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Show REPORT OF TEE COXMISSIOEIER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 97 naryroutine of housekeeping, farming, etc., and are brought into inti-mate rebationship with the hig!~est t ~ p oef An~ericanr ural life, st~ggests the wisdom oE a large exterrsion of the system. By this means t h q acquire habitsof industry, a practical acquaintance with civilized life, a sense of independence, enthi~siaslnf or home, and the pract,ical ability to earn their own living. This system has in it the "promise and the potency " of their cotnplete emancipation. Thirteenth. Of course, it is to be understood that, in addition to all of the work here outlined as belongingto the Government for the education a,nd civilization of the Indians, there wilt be requisite the influence of the home, the Sabbath-schod, the church, and religious institutions of learning. There will be urgent need of consecrated mis-sionary work and liberal expenditure of money om the part of individ-uals and religious organizations in behalf of these people. Christian schools and colleges have already been establisheol for them bpmis siona7.y zeal, and others will doubtless follow. But just as the work of the public schools is supplemented in the States by 'Christian ,agencies, so will the work of Indian educatiou by the Government be snpple-mented by the same agencies. There need be no conllict and no un-seemly rivalry. The Indians, like any other class of citizens, will be free to patronize those schools which they believe to be best adapted to their purpose. HIGH SOHOOLS. , There are at present three general classes or lri~tds of Government schools-the so-called industrial training school, the reservation board-ing- school, and the camp or day school. There is for these schools no established course of study, no order of exercises. The teachers do as theIsraelites did in the days of the judges-" eachone that which seems right in his own eyes." The schools sustain no necessary relation to each other. There is no system of promotion or of transfer from one school to another One of the most obvious needsof the houri6 tomark out clearly the work of the schools and to bring the different grades into organic relationship. Assuming that the Government should furnish to the Indian children, who look directly toit for preparation for citizenship, an edncatibn equiv-alent to that provided by the se.vera1 States for the children nuder their care, the problem is greatly simplified. The high school is now almost unirersallyrecognized as an essential part of the common-schoolsystem. There are in operation iu the United States about 1,200 of them, with an enrollment of 120,000. These 'Lpeople's colleges" are found every-where, in cities, towns, villages, and country places from ,Xaine to , Oregon. Colorado and other new States rival Massachusetts and other New England communities in the mnnificence of their pr.ov ision for 9592 IND-'I |
