In reading Joel Spring’s “Native Americans: Deculturalization, Schooling, Globalization, and Inequality”, I feel that I now have more of a grasp on just how much pain and suffering these Native American people were forced to endure as a result of deculturalization. In providing such detailed background information such as where this notion of deculturalization came from which include superiority, globalization, and imperialism, the reader is able to understand the root of this which is key to being able to comprehend the points that Spring develops throughout. This was one of the concepts that our group wanted to focus on during our learning experience because without having a full understanding of why something is happening, it can be difficult to grapple with the information that follows. Deculturalization is a term that can have a variation of definitions so in the discussion groups we wanted first ask what our peers thought the definition to be, followed with how it was to be defined and understood in the context of the article. In the context of the article, the term deculturalization was best defined as the use of schools to strip away family languages and cultures and replace them with those of the dominant group and replace them with the “superior” religion, culture, language, customs, and overall way of life
I found Spring’s perspective to be very real and filled with passion. In doing research for one part of the experience, I looked into Joel Spring and his background and found that both his Grandfather and Great Grandfather were directly involved with the Choctaw Nation and that the efforts of deculturalization deeply impacted him personally as it attacked his own life and the lives of the people around him. In sharing his personal experiences throughout, specifically in the introduction when he shares his experience with the local Indian tribes who were making an attempt to restore and salvage their traditions, I believe that the reader is given a sense of reality, that this is all real and that it did happen right here on our own American soil.
By incorporating the two timelines into his article, Spring is creating a more memorable image for his readers to identify and visualize. Our group found the timeline to be very effective as it adequately displayed all of the major legislation and events that shaped the Natives educational rights as well as their citizenship rights so we wanted to share this historical knowledge with our peers as well, hence, incorporating that activity into our learning experience. It is very informative and insightful to gain perspective regarding how recent all of this is in relativity to where we are now, 200 years later. Spring is able to convey the reality that this inequality did not happen long ago and that people such as himself still continue to struggle with the effects of deculturalization today. Seeing the timelines and all of the legislation that was passed that both hurt and helped these people is troubling because it appeared that the nation was unsure of how to handle the issue. Spring talks about Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act, which worked to contain and remove these indigenous people and then goes on to talk about the Indian Peace Commission which provided citizenship but did not necessarily change the treatment they were receiving.
The belief that education was the key component to social improvement and control led the charge in the educating of the Native American population. Thomas McKenny was able to pass the legislation on this notion and was able to receive funding that established these schools. Spring goes on to talk about the missionaries that were brought over to culturalize and change the lifestyles of the unsuspecting population, the indigenous. To my surprise, despite being an arguable violation to the First Amendment, the government subsidized these missionary educators to civilize the Natives. An insight I was able to make was the level of manipulation that was transpiring, these governments knew that if many of these people were open to some aspects of ‘conversion’ then they simply wanted literacy but they were vulnerable and were taught only the ways that they would turn them against their people and instil in them the values they chose.
Through removal tactics and civilization programs, the U.S. Government may deem themselves and their mission successful as they were able to incorporate boarding, reservation and manual labor schools into the lives of the Native American children. The goal of these systems was to eliminate the Native beliefs from the minds of these children before they began, and in many cases they were successful. By keeping such a tight rein on tribes and fearlessly doing harm to those who act out, many obliged.
Spring is able to take his readers on a journey through time, a journey that exposes the injustices that him and his people faced. He is able to do it in a very effective way and is able to provide the reader with a strong understanding of what life was like in this unjust education system in which we live.
To give additional insights to the injustices that were faced by this population, we thought it would be effective to place a video from another man who unfortunately personally endured this injustice. As a group we divided up the material provided in the article and worked to convey the overarching themes that Spring is working to convey to his audience and how we can perceive them as 21st century learners and future educators.
Consulted references:
Queens College, City University of New York,
http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/GlobalEd/OGEI/Pages/Global_Faculty.aspx?FacultyID=Joel%2B%2BSpring
Spring, Joel 2013. Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality. Chapter 2: Native
Americans: Deculturalization. Schooling, and Globalization. New York: McGraw Hill.pp. 21-40.
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