Weblog 2

Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: Chapter 2
Dear Kristina,
Greetings future educator and role model. You already know that many of your future students will look up to you and the decisions that you make in your classroom. I would like to share with you my history and the way many have looked up and respected me in the decisions I have made toward the educational future of our country. The only way for the republic to survive was for the United States to be a homogenous “white” society, and for this reason Native Americans were not granted the right for an education at first. I believed that it would be wise choice for the Natives to be educated so they could become more “American.” As time went on societies views began to change. If the Native Americans were educated then we could cultivate them into the cultural beings they wanted them to be. United States citizenship was finally given to the Native Americans in 1924 by the Citizenship Act. I was the first to begin the process of educating the Natives and became head of the Office of Indian Affairs. I was able to get the United States to believe that if they educated the Natives they could culturally mold them into the way we wanted and it worked. This was they key to humanizing them. We were granted $10,000 by the president to be used for this schooling. The picture I included is a product of a group of Cherokee Indians that have successfully been culturized to the American standards. So my advice to you as an educator is, if you believe strongly in something set your mind to it and things are always possible.

Sincerely,
Thomas McKenny