OCR Text |
Show IRREGULAR SCHOOL ATTENDANOE. One of the wisest of the supervisors said last year : One of the most serious [impediments,] I may say themost serious, is this very evil of irregular attendance, increased and made worse by the apathy, and often the hos-rility of the adult Indian. * Irregularity of attend~noes, canty attendance, iosudcient attendance, call it how you ~111i,s the chief evil-the lion in the path. There is but one way to overcome it, one way and no ather-namely, by the ennct- "lentand enforcement of a oompulaory law, limited in its operation to the reservation schools. I speak feelingly, for I have seen quite euoogh to make me feel deeply on this subject. Its sa111tary effect would be felt in the great trainin6 schools eqnally as in the reservation schools, for regolar attendance would soon so Improve scholar-ship and "grade," that whole classes fit for transfer (and not as now unfit) could be "told" off to the far-away 80ho018, as rnsilp as classes or parts of olassca a,re now "told" of from our hioh schools to the university. * * * Its en&ctment and on-forcement will ~ o l v e''% li ttle bit" of the lndian problem. and s solution of "a little bit" is all any man shouldventure on, unless he is, or inlAgines himself to be, omnis-cient. I believe the order issued in April last, against compelling children to leave the homes and reserva,tions to go to distant training schools, is a wise one, when the limitations clearly expressed are considered; but it does not apply to gathering pnpils from reservations iuto reser-vation schools. In the Indian appropriation bill for the current yeas it is provided that-- The Secretary of the Interiormay, at his discretion, withholdrations, clothing, and other mnnitias frolr~I ndian parents or gusrdiaus who ref~xueo r negleot to acud ancl keep their chi ld~snin some school a reeaonable portion of each yeaa. This provision, judiciously administered, will be found very helpful in promoting atteudance upon the schools and irt secur i~~thge uuiform &ttendauce%om uch desired. This is at least a movement in the right direction. All reservations are not alike, and in some cases serious trouble wonld follow from an arbitrary enforcement of this provision. Instances might be cited. One occurred at Lemhi, Idaho. A boy was in scllool. His mother came and took him away; she lived half a mile off; the agent ordered the boy back, but the chief, his father, mould not bring him back. The agent withheld the chief's rations, but his colleagi~e chief (the youuger) divided his own rations with the old chief. The old ma,n was made a hero, and it broke the agent's power. Things welit on that way until the agent gave the old chief his rations. An ag~e.n t with sufficient tact and inflnence. and with this pn)vision behi1141h i111, c;111 ge~lcrallgp rouluro ,qood nrte~~tl;~nacrv r llr n.11ools. Bur eve11 this [)ruvi.i<~lid uei 11ot n v ; d I I I I a r o s e r~n t i oin~ ~\!. l~ivh 11,) r;ttio~l~osr clorl~il~:; ire issoed. Muat of the 111dioua gents 11:ivzJ O I I ~ been working on <he voluntary plan, and spme of the best and most reguilarly attended schools are on reservations where no rations or clothing are issued, and where the agent must depend upon his tact, skill, a ~ i~uflduen ce alone in securing attendance of pupils. In some reservations where lands in severalty have been allotted, the Indians, under claim of being citizens, have begon to detnonstrate their free-dom by keeping their children at home from school and defying the agent to touch them. INDIAN MEDICINE. The Indian medicine superstition is one of the most subtile a,nd potentid obstacles in the way of the education of the Indians, and also of all progress toward civilization. The element of honesty and sin-cerity, in connection with the practice of Indian medicine, is believed |