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Show 352 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCEOOLS. inspiration, much that makes the school attractive and dear to them, and reconciles them to its constraints and hardships in other directions. They are to the main work of the school in this respect as the traces or chains by which heavy burdens are moved. Drawing and music, prop-erly taught, furnish material for ulliversal languages, through wh~eh, respectively, ideas and emotions are communicated, and for these rea-sons they gain additional value in the Indian school, in which the chil-dren and the teachers speak originally different languages. Concern-ing their general value as subjects of iristruction in the manual and moral developmeut of youth, which is so universally conceded in the public schools of our land, it is needless to add anything more. Kindergartens.-Many of the more thoughtfi~l superintendents and teachers iu the Indian service have repeatedly urged the Indian Office to establish, in oonnectiou with Indian schools, wherever this may be found feasible, kindergartens. I understand that the kindergarten as a factor in the early educatiou of the Indians has been satisfactorily tested in the schools of the India11 Territory, more particularly among the Cherokees, aud has been foundmore effective than any other agency in leading the Indians, both young aud 0111, to a proper appreciation of the value of work and in giving to them theprogressive tendency with-out which civilization is unthinkable. Successful kindergartens have also beeu carried on at Fort Defiance and Osage and, possibly, at other schools. Under your direction, and with the consent of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, kindergartens will be est'ablished and carried on during the coming year at Haskell Instit,ute, Chilocco, Fort Mojave, Santa FB, Fort Hall, Port Peck, Oneida, and among the Navajoes at Fort Defiance and the Arapahoes and Sac and Fox in Oklahoma as soon as arrangements for this purpose can be completed. SOOIAL TBAININQ. A question of much interest in the education of Indian youth is the character and extent of the social traiuiug to be given at Indian schools. Unfortunately the school, as such,,has an excessive tendency towards egoistic individualism. In the dinlng room, in the dormitory, in the schoolroom, the children are, for the sake, it is claimed, of order and discipline, strenuously isolated, bidden to attend exclusively to their own needs and not to interfere or 6ven take an interest iu others. While, to a certain extent, this isolation of children is unavoidable, and even desirable, the school should provide opportunities for the exercise and nurture of the children's social instincts. They should learn to take a common interest in the 'condition of their mess table. their dormitory, their schoolroom, the school gro~intl~. E~tch i11tli; vidual >hould, in~lcedz, ealo~~shlyoe his om^ mw, but ho sl~ouldd o so with n cotlstaut H I I ~l) enerulel~tr eyard to hisneighbora' ruwn, ; ~ uwd ith an intelligent nnd gcnrrourl pride in the e~.rireti eld. In the dining room thin tcodency m;\y be encourngcd by mnking the ~ n e ~ ~ ~obf ee r~se hlll zas tdble resvonsible as a \vllolo t i~rti le ~to~~ditioof n the table and by ellcouraging th; thoughtful and uul~itied oru:i~~~e~~tation of en~:ht ;~l)le1 1si rs mell~bera. 111 t l~e~ lormirorieas ocial cooperation may be encouraked bv dividing the inmates of the dormitorv kto con-ve~ yieutg nlllpn Znd I J e~el ~cour:;=ingu nified decoration of the'gru~~l,bsy its n~emheru. These groups may be pavririn~leo~tlf from each other by inexpensive curtaiusor in any other convenient way. Similarly, the decorat,iou of the school grounds may be utilized for the same purpose. |