St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-24
INDIAN r.uUC4TION.

Gen. MORGAN. the Indian commits
siOner, submits supplemental report
to the interior department in which he
outlines plan for Indian education
that ought to receive the careful con-
Sideration of congress. The MORGAN
plan receives the unqualified indorSe-
ment of Mr.. HARRIS, the commissioner
of education, whose opinions are worth
9Omething on subject of this charac-
Ser. The min point in the MORGAN
gan is the suggestion that the Indian
youth must be educated en- masse, and
educated in a way that the environment
of each individual shall be favorable to
his persistence in the habits formed at
school. Another important recon-
mendation is that the period of
school education shall be protract-
ed, because the short period of
school training makes but little
impression on the form Of tribal life.
Another important feature of the Nor
GAN plan is to establish high school
and college instruction among the In
dams. This is urged upon the principle
that among all peoples and nations the
chieftainS naturally come from the high
er educated classes, and are in general
the men who make combinations and
manage work that requires systematic
coordination. The Indians who gradu-
ate from the high schools and colleges
will create the forms of doing and act
ing, and thereby etfectual ly furnish the
directive power for the new civilization
into which the Indians are about to rise.
In submitting his plan for Indian
education, Gen. MORGAN calls atten-
ton to the fact that the American In
dians have school population (six to
sixteen years. of $4,000. Excluding the
five civilized tribes, which provide for
the education of their own children, and
the New York Indians, who are pro-
vided for by that state, the number of
Indians of school age to be educated by
the government does not exceed $4,000.
of whom $1,000 were enrolled in schools
last year. leaving but 2l,0OO to
be provided for with additional
school facilities. Gen. MORGAN adj
ViseS compulsory system, and
urges that for the primary grades
the boarding school, as at present as
tabliShcd, affords the most thorough
means for educating the Indians. He
insists that the work should be COM
pletelY systematized, and so far as pos
Sible, there should be a uniform course
of study, similar methods of instruc
ton, the same text books, and care
fully aud well organized system OF. in
dustriaI training established at Zach
agency. He Furthermore recommends
that the system should conform as far
as practicable to the common school
system now universally adopted in all
the states, and that it should be non.
partisan and non-Sectarian. The teach
ers and employees should have stable
tenure of Office, being removed only
for cause. In his opinion, only English
Should be allowed to be spoken in the
Indian schools, and onfY English
speaking teachers should be employed
in schools supported wholly or in part
by the government. Another i'm port
ant recommendation, and Fundamental
to the whole plan, is the recognition of
the complete manhood of the Indians,
their individuality. their right to be rec
ogniZed as citizens of the United States.
with the same rights and privileges
which we accord to any other class of
people. The Indian youth should be
instructed in their rights, privileges and
duties as American citizens; should be