NATHALIE, BEATRICE, FRACISCO, TATE, SUGI, PETER

INDIAN EDUCATION

I affirm the code

Francisco Anaya

Sherman Alexie is a poet, fiction writer and filmmaker Native American who was born in 1966 and grew up on the Spokane Indian

Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. Alexie was born hydrocephalic and underwent an operation at six months of age; he was not

expected to survive,(Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1993. Print.)

he was also plagued with seizures and because of this, Alexie spent most of his childhood reading He studied two years at Gonzaga

University but then he was transferred to Washington State University. He has been praise for his poems and short stories of Native

American reservation life, such as The Lonely Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight In Heaven (1993). He stills writes some poems at poetry

slams, festivals, and other venues, and he is recognize because of the energy and emotions you can feel in his work. In his works

Alexie illuminates the despair, poverty, and alcoholism that shapes the lives of Native Americans ("Sherman Alexie." Poetry

Foundation. 1 Jan. 1996. Web. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherman-alexie>). Alexie has been an urban Indian since 1994

and lives in Seattle with his family."Sherman Alexie." Sherman Alexie. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://www.shermanalexie.com/>.

QUESTION 1

Rob Casey chttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherman-alexie

chttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherman-alexieIndian Education (from The Lone Ranger and Tonto in Heaven)http://www.shermanalexie.com/

Francisco Anaya

Sherman Alexie is mostly known by writing stories, or poems that reflect the problems of the Native Americans with a dark humor. This problems are like alcoholism, despair and poverty in the Native

American Reservoirs. and this is kind of ironic because he is a Native American and writes about their own problems like if they were normal problems like some type of racism. The narrator of the story is similar to Sherman Alexie thoughts because the story was written by him and describes how hard the life of a Native American can be in all kind of ways, as they were bullied by the students and even by the teachers. In the

story looks like if it was a biography of his school years because of the feeling he makes you feel, it makes you feel kind of guilty or sorry in respect of the kid narrated in the story because in the story the kid suffers

from first grade to the twelfth grade. He reflects the alcoholism with the kid´s dad who drank a gallon of vodka a day. The poverty is reflected in how They lived in HUD (housing and urban development) houses. The point of this paragraph is to mention that the narrator of the story Indian Education from The Lonely

Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Sherman Alexie have the same ideas when talking about the point of view of the Native Americans which is a sad point of view, often problematic to the Native

Americans. Because of this you can imagine that they are the same author (because they are) but without knowing who the author is, and reading the biography of Sherman Alexie you can infer that the author is

the same because of the similarities with his ideas or thought with the story if a Native American boy who grows in a society apart of his culture.

QUESTION 2

QUESTION 3

Peter

“Made me stand straight for fifteen minutes, eagle-armed with books in each hand” This relates back to the Bible by "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John", also known as the "Black Paternoster",

what is an English language prayer and nursery rhyme traditionally said by children as they go to bed which relates back

to the story as she made the Indian boy stand in the corner for fifteen minutes basically making him fall asleep as they did in the Bible. The phrase “she crumpled up the paper and made me eat it” relates to the bible as Prophet means a message from God to

people and the paper is the message and the teacher making him eat it is the delivery of the message to the people. “Cut my braids or keep me home from class” is also directly related to the Bible

 Nathalie Normann

When his hair was short it could symbolize the fact that he hasn’t had much education as mentioned “my hair was too short”. This could refer to that since he is in his first grade, he hasn’t had much knowledge therefore short hair. However, as time went by, his hair keeps growing which could mean that he is getting more educated, until his hair is “longer than its ever been” which could symbolize that he has got his degree in “twelfth grade” and that is when you achieve the highest

level of education in school. He even mentions that he has got more education that the people at his tribe “former classmates graduate: a few cant read.” In summary his hair length symbolizes the years of education and the amount of education he

has got and developed over the years.

Furthermore it could also resemble his indigenous roots. The short hair could represent that he was still a native Indian as his parents “dragged their braids”,

but as time goes by he slowly turns into like those white people.

His surroundings might associate braids with primitive conduct, which is highlighted in the paragraph where Betty (the teacher) tells his parents to “cut my

braids or keep me home from class” and again when the parents visit the school and she exclaim “Indians, Indian, Indian.”

QUESTION 4

Red Skins Controversy

Tate Norman

The Red Skins are have had to change their name from 'Boston Redskins' to 'Washington Redskins'. They are also having to change the mascots head dress color from red to yellow. The

quote "Indians loose again" is equal to the Redskins Controversy because in this matter the Indians do loose again, because the name doesn't change just the State. So Juniors quote is

describing exactly what happened during the controversy. The main reason that the Redskins were under fire from the Native Indians is because the Native Indian tribes believed that their

name was down putting and derogative towards Native Indians. However the team did have more support then negativity. The team's fans and staff were both on board with keeping the name the

same. Some of the fans were Native Americans and they were asked of their opinion and the majority of them did not find the name offence in anyway. In fact most of them liked the name because the name shows achievement from the Native Indians. So although Juniors quote is

similar to this Controversy, nobody really looses anything. This controversy was based on people's opinions of not liking the team name.

Information from a study by the California State University, 67% of Native Americans find the Washington Redskins name and image/mascot racist. 12 percent of Native respondents were

neutral and 20 percent disagreed. On the other side of things, 60 percent of white respondents do not find the name racist. When the people were asked if it was disrespectful to the Native

American culture, the number of positive respondents rose to 68%. Team owner Dan Snyder has famously said, “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.” The survey found that 65.5% found it racist and 18.8% did not find it racist. 42% of white and 38% of

Latino respondents said it was racist or unacceptable to use the term.

QUESTION 5

Sugi Muljadi

Junior is not racist because he was the one that was getting bullied because he is Indian. The teacher called him

“indian, indian, indian” without capitalization. Steve also called him a squawman, called him a pussy, and called him

a punk. He was completely bullied just because he is Indian.

QUESTION 6

Sugi Muljadi

But he knocked Frenchy to the ground, he literally punched Frenchy really hard and Frenchy got a lot of bruises on his

face and knocked Frenchy down. Frenchy was throwing snowballs at victor and Buthe was trying to be a warrior, so

Buthe did that for Victor. On the way to principle office Buthe said “it’s a good way to die, it’s a good way to die”

repetedly because he thinks hes going to die by the principle as in will get punish really bad or kick out at

worse by the principle.

 

QUESTION 7

Beatriz Rodriguez

  

Poverty and alcoholism play an important role in the life of an Indian reservation because it is a major problem facing the whole Native American population. “One-

quarter of Indian children live in poverty, versus 13 percent in the United States”(The Washing Post). American Indians live under these types of conditions because they

want to keep their traditions, their culture and want to be united. None of the natives want to be dependent however they will rather have a shelter and food to eat than

nothing. The Natives Americans do not own any land, for it is very complicated to start any businesses being a Native American in Native American territory.

 

Alcoholism is also a major problem, in the Native American reservations. Most of the youth population in the Native American reservation has had drugs or alcohol problems before they are 21. This tends to lead to violence, robberies and other types of crimes.

Most of the teenage Indians have received the alcohol from their own parents or someone under age. Most of the Indians drink to release all the stress they have, since

they have a harsh life the only way to get out of it its by drinking and doing drugs, however this has caused problems in society. The post Script of Indian education; “ My graduation class has a reunion every weekend at the Powwow Tavern” (Lone Ranger

and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven), it is very realistic because it shows that every weekend a group of Indian friends get together, getting together means drinking and making bad

decisions.

QUESTION 8

Most Native Americans have been treated with racism or with a bad behavior by the now “new americans” because

they feel a bit superior to what was then the times of Indians who got controlled by new people arriving to their territories and pushing away their beliefs, also because of how the Indians were actually in a way of speaking inferior to the conquerors. Surviving Native Americans were denied

equality before the law and often treated as wards of the state.

QUESTION 9

 

"The Hard Lives - and High Suicide Rate - of Native American Children on Reservations." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/the-hard-lives--and-high-suicide-rate--of-native-american-children/2014/03/09/6e0ad9b2-9f03-11e3-b8d8-

94577ff66b28_story.html>.

,(Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1993. Print.)

("Sherman Alexie." Poetry Foundation. 1 Jan. 1996. Web. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherman-alexie)

"Washington Redskins Name Controversy." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 09 Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_name_controversy>.

Sherman Alexie. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://www.shermanalexie.com/>.

"Racism, Justice and the American Indian Racism against Native Americans Forgotten Story of Indian Slavery." Cleverlandsearch.com. Associated Content, Race & History,

Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://clevelandsearch.com/Native-Americans.html>.

"New Study Finds 67% Of Native Americans Find Redskins Name Offensive." BuzzFeed Sport. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://www.buzzfeed.com/lindseyadler/native-

americans-offended-by-racial-slur#2cmw01e>.

CITATION