Get your own Free Home PageAmong early writers on Indians, Grant (1933), Wissler (1938; 1946), Catlin (1959), and Hans (1964) offered excellent insights into Indian behavior prior to and immediately following initial contact with the Whites. Much of this literature has relevance today.
Modern writers who have provided good general histories of Indians are LaFarge (1956), Driver (1969), Hagen (1979), Lowie (1963), Brandon (1973), and Washburn (1964). Collier (1947), in his survey of the history of the Indians from the Incas to the present, in less than 200 pages, was sketchy; nevertheless, he was successful in describing their general ethos and sources of survival. Underhill's (1971) comprehensive treatment of Indians has been used in many areas as a textbook.
McNickle (1973) offered a general survey of the past, the current situation, and some insights into the probable future of American Indians. He pointed out that, across all tribes, common psychological traits can be identified which will insure Indian cultural persistence indefinitely. Fey and McNickle (1959) have analyzed the contributions of Indians and reviewed the treatment they have received in governmental relations. Simpson and Yinger (1957) also presented useful articles on modern legal, demographic, economic, health, educational, and political conditions of Indians.
The Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., has extensive reference lists on Indian history, culture, and traditions, while the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., offers publications on every facet of Indian life today.
Hyde (1937; 1956; 1961) and Hassrick (1964) provided the best and most recent general histories of the Sioux in which one could see most vividly the origins of Sioux values. Jackson (1965) in her book which was influential in the later nineteenth century devoted a chapter to the Sioux. Textor (1896) has always been a basic source on the Sioux and their relations with the government. Oehler, (1959) depicted the fierce pride and spirit of the Sioux, and Robinson (1904) presented information not found in other histories.
Riggs (1969), Finerty (1961), and Sandoz (1961) gave vivid accounts of Sioux life when the Sioux were still relatively uninfluenced by the Whites. In his work on the North American Indian, Curtis (1908) devoted volume three to the Teton Sioux. Vestal's works (1932; 1934), although they have a strong Indian bias, are standard sources of Indian history and of the Sioux in particular. Mooney (1896) still is the standard authority on the last days of the Sioux during the time of the Ghost Dance, while Utley (1963) presented the latest and most critical analysis of this same period.
Neihardt (1932) and Brown (1953), drawing upon the same revered holy man of the Sioux, Black Elk, as their source, have plumbed the dynamics of the ancient Sioux religion and mysticism. Prayer and ritual were ingrained values in the Sioux culture.
Much of the large body of literature on the American Indian is of a romantic or emotional nature. The above cited books furnish excellent and reliable sources for the historical foundations of Indian behavior.
The Sioux, the greatest of the Plains Indians, have
resisted acculturation vigorously and with great stress.
One has to live among the Sioux of today only a short
time before he is aware of the fierce pride of race that
they still have. Of the Sioux living only a hundred
years ago, Hassrick wrote,
"...to characterize the Sioux as anything less than
vainglorious would be inaccurate. Their arrogance
was born of successful conquest... They could hardly
help being aware of their great power. The Sioux
were far more than aware: they were overbearing in
their vanity." (p. 67)
The Sioux were forced by sheer weight of numbers to submit to the White man's ways. Still conscious of their superior past it is no wonder that the Sioux resent most bitterly the overtures of the Whites for acculturation.
Hagen and Shaw (1960) characterized the Sioux as
"being passive, apathetic, and hostilely dependent" (p.
8). Mekeel (1936), observing the conflict and tension in
Sioux children in the classroom wrote that the
Sioux,
"...still holds to certain life values or to certain
patterns once expressing those values, which
definitely oppose the assumption of certain American
values and the configurations on the part of any
individual of that community... The great failure of
Indian education is that, along with specific
knowledge, the life values and drives possessed by a
white community have not been, and perhaps cannot be,
transferred to the Indian. Without that transfer his
knowledge is useless." (p. 155,157)
The Sioux value system was based on his relationship to four objects. These objects were God, himself, his fellow man, and the World. Bryde (1971) contrasts the Sioux Indian value system with that of Non-Indians in this way. God is good. He made us, takes care of us, and has mercy on us. Religion is part of the Indian's daily life and he prays all the time. This is reflected by the value of good advice from Indian wisdom. Bravery and individual freedom were the values expressed about himself. Choosing to do the right thing and the ability to do hard things without showing fear or running were actions epitomizing these values. His values toward his fellow man were generosity and sharing. This helped to make the group, rather than the individual, strong. the Indian revered the world and believed in adjustment to nature. This stems from their belief that God was in all things that made up the world, therefore, the world was good.
Many Non-Indians are afraid of God and pray only on Sunday, if at all. They believe that the individual is unimportant, he doesn't count. His idea of getting ahead is to beat the other man down, and the world is there to be used to make money.
Macgregor (1946), in one of the standard works on the Sioux, wrote that the Sioux child finds the world quite hostile. "The behavior of adolescents reflects an almost sudden withdrawal, confusion, and inability to find a satisfactory role" (p. 195). Adolescent boys, in particular, were frightened, unsure of themselves, felt the ill will and unfriendliness of society and since life on the reservation for them seems empty, they tend to retreat from life (p. 195).
Lee (1962), writing on the responsibility in the Dakota value system, said that responsibility arose from feelings of relatedness with the universe. The self was coextensive with the universe, yet completely autonomous. Children were assigned tasks, but never supervised, in order to develop their autonomy. Coercion and persuasion were unacceptable to them since no person could decide for another. It was evident that the exercise of this traditional value would cause frustration in the white world for the Indian child.
Wax and Wax (1964, B), studying the Sioux child in
White schools, observed that tensions arising in the
school situation were not as much between the child and
the school as between the child and his peer
group.
"Teachers do encounter difficulties in
conducting their classes, because some pupils do
not wish to recite publicly or do not wish to be
placed in a competitive situation with their
classmates. The difficulty here is not one of
direct conflict with White and Indian values, so
much as a struggle between school and Indian
peer society. This peer society tends to
organize about a set of values and behaviors
quite distinct from those formally espoused by
administrators as suitable for pupils." (p.
114)
The peer group, in turn, is sabotaging the education process more than parents and teachers realize. Frustrated and suppressed as the Sioux were, however, the Waxes in another publication (1964, A) noted that the Sioux were "a people whose lust for life reminded us of the descriptions of Restoration England" (p. 18).
A number of studies have been conducted on the educational achievement of Sioux students. Macgregor (1946), for example, found that Pine Ridge Sioux children scored above average on the Arthur Point Performance Scale and the Goodenough Draw-A-Man test. Peterson (1948), Anderson, Collister, and Todd (1953) and Coombs, Kron, Collister, and Anderson (1958) have all made extensive surveys of the achievement of Indian students, including the Sioux, finding generally lower educational achievement for Indians than Whites. In general, children who attend public schools perform better than those in reservation federal schools. Anderson et al (1953) found peak performance in the fourth grade.
Deissler (1962) observed that Sioux students scored below the state norms in all educational areas. It is of interest, though, to note that these pupils ranked, as a group, in the fifty-first percentile in interpreting reading materials in the natural sciences.
Ross (1962) compared academic achievement and attendance patterns of full blood and mixed-blood Sioux students in a federal school. He found that the mixed- blood students missed fewer days of school, were socially more mature, and scored higher on achievement and intelligence tests than the full blood group. Although Ross gave no reasons for these findings, partial acculturation of the mixed-blood type seems reasonable.
Krush, Lello, and Warner (1961) compared five different school grades of Sioux children and whites in the same community between 1959 and 1961. The Indians consistently achieved much lower than did the whites. Kizer (1940) earlier had obtained similar results. Although the intelligence quotients of his Indian group were almost normal, they were retarded about two and a half years in academic achievement.
Galuzzi (1960), using SRA Tests of General Ability which are supposed to be culture free, obtained a mean score for his Sioux Indian group 14 points less than White students in an integrated school. Seventy-eight percent of the Indians scored in the low average range, while only 41.2% of the Whites responded similarly. Among the latter, 15.6% were in the bright to superior range, in comparison to 0.9% of the Indian children.
© 1997, Alvin Birkholz
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