OCR Text |
Show education have not hrarl pmJ, they harc ye1 rain.<l hi101 eornervhar above tire levrl of Indinns in rhc rdl!,eenviro~ltnellr.;. go~rl,"rh nr thererurned itudrnt llas made duvh average use of the advantages and facilities given him at the schools attended that he may be said to compare favorably with white boysand girls under similar circum-stances; that his course of lifeand actions since his return to the reservation indicate that his career is that of the average white man: "excellent," that the results of the educational methods in his particular ease have demonstrated that he has taken full advantage of them and he stands out above the average of 'returned students, and would he clsrued, if in a white neighborhood, as a man elevated ~omewhata bove those with whom he is brougbt in contact. From the data thus obtained statistics relating to returned Indian pupils were collated, from which it appears that the Government offi-cials, who are thrown in immediate contact with this class of Indians, rate 10 per cent as "excellent," the results of the educational methods demonstrating that they have taken full ridvantage of them, standing out above the average returned pupils, and would be classed, if in a white neighborhood, as men and women elevated somewhat above those with whom they are brought in contact; 76 per cent compare favorably with white boys and girls under similar circumstances, and indicate by their actions, since their return to the reaemations, a career similar to that of the average white man; 13 per cent have raised them-selves somewhat above the level of the Indians in the same environ-ment, but the results of whose education can not be said to be good; 1 per cent have not been, so far as their lives and actions are con-cerned, in any way benefited by the education which has been given them. The iirst attempt to collate statistics on this subject was made in 1897, and the results were printed in the annual report of this Depart-ment for the 6scal year 1898. For the purpose of comparison those figures are again repeated, as follows: "Excellent," 3 per cent; "good," 73 per cent; "poor" and L' bad," 24 per cent. An inspection of these figures will disclose that in about three years the average standard has been materially raised. While the3e results are extremely gratifying to those interested in the welfare of the Indian, they should not mislead, nor should they indicate the immedi-ate settlement of the questions involved in the final destiny of the tribes. We sometimes forget that the efforts of superior races to ele. vate inferior ones at a single stroke generally meet with failure, as new conditions are introduced for which the latter have no standard. In order to lift them up to or near the standard of civilization, it must be left to education, extended through several generations, to make them value and appreciate those conditions; then, and only then, can education be permanent in its results. Each generation thus has ample opportunity to adopt some of the conditions impoued, and by heredity transmit a portion to the succeeding one, in time fixing the characteristics of civilization by constaut impact, to the exclusion or material modification of hereditary barbarism. |