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Show ~-. .,. -,~ . i ': .~>- :-- . ~ , , . . 1 , . 7 I.., , ~ % . . . , , REPORT OF THE COMMISBIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 99 among civilized people, and offer such an equipment as will make the desire prophetic of fulfillment. Thirg. The high school, which standing at the apex of the common-school system and offering all that the mass of youth of any class can receive, offers to the few ambitious and aspiring a preparation for uni-versity culture. The high school, even in some of the newer States, . prepares for college those who have special aptitudes and lofty ambi-tion. Several Indian boys have already pursued a college course and others are in course of preparation. There is an urgent need among them for a clnss of leaders of thought, lawyers, phy sicians, preachers, teachers, editors, statesmen, And. men of letliers. Very few Indian boys and girls, perhaps, will desire a college education, but those few will be of im-mense advantage to their fellows. There is in the Indian the same di-versity of endowment and thesame high order of talent that the other racespossess, and it waits only the touch of culture and the favoring opportut~ity for exercise to manifest itself. properly educated, the ' Indians will constitute a valuable and worthy element, in our cosmopol- , itan nationality. The Indian high school should offer an opportunity for the few to rise to any station for which nature has endowed them, and should remove the reproach of injustice in withholding from the Indian what is so freely offered to all others. Fourth. Owing to the peculiar surroundings of the mass of Indian ~hildrent,h ey are homeless and areignorant of those simplest arts that make home possible. Accordingly the Indian high school must be a boarding and indnstrial school, where the students can be trained in the homely duties and become inured to thattoil which is the basis ot health, happiness, and prosperity. It should give especial prominence, as is now done in the best industrialschools for white youth, to instruc-tion in the structure, care, and ulie of machinery. Without maohinerg the Indians will be hopeless and helpless in the industrial competit,ion of modern life. The pupils should also he initiated into the laws of the great natural forces, heat, electricity, etc., in their application to the arts and appli-ances of civilized life. The course of study should extend over a period of five years, in order that there may be time for the industrial work, and opportunity for s review of the common branches, arithmetic, grammar, and geography Special stress should be laid upon thoroughness of work, so that the students may not be at a disadvantage when thrown into competition with students of like grade in similar schools for otherchildren. The plant for each institution should include necessary buildings for dormitories, school-rooms, laboratories, shops, hospital, gymnasinm, etc., with needed apparatus and library, and an ample quantity of good farming laud, with the necessary buildiugs,~stock, and machinery. |