This lack of spirit seems to be a big problem at Chilocco. It seems like every time one of the students shows a little spirit or exerts himself in any way, he is quickly put in his place. Boxing used to be a big sport at Chilocco. The Chilocco boxers were well known in the area and they have produced several champions. The boys liked the sport because it was a healthy outlet for their aggressions. The sport was discontinued, though, because the administration decided that it was too rough. Chilocco also used to produce champion football teams. Now, however, they win few games. I talked to one of the sophomore boys and he said that he had thrown a block too hard one time and the coach pulled him out of the game, and slapped him in front of his team-mates. He never played again, and he said that next year he was going to go back to his public school in Montana where the coach had offered him a place on the team. A good example of lack of spirit occurred near the end of the year at the Pageant. The Pageant is a biennial production that the students put on to show the cultural heritage of their different tribes. This seems like a very good idea. It should be a fun-filled occasion which would make the kids proud of their heritage.

In fact, however, in the weeks before the pageant, the teachers do ninety percent of the work. There is no interest or enthusiasm on the part of the students. This is only one example of the hard work teachers must put in with no encouragement or help from the students. It's a frustrating experience to work night after night on a thankless project. It's devestating to a teacher's ego and confidence in himself to fight this lack of enthusiasm day after day, year after year. I invited several friends of mine up to see the Pageant. They said that when they first arrived on campus they could sense the quietness and lack of spirit in the students. They said that there was no shouting or loud laughing that would be evident at any other high school. At the Pageant there was no spontaneous laughter or applause. The students just sat there until it was over then went back to the dorms.

This lack of outlet for their emotions can result in violent and bizarre happenings. A few of the students will sometimes sneak out of their dorms and walk into town to buy liquor. They then drink it as fast as they can in a recreational area about one half mile from the campus. The administration is aware that this happens occasionally and it is very hard to guard against without imposing prison restrictions. But every weekend or so some of the boys, and girls, can't stand being cooped up any longer, and they drink all they can stand— sometimes more than they can stand. Last Easter morning one of the Crow boys from Montana was found dead from too much alcohol. I talked to one of his teachers, and found that he was a very meek and obedient student in class. He always handed in his assignments and was never a problem. He apparently could stand it no more and drank himself to death. I don't think he died of an over-dose of alcohol but an over-dose of having his spirit crushed. Also, at this same drunk, one of the girls was raped. This is one of several cases of rape I heard of while I was there. I was told by a teacher that one of my students had been raped by several boys the year before. Not only this, but the incident took place on the balcony of the school auditorium. Looking for a place to be alone, boys and their girl friends have many times

broken into the building which houses the auditorium. Since no display of sexual emotion is permitted on the campus, and since the students are not allowed off the campus, it is no wonder that they must break into buildings to be alone. I was in one of the rooms on the top floor of the building the day after some of the students had been there the previous night.

There was a gaping hole in the ceiling and one side of the room was littered with material that had broken away from the ceiling. I asked what had happened, and was told that some students had broken in. I assumed that it had been broken into for purposes of vandalism, but when I looked around the room I couldn't see any evidence of destruction. Nothing was turned over, and the room was in perfect order except for the hole in the ceiling. I asked why this was so and the teacher told me that the students had broken into the attic "to build a love nest". At the time she didn't say why the hole was there, but several days later she told me that the principal had fallen through the ceiling. It seems that while he was trying to catch some of the students, he stepped on a weak section of the ceiling and fell fifteen feet into the room below.

The few delinquents at Chilocco give the whole school a "reform school atmosphere". A small number of the students are sent there because they can't get along anywhere else. These students force the administration to be very strict with rules and regulations. As a result, many teachers categorize all the students as delinquent cases and treat them as such. It is no wonder that the students have little to say in class when they are thought of as "poor, ignorant, Indian juvenile delinquents". Of course they only worsen their plight when they don't express themselves and exert their own personalities in class, but most of them firmly believe that nothing they do will help them so they say nothing. There seems to be a stigma attached to speaking in class, and they would rather remain quiet than be disliked by their fellow students.

They seem to have lost their faith in people. They have stopped believing that Chilocco or any BIA institution can really help them. They don't bother to discipline themselves because they have learned that the aggressive, self-disciplined person will go no further than the person that stands around the BIA agency waiting for a hand-out. They, therefore, have developed no character of their own. They become a shiftless, flexible, parasitic piece of humanity with no more. moral fiber than a geranium.

In a public school situation there is not only response from the students, but there is also either direct or indirect response from the parents and the community as a whole. If the teacher says something the students don't agree with, the students usually express their disagreement. If they disagree violently enough they inform their parents of the teacher's behavior, and community pressure causes the problem to be investigated. This feed-back from the students and the parents is an important part of learning. It doesn't allow the teacher to go off the deep end in any area. But it is not only important for the student's benefit but also for the teachers benefit. These checks and balances of the community not only point out the bad teachers but they also point out the good teachers. The students, the parents, and finally the school administration know who the good teachers are.

At Chilocco, however, there is none of this classroom or community feedback. The bad teachers are never criticized and the good teachers are never praised. After a while even the most dedicated get a "what's the use?" attitude. They lose confidence in themselves and more than a few develop neurotic symptoms. They do things that would be considered "sick" in a public school situation. One of the teachers told her practice teacher "not to touch any of the students". She said that they carry all sorts of diseases and one should wash his hands after touching them. Another of the teachers, who is terrified that her students will get out of control, gave a fifteen minute lecture saving that there is no discrimination in the world and asked the students how they could think such a thing. Another of the teachers, as do several others, speaks in a very loud over-compensating voice. He came to my room several times while the students were studying and yelled at me in conversation over a distance of twenty or thirty feet. I am not saying by any means that the problems of Chilocco can be attributed to the teachers. A large percentage of these teachers would do an adequate or more than adequate job in the public schools. Most have taught in public schools at one time or another and have a good record. What I am trying to say is that the whole system at Chilocco is at fault. As one of the teachers told me, "You can't change Chilocco. but Chilocco can sure change you." I say without hesitation that most of the teachers came to Chilocco because of humanitarian reasons. They saw the pitiful situation and truly wanted to help, but after months of rejection and failure they either quit or they began looking at it as an eight to five job with no obligation to their students.

I think that too often the students are not allowed to compete in the world outside of Chilocco. I talked to the band director, Jerry McCulley, and he said that he would like to take the band on more trips to compete with other bands, but he said that it wasn't the policy of the school. He said that the superintendent, Dr. Wall, had limited the trips because "he didn't want the students to look bad". The band members are not up to par with some of the surrounding public schools and Dr. Wall apparently doesn't want to see them hurt if they are defeated. Mr. McCulley who is a very capable band director says that a realistic defeat now and then might be good for them. Dr. Wall may not want to hurt the students but he is doing them a greater injustice by not letting them compete.

The annual achievement tests give an indication of the effectiveness of Chilocco on the students' education. Granted, many of these students are put there because they have not done well in public schools but many are very intelligent and have just not had a pleasant school experience. The California Achievement Tests are given to the students every year. Of the twelfth grade students, those who should have benefited the most from Chilocco only six of two hundred are above the national average. Most have a test average three or four grades below the national average. It's hard to believe that four years at boarding school produces no better than a twelfth grade student with a seventh or eighth grade academic mentality.

I've done a lot of criticizing of the school but I haven't offered any solutions. Considering the heterogeneous mixture of backgrounds and cultures, I don't think that a federal boarding school is the answer at all. The administration at Chilocco is for the most part made up of

dedicated people who do what they can. Many of the teachers are also dedicated and they would be excellent teachers under other circumstances. Money isn't the problem because money is poured unrelentlessly into new buildings and facilities. But I think that considering the different backgrounds and abilities of the students, all the good intentions and money in the world couldn't change things.

I think that sending the students to boarding schools within fifty or one hundred miles of their homes would be more reasonable. This way the children would be closer to the people they understand. They could be with their families on important days such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. They would be going to school not only with American Indians but with "American Whites." They wouldn't be indiscriminately lumped together under the vague heading of "American Indian," but they would be put with children of their own ability and background. Chilocco was a noble idea and years ago when most of the students were from Oklahoma it was a good idea; but it is just too much to expect a child from a remote Indian village to become americanized into middle class standards so far from his family and the things he loves. The only result is that he regresses further into his shell and finally gives up hope that anyone really understands or wants to help him.

D. Flandreau and Pierre Indian Schools, Flandreau, South Dakota, and Pierre, South Dakota

1. REPORT PREPARED BY FRANCIS HAMILTON, PETER PETRAFESO, AND ROSEMARY CHRISTENSON, OF THE UPPER MIDWEST REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL LABORATORY, JANUARY 17, 1969.

A. SUMMARY

This report results from observations and data collection by a fourmember Laboratory team which visited the Pierre Indian Boarding School, Dec. 10-11 and the Flandreau Indian School, Dec. 12-13, 1968. Because the Flandreau visit was cut short by blizzard conditions, the school was revisited December 16-17 by one member of the team.

Although the two schools are understood to have begun as educational institutions to serve children for whom local schools either were nonexistent or were difficult to reach, their purpose has radically changed. At least 85 percent, and perhaps more, of the children are now referred to these schools for so-called "social reasons"-broken homes, asserted inability of parents to provide care, juvenile delinquency, etc.

Therefore the typical pupil is afflicted by a wide range of pressures. He may be at the school against his wishes, or suffer from insecurity accompanying family disintegration. He may bear the seeds of revolt against authority, or feel lonely and have no prospects of useful, satisfying life ahead.

In spite of this, the schools are staffed in a traditional pattern, with relatively few special pupil services. School psychologists, guidance counselors, special education specialists, welfare workers and the like are not available in these schools to the ratio that would appear warranted by the exceptional nature of the children.

Instructional staffs appear to equal other public school staffs in the State in training and experience. This is not to say that school staffs generally are as good as they should be. Training, either preservice or in-service, for the particular problems teachers face at these Indian boarding schools, is minimal or does not exist at all.

Instructional aids, as the dormitory staff personnel are called, are expected to act toward their charges as a parent or older sister, or uncle and to be generally supportive of their children's personal and educational growth. They fill one of the most difficult and sensitive roles in education, yet there appears to be no systematic plan for their training, professionalization, evaluation or recruitment. Their working hours are largely occupied by housekeeping duties, rather than aiding and supporting the children.

Decisions to send children to boarding schools are made at the local level and may well be one of the most vital effects upon his life that a child will ever encounter. Once in the boarding school system, he is not likely to leave it. The decisionmaking process by reservation school