The end of the Western Wars during the 1800s brought an abrupt halt to physical attacks on Indian tribes and ultimately awakened Americans to true reality the danger of the "disappearing Indian," which had long been a problem but had only just been realized. This spurred a number of various groups and mobilization efforts that called for Indian reform at the tribal and individual levels. The dominant theory that arose from this flurry of changes was a strange goal in retrospect: to save the Indians by assimilating them into American society. The term "kill the Indian and save the man" comes from this growing concern for Indian rights in the late 19th century. The situation of the Indians at that time was truly bleak as the tribes were forced to take refuge in reservations to regroup and begin the process of adapting to white society. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ultimately, however, this plan proved to be a failure as the reservations increasingly became a symbol of poverty and a growing Indian dependence on rations and supplies from the U.S. government. The Indians were on a downward spiral toward extinction at an alarming rate. It took the radical ideas of people like Captain Henry Pratt to realize that the most effective method of change for Native people would be to educate them, forever separate them from the reservations, and then merge them into white society. Compulsory education for all Indian children had its share of advantages and disadvantages, but the latter far outweighed the positives. Although some Indians were indeed successful and managed to form a bridge between their two cultures, others returned to their reservations, or were forever trapped between two groups, unable to reclaim their native heritage or merge with the white man of everyday. The implementation of the boarding school system for the Indians, although a seemingly progressive idea, nevertheless had many negative aspects that continue to be felt today by the natives who as a result have lost even more of their cultural and tribal identity. After the failure of policies such as the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887, which sought to appropriate "surplus" Indian lands and encourage agriculture, they only continued to consolidate Native lands and continue the pattern of poverty that had gone growing for generations. The first major attempt to find a more efficient way to assimilate Indians into American society was carried out by Captain Richard Pratt, who captured captured Plains Indians and attempted to introduce them into white society by giving them "proper" clothing, shaving their heads, and essentially removing every physical trace of their old culture. This idea of ​​change soon spread among Indian children starting in 1870 with the opening of the first Indian boarding school: the Carlisle Indian School, which would become the model for Native reform and assimilation. The goals of these schools were simple: “to isolate children from the “contaminating” influences of parents, friends, and family” (Calloway 384) and to draw Indians into white society so that they would serve as models for others. joint. For whites, this may have seemed like reform, but for the vast majority of Indians it marked a further desecration of their core values ​​and beliefs. The methods established by the teachers and administrators of this school were uniform and direct. Upon arrival, the Indian children were forced to discard thetheir old clothes and to wear their hair and new clothes so as to meet the white man's standards. From the perspective of Luther Standing Bear, a critic of the reform system, these first changes marked the plunge into a completely foreign society and lifestyle: “Our usual dress was taken and replaced with clothes that seemed cumbersome and embarrassing . . .Of course, our hair was cut. . .and in some mysterious way long hair hindered our development." (Calloway 418) The Indians were also forced to adopt Christianity and, as such, were also given Anglo-Saxon names in an attempt to remove their pagan beliefs. As depicted in movie The American Experience, children were forced to adhere to Christian principles such as daily prayer and obedience to authority, which slowly but surely separated them from the basic beliefs that had been the norm of their tribes for centuries just one of the many steps schools took to effectively convert natives. It was language that proved to be the hardest blow, forever separating children from their parents in a way that has been passed down through recent generations. Reading and writing they were essential elements of the curriculum of these schools and served as a double-edged sword for the Indians. The positive aspect is that it allowed the natives to converse with potential employers and fellow countrymen. For some Indians like Wolf Chief, he was able to use his writing skills to advocate for Native rights on behalf of his Hidatsa tribe. (Calloway 390) For the vast majority of Indians, learning English created a barrier between their ancient languages ​​that persists today as many tribes have lost their ancient languages ​​that defined who they are as an individual tribe. Other prominent methods of Indian education in boarding schools involved teaching American history from a perspective that pushed for “a version of American history that distorted or ignored the role of Indians.” (Calloway 389) It is ironic to note that this distorted view of American history taught to Indians more than a century ago is still presented in much the same way in schools today, where Indians are barely mentioned or held in high regard. In addition to their education, Indians were also educated on the basis of gender division, where males were taught standard vocational skills and women were raised to follow the standards of domestic duties as a housewife or maid. When combined, this physical and intellectual education appears to have had a drastic impact on Native people and their sense of identity in America. For a select few, some Natives were able to combine the skills they learned in school to assist their tribes, while for the vast majority, the effects of progressive education had a drastically negative effect on the Natives and their families. Examining the positive aspects of the entire boarding school experience, it can be noted that some Indians were indeed able to successfully make the transition from "savage" to "civilized", which had been the main goal from the point of view of their teachers and administrators. Even more importantly for the Natives, many of them were able to return to their reservations and apply their skills to help others within their family and even to educate other Indians. The aforementioned Chief Wolf has successfully incorporated his linguistic and writing skills to protest U.S. policies and seek change for his fellow tribesmen. As it is rightly said: “Indian intellectuals used popular images and stereotypes for their own purposes.” (Calloway 391) Another great example ofthis balance between cultures is best represented by Charles Eastman, son of a Wahpeton Dakota who had himself been changed by the white reformation. The young Eastman was encouraged by his father to adapt to white society and education as ferociously as if he were entering armed combat: "It's like if I sent you on your first warpath, I expect you to win." (Calloway 392) Eastman successfully made it through boarding school, earned his college education, and upon returning to his old tribe, became a firm believer in cultural exchange, believing that Americans had much to learn from the Indians and vice versa. Not to overshadow the success of these colleges, it remains a fact that most of the natives sent to the schools either used their skills to criticize this method of reform, or were lost between two cultures with no escape route. From the beginning, schools were plagued by disease, a common aspect of Indian society that had been prevalent since European contact several centuries earlier. Especially in the early years of college, both on and off the reserve; waves of tuberculosis, smallpox, and other diseases had a devastating effect on both students and their families. “Between 1885 and 1913, 100 Indian students, from 37 different tribes, were buried in the Haskell Indian School cemetery.” (Calloway 388) Suicides and dropouts were also common as students found the new way of life forced upon them to be unbearably harsh and a far cry from their old ways. Perhaps the most troubling outcome for children unable to endure boarding schools was the inability to adapt to either society. The term "blanket Indian" came to be applied to those natives who adhered to the "old ways," or the increasingly dying customs that had been their norm for centuries. Indians returning to their tribes after their formal education sought to return to this "blanket." (Calloway 416) However for some, like Plenty Horses, this was almost impossible. Plenty Horses was accused of shooting an army officer during the height of the Ghost Dance revival in 1890. During the trial he stated that he shot the officer “so that I might make a place for myself among my people. Now I'm one of them." (Calloway 413) Plenty Horses believed that his time in Carlisle had created a cultural divide between his old culture and that an act of violence against the white man was the only way to find redemption among his people. For both Plenty Horse and the countless other Natives who returned to their reservations after school, their lives resumed to some extent on the reservations as the white man's outside world continued to close off any possible ties they had to their old ways and customs. The policies of the boarding schools of the 19th and 20th centuries, though apparently well-intentioned in their basic objectives, forever created a barrier between that particular generation of Indians and their old language and customs, which even today seek to be recovered . While these schools' goals of "kill the Indian and save the man" worked for some natives such as Wolf Chief and Charles Eastman, they also produced great discontent on the part of those they sought to convert. Natives like Luther Standing Bear adapted his formal education to protest the boarding school system, arguing that it was only killing the Indians' heritage and that mutual cultural assimilation would be the ideal type of "school." As Luther so rightly said: “So we went to school to copy, to imitate; do not exchange languages ​​and ideas.” (Calloway 419) White reformers sought to isolate, educate, and assimilate the natives. All Indian children during this period were.