This chapter was about the curriculum at Haskell and how the school was ran. Children spent mornings or afternoons in the classroom. The rest of day was training, the boys would go out in the field and the girls would be sewing. Saturday’s students worked half days. Afternoons children were allowed to visit the town, the boys would go then when the boys got back the girls were able to go. Sundays were devoted to religious activities. The subjects consisted of arithmetic, English, agriculture, reading, U.S. History, geography, physiology, spelling, civil government, vocal music, drawing and writing. Students over the age of fourteen and who had completed 2nd grade were able to attend school. Business and nursing courses were also available. In 1921 11th and 12th grades were added. Haskell was the first boarding school to add the upper high school courses. The first high school class graduated in 1923. In 1928 Haskell curriculum was accredited by the Kansas state department of education. The biggest problem the teachers had was teaching English, because all the students spoke their own native language. Students were expected to read books, magazines and newspapers daily. They were also expected to write poems and essays. Students were able to write letters home, once a month. But they weren’t able to write anything negative about the school. Teachers would read them before they were sent home. Haskell seemed like they wanted to educate the students, but yet they had students do a lot of labor just like Chilocco. Haskell paved the way for other Native schools by adding high school grades as well as more and better curriculum for the students.
Hello Wylee,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your chapter from your book. It's nice to see how the schools differ in various aspects of the boarding school era. I thought it was very interesting to see your views change little bit from your previous post. You said, that your starting to feel like the teacher's really did want to educate the students but it seems like you weren't too sure about it. I find myself doing the same thing. I go back and forth always thinking about how I feel about the boarding schools. I know that it could have been done a completely different way but maybe back then people weren't as educated themselves and were only passing on what they were taught. Thank you for sharing. : )
Hi Wylee,
ReplyDeleteI think about the strong disadvantage that these students had when they were taught in English versus their own Native language. I mentioned the same issue with Tyson's post this week. Can you imagine the amount of academic education they would have received if they were allowed to just speak their Native language? As a teacher back then of a boarding school I would be certain that I would be quite frustrated. Maybe that is why they focused on a curriculum of trades rather and a curriculum of academics. Hmmm?