Comments on: Native Americans: Question One

By: las5545

las5545 — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:45:34 +0000

I feel that as a nation changing an education plan or trying to enforce one is difficult. In different areas of the country there are different budgets and different types of people that would not enforce a nationwide plan. I feel in New York the education system is very liberal in their teachings from growing up and learning things that were sometimes questioned. i feel that I did not have the same schooling as a teenage girl from the south where there is still a larger issue with race and segregation. I admit I did not learn alot about native americans in my schooling and I feel that I should have began to learn more in middle school. I do not remember anything about preschool and elementary school besides playing on the playground and taking naps. I feel as if teachers should discuss the current standards of the native american lifestyle instead of focusing on the past because the main problem is fixing equality now. Feb 26

By: maritzy

maritzy — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:57:06 +0000

I think that educating children about a genocide when they are in pre-school is not so appropriate. I am not saying we shouldn’t educate kids at all, I am all for education on Native Americans, but I think that it should be when they are able to understand more about what has happened maybe in 4ht or 5th grade of elementary school. I think that at this age they will be able to comprehend more about what went on and how it has affected Native Americans today. The fact that they are the poorest people in the US and how by talking about them will maybe one day ease their hardships. Children I think will be touched my stories of Native Americans and if they ever see one will want to approach this person. Education for pre-scholers and kindergarteners should be more like who they were and what their history looks like. I think that recognizing these people is key. I know that if I was Native American I would want people to know about my culture and recognize what has happened in my history. Knowing that they went through the biggest genocide is essential to know and people should recognize this. Kids could also take trips to the closest reservation where they could interact with other Native American children and do fun activities together. They could also talk about each other’s culture. I know that many people would not waste their time spending time with these people but kids especially are innocent and would not mind playing with these kids. Adults I think would more closes minded into helping or even spending time with Native Americans. I think that kids sharing stories to their parents about these people will make them realize who these people are today and how they affect us indirectly. They deserve to be known around the globe and helped expecially with their poverty problems and alcoholism. Helping Native American kids go to college would be an immense help and will in the long run increase their status economically. I would like to think that after we have done this we will finally come to a “truce.” I know that this will never justify what has happened to these people but at least we will have done something about it and not completely ignored it. I think African American will be happy they are being recognized. Kids will learn to appreciate this culture and teach their kids about the importance of Native Americans and how they have affected us.

By: nyd5007

nyd5007 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:38:47 +0000

The massive genocide of the Native Americans is never talked about. In Sam’s class was the first time I heard of this genocide that was extensive and immense. I think that the genocide regarding the Native Americans should be published in the textbooks and taught in history classes starting at an early age. It seems that it is not taught because as Americans we are ashamed what the past. There are many skeletons in the American “closet” that come out. There’s nothing anyone can do about it because we cannot change the past, however we can change the future. We need to take that extra step to help out our people. I think it’s funny how Americans can go to Iraq and try to fix their country and help them make mends with each other and go to Afghanistan and try to fix their country, but all while our own country needs help. Even I was ignorant to the facts that there are so many Native American tribes and reservations in the United States of America. We should be taught at an early age their history and genocide because their history is our history.
I think there is no need for someone to take the blame for what happened in the past because that will not change anything. What we need to do is educate ourselves about the situation so history will not repeat itself. While it was wrong, the people who actually committed this heinous crime against the Native Americans of that time are not here to pay the price. Therefore, we need to take the initiative to help the Native Americans in building themselves up financially and educationally. We choose to support everyone else but our own people. It’s a shame we do this. There is no way that we should be over in other countries fighting other countries’ wars, when there is a war here in the United States of America that many people fight every day and some for all of there lives; that war is poverty. This extends beyond just the Native Americans. There are so many people in the United States of America who go to sleep hungry at night and it is a shame. Back to the Native Americans, they need help to grow and move forward. Education starts at a young age and has to extend beyond the classroom. Parents have to also take their parts in educating their children so they can understand the American history. I don’t agree that "America would have no soul”. We cannot dwell on the past especially when it was our ancestors who committed the crime. I do not think we should have to take responsibility for our ancestors’ wrongdoings. At this point, all we can do is change the present and the future. Once we stop pointing fingers at who we feel should take the blame, we can help make progress and move past this problem.

By: kenthethird

kenthethird — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:34:47 +0000

It took me many years to see that "cowboys and indians" is an inappropriate game for children to be play. It also took me a while to realize how little I learned about native americans in school. I think its hard to teach our youth that the America was founded through mass genocide and stealing from the Natives. I agree with a few people in saying that our violent history would be tough not explain explicitly.
We could start by raising awareness to the fact that Native American tribes still exist, but on segregated reservations. From there, it seems like only a matter of time before everyone wants to know; why are they in reservations? how did they get there?
In school, I remember learning most about their colorful culture, the way they lived off of the land, the way they used every resource to the fullest. Native Americans seemed so efficient, I don't know why I never questioned the reason why they aren't thriving today, or why I don't see this culture anymore.

It was such a raw deal, I think our educational system teaches the Holocaust because we are too ashamed to admit such genocide happened on our own soil, so we talk about Germany instead.
I never learned about native americans being killed, I learned about all those buffalo being killed. The way I was taught, it was like the "settlers" just hated the buffalo, not the native americans themselves. Teachers always left out the actual relationship between Native Americans and "settlers". It always seemed that settlers moving out west had an INDIRECT relationship to Native Americans. The Native Americans just decided they no longer wanted to occupy the space, so the "settlers" moved in.
I don't think a lot of kids are aware that Native Americans are still alive and in tribes in the U.S.

Sam asked us to name tribes, and then to guess how many are in existence today, we could ask the same thing of our children in elementary schools. That would immediately raise awareness that Native American culture still exists today, children would probably want to visit a reservation if you told them.
But we should first stop teaching children the "cowboys and indians". The concept is harmless, but even the title "Cowboys and Indians" is wrong. Everybody wants to be a gun slinging cowboy as a child, so the kids who pretend to be Indians are going to lose every time; so In a way, we ARE teaching our children about what happened, except in the form of a childhood game about victory over another race. Perhaps kids should just play "cops and robbers" , and we'll hope they all want to play cops.

By: rlevin66

rlevin66 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:08:12 +0000

I think that is very important to teach Americas youth about the TRUTH of our past. I cant remember learning about the Native American genocide till about 7th grade, and i remember it being touched upon very lightly. I can remember though, learning about all 50 states, how we acquired them, lewis and clark and the age of independence very well. i remember holiday parties like thanksgiving where some kids dressed as pilgrims and some as native Americans, and i don’t remember being taught about the truth of that holiday. About the genocide, or the blankets of small pox given to rid the country of their native peoples. I don’t think it is necessary to go and teach 3 years olds about genocide and gruesome things because they are so young and that is not a happy topic, but once they are old enough to learn about races and history the truth should be told. Once the elementary schools begin to teach American history, the real history should be taught without being iced over. I think that throught schooling the American history books should tell all sides of the story, not just the side where white people are amazing and industrious etc. I think that it is important to teach our history, but on the flip side, there is not much we can do about it now, so continuing to talk it to DEATH after we teach it would be of no use, instead we should discuss equality, and ways to improve the culture barriers that exist now. While being educated is important, focusing on the past and not discussing ways to better the future are pointless. there should be education on race relations and ways to make all people think with a positive attitude and possibly think of ways to fix this current situation. NA shouldn’t live in poverty now and always because they were once persecuted. we should enforce new rules and help out the reservations to get back on their feet, so they can flourish and grow and not succumb to poverty and alcoholism and the other things that are going on in the reservations. We should even try to find a better way to deal with the issue, putting NA on plots of land and calling them reservations is horrible, they should speak out and meet with governmental figures to find a way to make it a more equal lifestyle. it would be unrealistic to say we should give their land back because as great as that would be , its clearly not possible and i am not being pessimistic or racist. its obviously not possible to go back in time and give their land back, so we need to find a way to make their lives easier better and more equal. This is what should be focused on as well as the educational aspect. It is embarrassing to say the least that our peoples are not educated, that kids think of Indians as holding a bow and arrow and nothing else. NA are a great people with so much wisdom , kindness, history, knowledge etc and this should be taught. It would be good for children to know just as much about their race as any of the other races or history. We are all taught about the holocaust, slavery, the crusades etc, other HUGE genocides, and racial experiences through out time so there is no need for this specific incident to go under the radar because Americans are ashamed of the actions of their fore fathers.

By: jordanrankee50

jordanrankee50 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:33:46 +0000

I feel that education should start early about matters like this. Now I’m not suggesting Kindergarten students learn this, because that might be too soon. They need to first learn the basics, mathematics, science, handwriting, etc. I do think that this should be taught before middle school though, probably around the 3rd or 4th grade. The problem is that textbooks don’t talk about this stuff. Is it because we are embarrassed with the way we treated people? Or is it because we don’t want to tarnish our image as freedom loving and just people? The education system as a whole would have to be addressed in order for any improvement to take place.

By: BigWillyStyle

BigWillyStyle — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:59:14 +0000

Well, in regards to the drawing, our culture has defined an Indian as as enemy of the cowboy…almost an unreal character from myths created long ago. I remember playing with toy figures when I was young, having indians and cowboys battle, obviously not understanding that this mass murder actually occurred in America's history. Could you compare it to the holocaust? Would we ever make toy figures of Nazis and peoples? We should try to erase the cowboy versus indian tales from our culture, and replace it with the truth. The trail of tears, etc.

Also, why do we as Americans allow ourselves to deny this genocide? It is illegal in Germany to deny the holocaust, but as Sam said, Reagan's speech overlooked the whole history of native american conflict, saying this land was free for the taking. America prints the history books, and we need to make ourselves look good.

By: jtomvp

jtomvp — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:07:37 +0000

I think that learning about something as huge and devastating as genocide may not be the best idea for very young students. I just don’t think that children in elementary school (maybe middle school as well) can really understand the situation and fully grasp what was forced on the Native Americans without also including pretty graphic details that they may not be ready to absorb. I remember learning about the “Trail of Tears,” which was basically the United States government relocating Native Americans to the midwestern part of the United States. This relocation was a very brutal process for the Native Americans, causing a lot of suffering, death, and disease. I only learned about this once in my school career prior to college, and at the time I don’t recall that the story made me feel a lot of empathy for the Native Americans, because the textbook story only touched the surface and I didn't understand the significance or the pain. When I learned about the relocation, I didn’t realize it was something that was against the wishes of the Native Americans, and I definitely don’t remember that it was a destructive, deadly show of force. I did not understand the situation as much as I do now, and even now I am still learning about how horrible it was.
When I got to high school, we learned details of the Holocaust. At that point, I had matured more, so throughout the unit, I was able to understand the seriousness of the event and how merciless things were for Jewish people and any other group Nazi Germany did not feel deserved to live. Because the Holocaust happened after the Native American genocide and actual photos were possible, we saw disturbing pictures that created a definite, realistic impression. There were personal stories (Anne Frank), too, about the Holocaust that made it real and horrific, so we felt the impact of the whole historic nightmare. Usually if people compare the two genocides, they don’t think Native Americans suffered as much as the Jewish population. Actually, we know there was horror and death for both groups. Native Americans are still struggling and represent the lowest socio-economic class in the nation with high rates of poverty, suicide, alcoholism and other medical conditions. Many people don’t know this.
Although my education may have been very different from others, I personally believe that if you are going to teach young students about Native Americans while they are in elementary school, you need to present an accurate story but a level of details that they can handle. Then the subject should be taught again when students are older, can think about it on a larger scale, acknowledge the ugly history, and analyze it and learn from it.

By: CastorPollux

CastorPollux — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:18:11 +0000

The experiment on pre-school children sounds very interesting. Well, I think they might respond in that way because they learn ‘the Little Indian’ song and some children books contain the word ‘Indian.’ In regards to the question when should we start the education, I should say it is happening right now – it just takes longer time. We learned to use ‘Native American’ but our grandparents or parents are familiar with ‘Indian.’ When we become 50s and 60s, the outcome will be presented. Like this, the genocide needs to be taught as soon as possible and explained at children level. (We do not want the children to imagine the horror scene, right?)

By: JusticeBurn

JusticeBurn — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:53:29 +0000

I believe that we should change the education, I remember learning about "indians" in 1st grade. It was what i learned about them that was wrong. I learned that they were happy with pilgrims and settlers and they helped them grow food and live together. Bullshit. We were brainwashed from an early age that Native Americans are a people who were here before us. Then we got here, they "helped us" and taught us a bunch of stuff, and then what? they dissapeared? We should ask children why they dont see many "indians" anymore. Im sure that they would have a hard time answering that one. We need to start the CORRECT education.