The border vidette., 1928-03-10
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ON IN
DIAN RESERVATIONS

A condition regarding our pub.
lie schools on Indian Reserva-
tions comes to light, which needs
some attention. At the different
Indian agencies and industrial
schools, are maintained public
schools for the employees chill.
dren.
/ The agents. superintendent,
supervisors and the entire In.
dian service have been very gen.
erous and helpful in maintaining
! our public schools at these places.
They have lent the largest sup.
port and cooperation possible.
Mr.. e. FL. Hammond, supervisor
of Indian schools in this district,
has shown a very fine spirit of
helpfulness. The same may be
said of Mr.. w. M. Donner at
Whiteriver, also Mr.. r. p. Sta.
nion at Ft. Apache, and Mr..
Smith of Sacaton. These are
school men in the highest mean.
ing of the term. Our teachers
in these public schools are we'll
qualified for the work, and are
probably as good as any in the
state. They are certified by the
State Board of Education. and
| their salaries are up to standard.
At these schools, the county in
! which the school is situated,
Ipays the teachers salary; the
state supplies the textbooks
while the Indian service. as al
accommodation to the state and
county, supplies building.
! The Indian schools are full to
overflowing and all available
| space is used for the classroom
| work of the Indian children.
Adequate school houses for our
white children living on Indian
/ Reservations cannot be built for
| the following reasons: neither
the county nor the state has
4 funds for building school houses
1 they can only be built by the
| individual districts, and this is
done, in most cases, by bond
tissue. The taxable property on
the Indian Reservations is too
small to raise the money by
special tax levy. It is impossi
| BILE to make a bond issue for the
reason that there is no decided
land on the Reservations, hence
| no sale for the bonds. The re.
| suit of this is that our public
| schools on the Reservations are
housed in buildings that are en-
tirely inadequate for teaching
purposes. Our public schools
here should be models in every
sense of the word. We have an
obligation not only to the teach
ers ard employees, but to the
| Indians and Indian children as
we'll.
Indian children are to be am
ong our future citizens and are
| to be educated for American
citizenship. It is very essential
that they get correct viewpoint
on all of our life and work.
| When an Indian child, for any
purpose, visits one of our public
schools, he should find build.
ing that is a model of good work
manship. and fully as good as
his own. It should be substan-
tial. neat and attractive, we'll
heated, lighted, ventilated and
properly arranged as to seating
and classroom work.
AS it is, our white children on
the Indian Reservations are not
being given the advantages that
are given the Indian children.
AS a remedy for this, I. would
suggest that citizens of Arizona
interested in our schools. get be.
hind a move to build good school
houses for our white children on
Indian Reservations. Congress
could easily be persuaded to
make an appropriation to con
struct these buildings. Care
should be taken to make it plain
that this appropriation is not to
come out of the Indians Tribal
Fund, but should be a special
appropriation. Anyone who feels
an interest in this matter should
write to our Senators and Con
gressmen asking them to get
back of a bill to supply this fund.
w. r. ASHURST,
Fieldman, State Department. of
Education.
Phoenix-Campaign to secure
$40. 1000. 900 fund for building and