OCR Text |
Show 512 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SOHOOLS. anperviaion. By this method they learn much that is valusble, hut they do not get the reasons for things, nor do they learn housekeeping as a science. On the farm the boys learn to do the necessary work in the same way. So also in the shops. It is the old apprentiw system, wastefnl of time in learning. Ny wm-plaint is not that what is taught is not valuable. and far better than no instrue - tion in honsework, sgricnltnre, and mechanical arts, bnt that i t is not by the best methods nor by skillfnl instrnctors, nor is care always taken to teach the pupils what is best for them. 1 have taken some pains to induce cenain Stare agricultural collew to have their best srodenb take tbe civil-service exarnin~rions and seek appo&tmenrs as farmera. The rcsulrs of this hnve 11wn so satisfactorv rnnr 1 um lnforrned that as incentives to work. EDWINL. CHA&ORAFsTu,p ervieor of Indian schools: At Standing Rook, S. Dak., are three boarding schools, four day schools, and one m~ssion school. All are well attended and in prosperous condition except the boarding school at Grand River, where repairs have not been made for several years. Improvements are now under way which will make this a good school plant. The boarding school at Fort Berthold ooonpiea a new brick building,looated at the agency. There are also three day schools and one mission school at this agency. These have adcient capacity to accommodate the school population. The agency school at White Earth occupies comfortable brick buildings. At Wild Rice they are poor and in bad repair. The Pine Point bnildings are inferior; also in an unsanitary condition. The Leech Lake Agency schools are all new. The one at the agency has a capacity of 70 pnpils, and those at Cass Lake and Bena 40 pnpils esch. The agent at Mackinac Agency has hut one school nnder his charge--the day school at Bay Mills, 200 miles east of the agency. This is within the territnry of the Mount Pleasant school and might be placed nnder control of the superintend-ent at that place. The Sank and Fox school built for the 1ndi;tqsnear Toledo, Iowa, a model plant with a capacity of 80 pupils. Under the con&tions exlstmng there it appears nec-easnry to fill the school from other reservations where there is a surplus of pupils. The school farm at this plaoe is an excellent one and particularly adapted for instruction in agriculture. The principal school of the La Pointe Agency is at Lac du Flambeau. Another recently built at Hayward, Wig., is as yet not opened. The Keshena school at Qreen Bay Agency is filled with small pupils. A large number of the older pupils are attendmg nonreaervahon schools. The Oneida Indians are among the most advanced in civilization in this district. They hlwe well-kept homes, reasonably good farma, and may he classd as pros-perous. There is very little drinking among them, and that is confined to those who do not affiliate with either of the churches. The pnpils at this school are very small also. Many of the parents are returned pnpils from thenonreservation schools, and appreciate the advantage of sending their children away 8s soon as the are old enough. ~ %Feor t Totten school, South Dakota, occupies the old Fort Totten military |