| Native Americans and Chinese ethnic minorities have long history and unique cultures. I studied educational history of Chinese ethnic minorities in China. It is commonly accepted in China today that the overall treatment and educational level of Native Americans in the US is better than that of ethnic minority groups in China. This assumption is undoubtedly due to the ongoing problems associated with the state national minority policies and attempts to find better solutions outside of that national space. My thesis, originating in the contrasts I found between that assumption and the realities of Native American education once I arrived in United States, is that the early history of minority education in both nations is relatively equal. I argued that both governments aimed to assimilate minority groups through education.;This research project compares the history of Native American education policy in the early US state (1887--1928) to policies of education for officially recognized minority groups in the new-formed Republic of China (1912--1948). It focuses on these time periods because in both cases these were eras in which the relatively early state was first trying to find ways to bring minority groups into the national project. Also, the boarding school for Native Americans and the elementary school for the Chinese Muslims both played important roles in the process. This study chooses these two types of schools as case studies to compare. |
