Sherman High School Over One Century

I think something definitely happened between the time that the Sherman Indian high school opened and the present. At the time it opened children were literally forced into going there and removed from their homes. They went years without going home or visiting their family. When it opened, the goal of the institution was redeem the race and change the ways of the Indians. The authorities said that they would act in the Indian’s best interests.

During the early to mid 19th century the students were trained more in vocations and less in traditional education. This was preparing them for going straight into the labor force; in the film one woman mentioned there was an administrator in the film that said all they were good for was domestic type work. At this point in time at the school the students were also treated like they were in the military, having to march to class, wake up to a bell ringing and they had to wear uniforms.

However, the more recent graduates of the school reported none of the same situations. They shared how they can express their culture and share things from their tribes with the rest of the school and it is even encouraged.You can tell from the video that they really enjoyed their time at the school. No longer are they forced into the school and merely taught how to do labor, the focus is on educating them and also allowing them to be individuals. Something happened over the last century that shifted the mission of the school from trying to change the students to be someone they were not to now when they are allowed to embrace their heritage. It is hard to say what factors led to this huge change, perhaps it had to do with the changing of the leaders from whites to Native American. Or, maybe it just is because in the last century perceptions of other races has changed drastically. We have come very far from the days before the civil rights movement and maybe because of it all different races are now able to regain the control they had lost over time.