoole are supported in part by the labor of students. The service is notably weak in personnel trained and experienced in educational work with families and communities. There is in connection with Indian education a problem to which especial attention is being devoted by the department, viz, the welfare of the Indians after they leave school. The purpose of the depertment is to develop a constructive plan by which, for a limited time, the Government can supervise them, so that they may become estab-lished and adjusted to their white neighbors. |
