decisions in the recent past it was remodeled as an academic school. Some shop is still offered in the older buildings, as well as home economics. The main instructional offices and the dormitories are quite new and the general aspect of the school is most favorable, comparing with the best public high schools. Pupils are cleanly and neatly dressed and while they are not in uniform, the variations usual to current high school youth are not evident. Pupils are also orderly in hallways and wherever observed on the grounds. This is not surprising, since nearly all of them were prepared for Flandreau in another Indian school, such as Pierre, where neatness and orderly behavior are stressed, and at least outwardly followed. The administration records indicate a current 500 ADA, with an annual dropout rate of 15 to 18 percent. There appears to be no followup on those who drop out. The teacher turnover is described as a low two or three persons a year. Salaries are competitive or better than in South Dakota public schools, although the staff is required to work a full year. (About 100 pupils remain over the summer, having no other home.) The annual budget approximates $1 million, not including health service. (1) The school population Children are admitted here for exactly the same reasons they are taken in at Pierre. Homes are broken, the mother (or father) has disappeared or is regarded as incompetent by courts, social workers, or tribal authority, or the child is the ward of a court or the tribal council. Grades are in general quite bad and achievement is averaging 21%1⁄2 years behind the national norms. According to scanty records (followup studies of Flandreau graduates is just beginning) some 12 percent of last June's graduating class went on to higher education. In view of the fact that under the most favorable family socio-economic conditions, half of college entrants fail to graduate, the insistance on academic preparation is puzzling. (Of students interviewed by the laboratory, only two disclosed ambitions that involve higher education: the others aspired to "blue collar" jobs.) The background, ages, and restricted lives of these children would appear to make them subject to the common antisocial behavior of teenagers everywhere. Conferences with civic authorities in Flandreau and reference to pupil personnel files indicated that this condition existed but that it's probably no worse than in "normal" school communities-some glue sniffing and ingestion of substitutes for hard liquor (it is apparently unavailable, so resort is made to lemon extract, hair tonic, etc.). The school appears to be sitting on a terribly combustible situation in the proximity of boys and girls at an age of maximum sexual drive without the presence of guidance and support of adult relatives. (Espects of the mental health problem at this and other Indian boarding schools are the subject of study by the late Thaddeaus P. Krush, M.D., who, with others, produced the paper on the subject published in February 1966 issue of Journal of American Psychiatry.) (2) The objectives at Flandrean The statement of purpose appearing in a handbook published by the school described it as the preparation of "young Indian boys and girls for post-high-school training and to participate in the social and eco nomic life of the nation." This was further defined by the superintendent as an effort to provide college preparation for some, preparation for a trade for others, a way to organization for life to others, and to "meet the physical disability" of still others. Laboratory visitors encountered a certain amount of ambivalence from the faculty in this area matter of school objectives. It appears, however, that the primary emphasis is indeed, academic. (3) Effort to be "normal" The Flandreau students have many of the same physical supports of public high schools. There is a school newspaper, enthusiastically if inexpertly produced, which is burdened with the same editorial problems of school papers generally-too much official news and bad pictures of adults instead of content originated by pupils which they can identify with. The school has had a successful athletic history, attested by the overpowering display of trophies in the main hall, and a lesser history in other curricular affairs, notably group singing, in which many State fair trophies were collected. The laboratory was told of a rodeo club, which sounds most hopeful, but has no information on details. A student government and dormitory councils exist. The administration describes them as having a good deal of autonomy and among other things, as helping with the "drinking problem." Students themselves admit to no such autonomy and claim they don't really know what are the limits of their authority. A new principal said however that efforts to obtain more student involvement are underway. The regulations for operations of the dormitory council are of a complexity sufficient to baffle a Philadelphia lawyer. The children of any small town, very small town, have vastly more opportunities for recreation than the Indians of Flandreau. The library, for one thing, in such an institution ought to be exemplary. Flandreau's is superb in comparison with whatever exists at Pierre, but it is grossly insufficient in recreational reading material. Very little fiction is available. The magazine section in contrast is quite varied, including such publications as Hot Rod, Field and Streain, and Cosmopolitan, as well as the solids such as Current History and U.S. News & World Report. (4) Relations with community FIS cannot really be said to be part of the community, although many of the faculty live in the town and there is a very modest employment of the pupils in Flandreau cafes. Church organizations help in a few placements. Student opportunity to earn money is very thin, a matter of some concern when the fact is considered that if pupils are to visit home as at Christmastime, they must pay their fare. (5) Guidance counseling and associated activity For the first time FIS is seriously trying to learn what happens to alumni. A counselor provided through ESEA Title I funds has obtained information from reservation agents on 85 of its 96 graduates of last June. She learned that 12 are in college, 17 in vocational school, and 31 are unemployed. Student testing has led the school into homogeneous grouping according to ability resulting in six groupings or tracks in all subjects in the ninth grade. So large a number of tracks is unusual in current instructional practice. The guidance office was able to provide considerable test information about pupils. The Iowa test of educational development, administered to the incoming freshmen, disclosed the average to be about 21⁄2 years below grade level, and to test in the lowest quartile. The test administered to 11th graders produced slightly lower scores. (See Flandreau Indian School, memorandum dates Nov. 1, 1968, ITED test results, attached.) The laboratory team's impression is that career counseling is insufficiently stressed. Bulletin boards in the main academic building carry a few flyers about jobs-all U.S. civil service and nothing about the possibilities in private commerce and industry. A business methods teacher, asked about job possibilities for graduates, answered only that some inquiries were received from tribal councils and Haskell. The machine shop instructor appeared to be enthusiastic but said he provided only basic skills. The shop appeared to lack modern machinery which an apprentice in private industry would be expected to operate. The picture was somewhat better in welding: several new machines were acquired as a gift and the instructor was confident of his students' ability to succeed on the job. Flandreau's home economics department, specializing in job training of waitresses and male food handlers, impressed the team. Some students were able to get a little work in Flandreau and plans are understood to be afoot for more extended on-the-job training in Sioux Falls, 40 miles away. A small but attractive "tearoom" provided a wellprepared, nicely served lunch. However, one visitor reported that his waitress had difficulty in computing change for less than $1, and an adult cook said that his student help "couldn't read well enough to distinguish a can of peaches from pears." Random inspections of the buildings and discussions with staff produced such comments as a belief-expressed by the new principalthat the greatest need is a student activities building, which for one thing would help improve boy-girl relationships. Much sympathy was expressed from industrial arts and home economics departments for the short-range needs of students. After hours help is given students who want to work in those departments. A Lutheran social service worker and a Brother from Blue Cloud Abbey spoke of their difficulty in finding jobs for students. They were able to place only five last summer. Students are sometimes taken to the Abbey for group retreats. A remedial education specialist felt that students need remedial help in every aspect of the curriculum. The home economics department felt that more work with the academic department was needed to upgrade course material; the chemistry curriculum was said to be insufficient to prepare students for advanced training in nursing and home economics. In review, Flandreau, as Pierre, appears to be operated solely by educators for students referred to the school by social workers. Children are removed from the scene of their problems, in the way orphanges and State mental hospitals traditionally operated. Practices which lately are being abandoned in the light of current social and psychiatric thinking. Further, it is a common understanding of those who deal with admissions practices such as those prevailing at these schools, that just enough damaging evidence is presented to support removal of the child from the home community, but not enough to prejudice acceptance at the school. If the child fails, he is processed back to the home or to another boarding school, training school, public school, State hospital, or is lost completely. We do not know what stress is created in the child by removing him a great distance from his home but suspect it is severe. Reappraisals appear in order concerning the philosophy of these schools. If they are to assist in the acculternation of the Indian youth, there appears to be a need for vigorous advancement of relations with their surrounding community. If they are supposed to return children to the reservation, ties between the school and the latter need development. D. RECOMMENDATIONS An examination of such a lively organism as a school conducted over a few days or a few hours is too little for a really authoritative report. Yet it was long enough to stimulate some thinking about what could be done at Flandreau and Pierre. A magnificent opportunity exists here to make these schools outstanding and thus to feed back into the Nation rich human resources now squandered through inattention of adults and frustration of the children. 1. The objectives for the schools should be reviewed and a determination made whether they are to be purely educational institutions for all young Indians or if they are to be, as they essentially are now, orphanages and custodial and remedial agencies. 2. As a corollary of recommendation No. 1, the forces acting at a local level to place children in these schools should be examined to ascertain if families, children, the law, and the State are served to the maximum possible good. 3. Staffing patterns should be adjusted to needs of the pupils. If the schools continue to be operated for children in trouble of one kind or another, the proportion of education specialists capable of remedial instruction, social welfare, guidance, counseling, analysis, and recreation should be sharply stepped up. These services are vitally needed now and there is probably no circumstance of redefinement of the schools' mission which should not include at least a modest increase in these kinds of personnel. If schools assume a parental role and provide a home, they should be vastly more concerned for the hours of pupils outside the classroom-in recreation, games, entertainment, work, study, and personal growth. 4. Preservice and in-service preparation of teachers must be organized and pushed. It is not humane nor efficient to allow teachers to learn their profession by practicing on the defenseless. The preparation and development of instructional aides and matrons is a matter of high priority for the study of ways and means to do it. 5. Many more job opportunities should exist for children and it is not sure that this would cost more. Much of the groundskeeping, plant upkeep, cleaning, painting, and minor repair, as well as food service, laundry, and so forth could be done by children with some training and supervision. It is utterly impracticable that children raise livestock and some food products? Such gainful work would go far to raise self-esteem, line pockets, and occupy vacant hours. Study of the kibbutzim of Israel might suggest ways to effect this kind of change. 6. A system for collection and organization of pupil information affecting the child's performance before, during, and after his experience in the boarding school should be established. Modern school administration practice is based on such data. 7. Application of modern program budgeting and cost effectiveness analysis would provide management tools for more efficient operation of the schools. No illusions about total costs being held down or reduced should be entertained, however. Education economists are predicting that public resources allocated to schools will double or triple in the next decade if the schools are to meet demands against them. It is not likely that Indian boarding schools are any different. If graduates are to leave the system with a fair chance of succeeding in the technological world of the next few decades, they must be prepared. Prudent increases of investment in these children will bring substantial gains. Dangerous losses are in prospect however, if their preparation does not meet the demands of the times they face. 2. FLANDREAU INDIAN SCHOOL, BY VIRGINIA SNEVE. EDUCATION COUNSELOR, FLANDREAU INDIAN SCHOOL. (A report prepared by Mrs. Sneve for the teaching staff at the Flandreau School and made available to the subcommittee.) To: Teaching staff. FLANDREAU INDIAN SCHOOL, Flandreau, S. Dak.. November 1, 1968. From: Mrs. Sneve, education counselor. Subject: (Iowa Tests of Educational Development) test results grades 9 and 11. Percentiles based on the school averages show us how our school is doing in relation to other schools around the country. If the percentile for a higher grade falls below the earlier grade this does not mean no progress is being made in our school. Rather, it means that the progress made is less than that in the typical school. The ITED is a long, exhaustive test for our students. But, other schools report the same for their students. The test norms are based, again, on middle class non-Indian students; however, this does not exempt our students from competing in such a society. The test results indicate they are below average in academic achievement. VIRGINIA R. SNEVE, Education Counselor. A. IOWA TESTS OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 9TH GRADE AVERAGES One hundred sixty-five 9th graders coded into the ITED Grid Code the following information: Field No. 1-code number assigned to one of six groups of Feeder schools from which our 9th graders graduated from the 8th grade: 1. Wahpeton 2. Pierre 3. Other BIA 4. Public 5. BIA Boarding-Public 6. Parochial The High School Placement test composite grade equivalent and the grade equivalent of the Diagnostic Reading Test was coded into fields 3 and 4. |