Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1897-12-02
GOVERNMENT EDUCATION OF INDIANS.

Dr. W. N. Hartmann, superintendent
Of Indian schools, ia his annual report,
Just made public, payH u good word for
the experiment Of employing educated
Indians in responsible positions In the
Indian school service, both az an
educational measure tending to lend
Indians so employed to definite pur-
pose in life. and as stimulus to the
ambition of the more advanced students
in the Indian schools. With reference
to the efficiency of these employees COM
pared with the average efiicisncy of the
white employees in corresponding pU-
sitions, the testimony Of the school
service ia divided. A large. majority
of witnesses testify that in efficiency,
devotion to duty, and steadiness OF
purpose, the Indian employees are not
inferior to white employees. There is,
however, minority who take an
opposite view. The instances 10 which
Or. Ilnilmann himHelf has had an
opportunity to inquiie have convinced
him that the troublu ia due moetly TO
simple failure from lack of character or
equipment on the part of the Indian
employees. Similar failures, however,
and in similar ratio as vol as from
similar causes, are found among white
appointees. In other cases the cause of
fail has been found IN agk OF sym
patty with the Indian employees ON the
part OF white employees, in few in
stances amounting almost ~ social
osiracsm OF the Indians. This is in
excusable, and DIR, llailmann recon-
mends that whenever IL is obviously
impossible 10 overcome such race preju.
dice, the guilty parties DO dismissed,
DIR, liailmann renews in this report
his plea for more intelligent choice
of studies. and methods OF etudy, for
Indian children, 30 that they will he
given what ia actually adapted to their
condition. The language work OF
Indian schools, he says, more pRrticu-
larly in the earlier periods oil the
ohild's school lifo, should al every
point rest upon his industrial interests
aud needs. This words with which he
duals, the sentences which he frames
tho themes on which he writes, should
be related to his industrial environ
ment, to the benefits which ne derives
from this environment, and TO the
duties he owes thereto. Children
should dsal In their English speech
new to the great majority VI them
with the new things OF their environ
Hlbntt "a hitSubht :
room, garden, farm, and shops. This,
cassr room teacherH should inform
themselves infinitely concerning these
things, their uens, their treatment,
and their literature. This will enabls
them in a large measure to idealize the
new industrial pursuits that come tn
the children, ami thus to prepare them
/ for more Intelligent appreciation of
! tue broader literature OF thought and
! feeling Of the Anglo Saxon race. What.
| over the school does in nature study
and geography should be similarly re-
| lntetl to plants, animals, Physical and,
| chemical phenomena, and natural pro-
| ducts that rlay part in tho new and
! immediate environment of the child.
| Thus alone can the teacher secure
| genuine, spontaneous interest on the
| part of the children, and lead them to
J profitable subsequent study Of scientific
| truth.
Oral and conversational as contrasted
with written work, in language. and
mathematician studios, Ia urgently adj
/ vised. on the ground Of the relatively
greater importance of teaching tho
child to speak English than oil teach
ing him to write IL. Even in civiiza-
ton, DR.. Hnilmann argues. the occa-
sions for using oral speech are a
hundred times more numerous than
those for using written speech, This
does not mean that the child is not to
be taught to write. nor does 1T mean
that he will become less proficient in
writing II in language. teaching the
main stress is placed upon oral work.
On the contrary, the experience Of
teachers who have fulluwed these eug.
gestious shows that Indian children
who contro! oral speech Acquire skill in
writing WITH much less effort and m UGH
moro satisfactorily.