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A Day in the Life of Spanish

Left with the initial impression that these young children were victims of a harsh, cruel, and unforgiving educational system the next section of this book outlines the manner in which the “inmates” fought against a system meant to break them down and then reconstruct them.  Blatant disregard of authority in the forms of talking back, refusing to perform requests, and selective hearing were often displayed to the Jesuit priests.  Of course, there were repercussions handed out for such disrespect.  Often using the nearest item the priests would hit a student (bell, pieces of wood, sticks) until the student would submit.  Otherwise verbal assaults and lengthy removal were executed.  

 Indian Residential School students holding up letters spelling "goodbye" at the Fort Simpson School in the Northwest Territories, 1922. Credit: J.F. Moran / Library and Archives Canada / PA-102575

The day started at 6:15 in the morning and a strict scheduled was followed throughout the day.  The students were reminded of each transition with the sound of a clapper, bell, whistle or gong.  Sound management was considered an efficient method to manage obedience, conformity, uniformity, and surrender.   Breakfast, work, and classes made up the morning routine. Lunch, a game of baseball, returning to class and work made up the afternoon schedule and from 7:30 to 10:00 students were expected to study.  Very little time was spent on leisure activities.  

I found it interesting that the Jesuit priests allowed the students to fight.  If a student had an issue with another student they would place a wood chip or a rock on that individual’s shoulder.  This was literally displaying that they had a “chip on their shoulder”.  The individual who wanted to handle the disagreement would do whatever they could do to knock the chip/rock off.  Once the assailant knocked the item off the shoulder a full out fight would break out.  No one intervened, not even if it was a younger sibling or friend.  The fights were always considered “fair” and only ended when one would submit to the other.  The author mentioned that fights were considered a form of entertainment for the students and he assumed that it was for the priests as well.  The fights broke the monotony of the daily schedule.

Image: Wooden Clapper http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk


When I reflect upon Chilocco and its similarities it is understood that boarding/residential schools dictated almost every moment and movement of their students.  Regardless of the strategy the students, themselves, found ways to maintain their social connections and rebel against the system.  In some respect they were willing to give up a little to make the days go by faster, but they were not going to give up on who they were easily.  

Bismarck School Board Meeting

Greetings,

One of your major assignments for this course is to attend a school board meeting.  

Teacher candidates will be required to attend one school board meeting for a two hour increment.  Learners are allowed to attend a Bismarck, Mandan, or other locale (approved by the instructor ahead of time) to meet this requirement. 

You will write a reflection paper and submit a copy of the agenda to complete this assignment.  

Submit the following information by April 29 by 5:00 p.m.

Documentation of the learners’ attendance will include:

1.   a copy of the school board agenda, and 
2.   a one page, typed paper describing the events of the meeting, please include a cover page as outlined in the course syllabus.  

The next Bismarck Public School Board meeting will be held March 14^th.  Other dates are March 28^th and April 11^th.  All meetings are held at 5:15 p.m. (CST), in the Tom Baker Meeting Room located in the -

City/County Office Building
221 North 5th Street, 
Bismarck ND.

For more information you may go to:http://moodle.bismarckschools.org/course/view.php?id=148

Mandan Public School Board meeting will meet on March 21^st.  The school board generally meets every 1^st and 3^rd Monday of each month.  The meetings are held at 5:30 p.m. (CST), at

Mandan City Hall 
Bosh Froehlich Room 205 
2^nd Ave N. 
Mandan 

For more information you may go to: http://www.mandan.k12.nd.us/schoolboard/

Graphic from http://tinyurl.com/ybzyj74

First Post - Indian School Days – By Basil H. Johnston

The book Indian School Days depicts the actual boarding school experiences of the author Basil Johnston who attended St. Peter Claver’s Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario.  The school housed children between the ages of four to seventeen who came from broken homes, were orphaned, few were enrolled by their family, and some were there as they were considered community problems.  In the author’s case he was placed at the school due to his parent’s separation and the guiding hands of the local Indian agent and priest.  Basil, at the age of ten, entered the Jesuit boarding school in 1936.

SENTENCED TO SPANISH - The students, referred to as inmates, were treated harshly from the moment they were picked up from their homes by the Indian agents.  Treated like criminals and looked upon as animals the author and his younger sister were left in utter confusion as they were taken out of their home.  There was no fair warning from their mother and grandmother about where their journey would be taking them.  They, the author and his sister, were initially separated to boarding schools based on their gender.

Greeted by the vision of boys dressed in beige shirts and pants and shorn heads Basil was quickly escorted by a Jesuit priest to be cleansed. Directed to strip he was pointed to a shower, given soap and a turpentine-gasoline substance was poured upon his head.  This ritual consisted of persistent bellowing of, “Wash good, scrub and scrub hard!”

Presented with his uniform and inmate number “43” was led to the recreation hall where his head was shaved by another inmate.  To put an end to his first day Basil instigated a fight with another boy during a pea shelling task that became competitive.  Being taken from his home then separated from his sister this incident left him feeling even more ostracized.  


 Jesuit Priests from http://www.nrsss.ca/Resource_Centre/Resource_Centre_Index.htm#OntarioIRS

As I reflect upon the author’s induction to St. Peter Claver’s Indian Residential School I found myself going back in time.  I am trying to envision what is would have been like to hear a knock on the door and realizing that I would be leaving my family but not necessarily understanding clearly why I needed to go.   Initially I became angry as I though it inhumane to disconnect a child from their family based on the premise that this child no longer had a nuclear family.  Although as I read through the following pages it became apparent that, for some families, this may have been the only option they had as they believed that these schools would provide their child(ren) will life’s most basic needs as well as an education. 

Like Chilocco, and so many Native American boarding/residential schools of the past, this residential school was able to completely take care of their needs.  The students, in this case – inmates, tended to the livestock, gardens, mills, blacksmith shops, crops and any other care required of its facilities.  Along with being the workforce, the students were there to learn a vocation (animal husbandry, plumbing, carpentry, etc) and were encouraged to eventually lead students to a religious vocation.   The author notes this was not the outcome.  Due to heavy resistance not one person made a life in the trades nor followed the priesthood.

Unlike Chilocco I found the first chapters of this book unsettling.  Initially, the author depicts a beautiful scenic landscape full of open spaces, greenery and all the opportunities of a young child enjoying their childhood until one fateful day when he was "sentenced" to go to a residential school. What gave me some ease to my anger is the video I found on YouTube capturing the apology given to First Nations people offered on June 10, 2008 by the Canadian government.