The Formulation And Implementation Of The Forced Assimilation Policy Of The U.S. Government For Indian Education (1877-1928)

From the1970s to the2020s, the U.S. federal government launched a spectacularcampaign of a forced characteristic, aiming at civilizing the native Americans. At thegovernment’s command, in1889, a forced assimilation policy for Indian education wasformulated to bring the barbaric Indians into the civilized world within one generation. Soonafterwards, the off-reservation boarding schools, the main educational institution of the forcedassimilation policy, were energetically established, the annual governmental fiscal supportwas greatly expanded, and the forced education, English-only education and industrialtraining were universally practiced. The policy and its implementation were meant to instillthe white world’s values into the Indian children’s mind, including the power of English,self-reliance, individualism, idea of property, patriotism and Christian civilization.As the Indian children were placed in an English-only boarding school environment,their traditional culture was disintegrated, but simultaneously, contrary to policy-makers’expectation, the white’s was beyond replacement. Thereupon, the Indian with an experience ofa forced assimilation education lost Indian belief and the sense of belonging.With thestep-by-step implementation of the policy, a series of unsolvable problems arose one afteranother. The problems are manifold, such as, in the governmental departments related withIndian affairs, bureaucratism was prevalent, corruption of officials and school employees wasserious, the prevailing military mode of management and physical punishment led to theruining of the students’ body and mind, school programs were unpractical, etc. Civilianorganizations, reformers, Indians who had received the education, officials and the public castmore and more fierce opposition towards it. In1928, the government was forced to admitfailure, announcing the ending of the forced assimilation policy for Indian education whichhad lasted for more than50years.The nature of the policy intending to rapidly assimilate the American Indians is culturalinvasion and cultural destruction. It transgresses humanitarianism and human nature. Its aimviolates the natural law of ethnic assimilation, and thereby, its failure is unavoidable.Apart from its introductive and conclusive parts, the dissertation is composed of fourchapters.Chapter one introduces the ideological origin, theoretical basis and social background ofthe policy. On the one hand, the policy reflects the deep-rooted assumption in the white’s ideology that thecivilization of the European Americans is of advanced level while that of the Indians is backward, andtherefore, the latter must be destroyed and replaced by the former. It is because of this that the policy wasgreatly valued by social reformers. On the other hand, it stands for the realistic needs of the U.S. government of that time. The Indians who had been seriously injured and humiliated by the white in thepast intermitting confrontations required conforms and helps, otherwise, they could not becomeself-supporting.The government needed building an image of farsightedness, openmindedness, kindnessand generosity in front of the public. It needed capturing the remaining land from the Indians and removingthe latent danger from those Indians to the political and economic development of the country.Chapter two discusses the making, content and aim of the policy. It summarizes its general principlesand essentials and its goal of transforming the Indians to whites, economically and essentially solving theIndian problems and guaranteeing the enforcement of land allotment and related law systems.Chapter three elaborates the implementing model and measures of the policy, including the increase ofannual funds for schools, the enforcement of forced education and English-only education and the quickdevelopment of off-reservation boarding schools. The model and measures of the policy prove its nature:Let the Indians stay far from the influence of their traditional culture, and let them think in the white’s way,speak the same language as the white’s and live the same life as the white’s. The Indians are required torealize a thorough cultural transfer and become the members of the white world.Chapter four analyzes the impact and failure necessity of the policy. The U.S. government devoted agreat amount of manpower, material and financial resources to the implementation of the policy, however,its aim is far from being achieved. The following fact explains its reason. The policy ignores the value ofthe existing of each race as its own and the will of each individual in each race.