CULTURE, CRISIS, AND EDUCATION
Learning from the Past to Improve the Future
“It’s so good to be home!”
These words were spoken by a second-grade student as she entered the girls dorm at Holbrook Indian School (HIS). Her mother had just dropped off her and her older sister late on a Sunday evening after all of the other students had gone to bed. Their mom had been drinking, and their time with her was not quite what they’d hoped for when she picked them up the previous Friday for home leave. Their mother’s brokenness is a symptom of the generational trauma set in motion by the policies of the United States government toward Indigenous peoples throughout our country’s history.
An American Indian teacher and student exercising a hands-on learning approach, a technique modern American schools are now adopting.
Native Boarding Schools
Among those policies was the establishment of the first boarding schools in the United States aimed at destroying all aspects of American Indian culture in an attempt to assimilate Indigenous people. Not long after, the devastating effects of these policies began to emerge: poverty, depression, suicide, addiction, abuse, broken families and communities, lifestyle diseases, and so on.
According to Dr. Alberta Yeboah, an associate professor of social science at Jackson State University, American Indians had already established a functioning, effective educational system long before European contact was made. The system was composed of teaching children the “knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, and dispositions required for successful functioning adults in real-world settings.” This included a foundation of reverence and responsibility for protecting nature.
Boarding schools for American Indian children began in 1860. A nefarious philosophy for the schools was introduced by Richard Henry Pratt: “Kill the Indian, save the man.” In 1879, Pratt opened one of the most infamous off-reservation boarding schools located in Pennsylvania.
According to Northern Plains Reservation Aid (NPRA), this style of boarding school aimed to destroy all aspects of Indigenous culture, especially outward signs of tribal life that the children brought with them. The children were forced to cut their hair, change their names to English ones, abandon their traditional food, and were forbidden to speak in their native languages, even to each other. These schools also taught history with an explicit bias.
Discipline within these schools was severe and consisted of confinement, deprivation of privileges, corporal punishment, and restriction of diet. The schools were also ravaged with diseases such as tuberculosis and epidemic proportions of measles.
Parents resisted the schools in various ways. Entire villages would refuse to enroll their children. In turn, government agents on the reservations would withhold rations or send in police to enforce policy. Not until 1978, with the passing of the Indian Child Welfare Act, were Native parents given the legal right to deny their children’s placement in off-reservation schools.
In 1879, Pratt opened one of the most infamous off-reservation boarding schools.
Given these and many other historical abuses the American Indian population has faced, they are still dealing with the repercussions of these horrific acts. Alcohol was also introduced to Indigenous populations during the 1800s, a problem that still plagues them with alcohol-related death rates 514 percent higher than the general population and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis rates 4.8 times higher. Additionally, mental health in American Indian communities suffers. According to the Aspen Institute and the Indian Health Service, suicide rates in the American Indian population are more than double the average, and teens experience the highest rate of suicide among any population group in the United States. It is the second leading cause of death (and 2.5 times the national rate) for American Indian youth in the 15-24 age group. Historical displacement is also still causing a ripple effect, as the NPRA states that 90,000 American Indians are homeless or live in unsafe and substandard housing, as well as 23 percent of families live with low food security.
The Holbrook Difference
Holbrook Indian School opened its doors in 1946 as a one-building mission school operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. While the school has gone through changes and growth in its more than 75 years, our mission remains the same: to provide “a safe place for students to learn, grow, and thrive in Christ”, while also preserving and celebrating students’ cultures. The philosophy of HIS is not to “kill the Indian;” it is to help students reclaim their identity.
MAPS: Wholeness for Every Student
For our students, especially those who’ve experienced trauma, academic achievement is interdependent with good mental, physical, and spiritual health. Our MAPS program was created specifically for HIS students to assist them in learning, growing, and thriving in four key areas: Mental, Academic/Artistic, Physical, and Spiritual. Each of these four pillars is a fundamental component of a student’s environment and education with specific, practical applications.
The MAPS coordinator works with our on-site licensed, clinical counseling team to develop proactive, systematic, and comprehensive wellness plans, identifying areas of need for each student. This helps students make the connection between these four pillars and the impact each has on their ability to develop healthy habits for optimal wellness.
Honoring American Indian Culture and Heritage
One way the faculty and staff at HIS work to help American Indian students find healing from centuries of inhumane policies and practices is by reconnecting them with their cultural heritage and caring for the whole student. The majority of students at HIS are Navajo or Diné (meaning “The People”), and as such, HIS works to facilitate healing in identity by providing classes in Navajo history, government, and language, as well as Indigenous arts and hands-on agriculture classes.
Navajo language and Navajo government classes are both taught by Sam Hubbard, who is Diné (this is how members of the Navajo Nation refer to themselves).
“My favorite aspect of teaching is probably when students learn new things and they tell you about it,” Sam said. “Many times, students have learned something new that they probably would have never learned if they were at another school. Our school is unique.”
Sam adds that though many students come from the reservations, they know more about pop culture than they do about their history and traditions. “We want them to not feel ashamed of their Native heritage.”
“My wartime experiences developing a code that utilized the Navajo language taught how important our Navajo culture is to our country. For me that is the central lesson: that diverse cultures can make a country richer and stronger.”
— Chester Nez, World War II Navajo Code Talker
Diné Language
In the early boarding schools, children were often punished for speaking in their Native languages. Yet ironically, American Indian languages played an important role in the positive outcomes of World Wars I and II, where American Indians fluent in their traditional languages were used to send secret messages in battle. The most famous among these are the Navajo Code Talkers.
Throughout the previous 75+ years, many students have attended HIS whose fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and great uncles were Code Talkers. Today, most students do not speak in their Native language. Yet many of their grandparents only speak Diné. By teaching students Diné, HIS hopes to help reconnect Navajo youth with their elders.
NAVAJO HISTORY
Many people are familiar with the Trail of Tears, but few have heard about the Long Walk. During the 1860s, Kit Carson began his campaign against the Navajo by using a “scorched earth policy” in which he burned their crops and destroyed food stores in an effort to ruin their ability to sustain themselves. This destructive war resulted in the removal of the Navajo from their homeland of the Four Corners area (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona) to Southeastern New Mexico. Carson forced more than 8,500 men, women, and children to walk across New Mexico for imprisonment at the Bosque Redondo Reservation, over 400 miles from their homes. Along the way, 200 Diné people died from exposure and starvation. Upon arrival, the Diné were given poor food that led to illness and famine. Deprivation, disease, and death plagued the Diné. In total, one out of four people died. Eventually, the military admitted the effort a failure and allowed the Diné to return home. As part of their history class, students retrace the steps of the Long Walk to help them understand the experiences of their ancestors that affect their lives today.
NAVAJO NATION GOVERNMENT
Today, the Navajo Nation extends into the states of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and covers 27,000 square miles. Navajoland is also larger than ten of the 50 states in America. Since a tribal government was first established in 1923, the Navajo Nation has evolved into the largest and most sophisticated form of American Indian government in the United States. Every year, HIS students visit the Navajo Nation capital in Window Rock as part of their Navajo government class, learning first-hand how its three-branch system of government operates.
Of the 400,00 registered Navajo, 180,500 are listed as living on the reservation. The median age of those living on the reservation is 24, with the average household income being $8,240 and 43 percent of the population living well below the poverty line. Only 56 percent have graduated high school and merely 7 percent have a college degree. The reality of these statistics pose a myriad of challenges for government leaders. Helping students understand the challenges they face empowers them to rise above.
INDIGENOUS ARTS
Pottery making, weaving, and beading are fast becoming lost skills. The Indigenous Arts program at HIS focuses on traditional practices while inspiring students to tap into their creativity and to connect with their culture.
Art has a special way of reaching students, said Zak Adams, founder of the Indigenous Arts program at HIS. “They can use it to express themselves when words can’t. What I have seen of our students is that they are starving for their own culture,” said Zak.
Art provides many benefits for mental health and emotional wellbeing, which include a sense of accomplishment, an increase in drive, and improved concentration. Studies suggest that art can be valuable in treating depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Indigenous Arts program also teaches the artistic skills of different tribes. In turn, students are able to appreciate and preserve their cultural heritage.
AGRICULTURE
Before expansion into the West, the Navajo sustained themselves by farming and sheep herding. When those who survived returned from their imprisonment at Bosque Redondo, they had no means to provide for themselves and relied on government rations until they were able to rebuild.
The fact that the Diné are the largest American Indian tribe in the United States speaks of their resiliency. However, food scarcity and poor nutrition remain a reality for the Navajo. Teaching students about traditional farming methods helps sustain the Navajo way of life. By learning how to grow traditional crops such as corn, beans, and squash (known as the Three Sisters), students learn the value of good nutrition and the impact it can have on their communities.