| OCR Text |
Show COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 27 places away from reservations. The total enrollment for the year reached almost 24,500. The number of children in public schools, both under contract and as entitled to the facilities of public schools, more than doubled, increasing to 6,900 in the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, and elsewhere to 4,400; thus, there were more than 11,000 Indian children in the public schools of the country. As conditions in Indian homes improve, the present opposition upon the part of white people in many quarters to the presence of Indian children in their schools will grow less, and consequently a steady increase in enrollment may be expected. That the children may at the proper time be ready to go from our schools to the common schools, the State courses of study have been adopted, and as part cf the effort to assimilate Indian schools to public schools our teachers have been encouraged to partici-pate in State educational affairs. In mission schools there have been 4,300 Indian pupils. Thus the whole number of Indian children in schools of every character was slightly in excess of 39,800, or about 2,000 more than in the last fiscal year. Insistence upon every eligible child being in school was one part of a large program for enhancing educational efficiency. The whole field was divided into districts, each under a supervisor who is a practical educator and a man of experience in the Indian schools. The perfection of a system of enrollment and transfer completed the downfall of the discredited practice of instructors from detached boarding schools visiting reservations to solicit and collect students. To make way for those children whose needs peculiarly justify our system of separate schools, all children are being eliminated who lack an appreciable quantity of Indian blood, or who have access to public schools at their homes. A large number of ineligible students has been found in nonreservation schools ; through the elimination of these students many thousand dollars will become available for educating Indian children who stand in real need of every assistance the Gov-ernment can extend. The meaning of the proper application of these funds can be appreciated if it is remembered that there are still at least 9,000 indigent 1ndiak children without educational oppor-tunities. Since the whole policy of the Government concerning the Indian race may be described as an attempt to make it function industrially in the civilization with which it is now surrounded, added emphasis has been placed upon proper industrial education; in particular, out-lines for simple courses have been issued which will enable teachers in the schools to instruct every boy in the rudiments of agriculture and the use of ordinary implements and tools, and to give every girl some knowledge of how to make and manage a home. |
