Paniagua 1
Isaac Paniagua
Professor Waters
English 101 #75969
08 November 2022
Transnationalism Rough Draft Revision – Prompt 4
The premise of the White Man’s Burden was to educate the “non-white” populations
about the ideas of the west, in hopes of leading them to an ideal vision of civilization. One of the
outcomes of this idea was the United States Indian boarding schools, and the “Stolen
Generation” of the Australian Aboriginal people. Both were attempts by the leading white leaders
of their countries to re-educate indigenous people on westernized subjects, preparing them for
urban society, while also creating a rejection of their native cultures and heritage. Fast forward
decades later, and both programs have since been discontinued for years following backlash.
However, a new educational initiative has been formed titled, “Education for All” that involves
the exportation of western education to third-world countries like India.
It specifically involves students from far-off villages living among other students on school
grounds, a technique similar to the boarding schools of the past. Among other similarities and
differences, both institutions seem to share similar effects that have negatively impacted the
future of the remaining indigenous people and cultures. As a result, the new “Education for all”
initiative shows concerning details that a modern version of the White Man’s Burden is currently
taking place in third-world countries.
But first, what similarities could be found between the old forcing of education on
indigenous people and the new export of education to third-world countries? From both
institutions, the students lose aspects of their old indigenous life and gain new characteristics in
the form of progress. One huge loss for the students is the loss of their unique indigenous culture.
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In the US boarding school's Wikipedia article, the article paraphrases that students were subject
to cutting their hair, and changing out of their unique attire for a school uniform to remove any
indigenous traits (“American”). They add that students were also forbidden to speak their native
tongue, forcing them to speak only English, the dominant language in many western societies
(“American”). This has resulted in a gradual decline of indigenous languages, which may lead to
a misunderstanding of speech in later generations as more children speak English. One final loss
to note suffered by the students would be their families, as the schools usually kept students in
dormitories. This creates a disconnect between families and their children, as the different
cultures and ideas could become isolated from one another. Doris Pilkington Garimara, the
author of the book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, which details the story of her mother’s escape
from a resettlement camp in Australia, mentioned in an interview,” she did not talk to her mother
much, and she was not aware of her mother's captivity at Moore River nor of her escape, until
her Aunt Daisy told her the story” (“Follow”). With the students losing many aspects of their
indigenous culture in these schools, there are notable things these institutions want them to learn
instead. According to a Time article by Olivia B. Waxman, indigenous children would primarily
learn various manual trades that could be used as leverage for future jobs or to benefit western
society (Waxman). An NPR article by Charla Bear backs these claims up by also noting that
these vocational training would last for half a school day and were divided between genders,
with women being taught home skills and men being taught carpentry jobs (Bear). Another thing
indigenous students learn about is the various aspects of western culture and opinions. The film,
Schooling the World directed by Carol Black, provided examples of these aspects in the form of
daily strict militaristic routines, and the over-sized advertisements displayed that tease a higher
lifestyle with urban living (Schooling 9:35-10:35). The film also adds that with the establishment
of western society as the next progression of human life, it points out indigenous groups as
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nonprogressive and thus shouldn’t be preserved (Schooling 26:17-27:10). Throughout the history
of both institutions, there are certain aspects of the learning experience that are either lost or
learned that leave a lasting impact on the children.
Next, there are also varying differences between the two intuitions that are good to note.
Starting in the past, the children in both Indian schools and Australian settlements were taught
jobs that were limited to what they had to offer. Because of this, there was less opportunity for
indigenous students to discover their true aspirations. This could’ve been done intentionally, as
the Mariam Report of 1928 as paraphrased by the Wikipedia article, recommended that the US
government “provide American Indians the education and skills they need to adapt both in their
own communities and United States society” (“American”). Analyzing the text, the original idea
may have been for indigenous students to teach the skills they have learned back to their families
and reservations once free. It could also be interpreted as utilizing these skills to provide back to
the white man society of the US and Australia. Meanwhile with “Education for All”, the rise of
technology, along with growing global connections has led its focus to center on working
students toward the global economy. The film notes that technology has been a central focus of
leading these institutions, relying on computer training as a primary mode of teaching (Schooling
13:14-13:36). With the rise of tech comes the demand for tech jobs, which comes with the
promise of higher wages compared to past jobs like agriculture. Paraphrased from the film, the
ambition for higher paying jobs has created a dependency on the new generation to earn as much
money as they can in the form of, as the film calls it, “material success” (Schooling 5:46-6:09).
Finally, the modern initiative is less assimilative with its surroundings than its past counterpart.
For example, students are generally allowed to keep their hair and name intact, but still have to
wear school uniforms. The overall differences between the two primarily relate to the period in
which they were enforced, along with the changing perspectives of certain practices.
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Both institutions have resulted in lasting effects that have mostly put indigenous people at
a disadvantage. For one, most children are likely not successful when attempting to make a
living in their newly introduced society, and the film describes that most students go into poverty
because of this (Schooling 30:04-31:22). This is due to the lack of environmental education for
these students, who are left to fend for their own when they reach adulthood. This is different
compared to those that live in indigenous tribes and villages, where the film describes their
culture as one that teaches survival in the part of the land the people reside in (Schooling 12:43-
13:36). The next major effect of indigenous assimilation is the rise of drug usage. The Indian
school Wikipedia article mentions this topic by paraphrasing that drugs were used to temporarily
treat mental illnesses like PTSD and depression (“American”). The article adds that due to many
essential factors of nurture that children are void of, along with the dissent of their culture and
the conditions of their schools, many develop mental trauma that may, unfortunately, lead to
premature suicide (“American”). The Time article backs up this claim by mentioning recent
studies finding hidden graves of Indigenous people north of the Canadian border (Waxman).
These types of graves are likely to be found all around the grounds of the remaining Indian
school structures. This was a result of western teachings being too much for indigenous students
to handle under the restrictions placed on them. Even today, the promises that western education
brings to third-world country children are unethical, all due to its misleading ideas that only
leave behind students struggling to survive.
The two types of institutions throughout history have created harsh effects on indigenous
children that have taken this path of education. Even then, how does the modern take of
“Education for All” bring about concerns about this new reimagining of the White Man’s
Burden? For one, there has been a declining population of indigenous people within their
reservations and villages. With the way children have been sent to schools to be accustomed to
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western culture, they are more likely to live out their lives in those types of lifestyles, passing
their westernized skillset over to their offspring. The indigenous villages, as a result, are left
without their new generations of children, as they learn the western way and form new lives in
the city. The next concern should be how the newly-educated students go around finding a living.
Due to the conditions of many third-world countries, there aren’t many lucrative opportunities
for students in the first place. The global corporations know this, however, and have been
expanding their work to most third-world hop spot locations. Because of the presence of jobs
being mostly comprised of these corporations along with their advertising, the film comes up
with the conclusion that these “Education for All” students end up working as replaceable assets
for these corporations (Schooling 17:17-17:57). Whether this was the intention or not,
“Education for All” has been leaning back into the ideas set by the White Man’s burden. The idea
alone of exporting a form of education to other countries is eerily similar to the colonialistic
behavior of the past by European nations. With the growth of the US after World War II and the
formation of the United Nations thereafter, these western countries have focused on globalizing
the Earth with their western ideologies and spreading it to every country in the form of a
“universal” education system, instead of fixing pre-existing systems. Because the “Education for
All” initiative has been earning support from these global faucets due to its easy implementation,
it has become the preferred method by which global leaders carry third-world countries into
intelligence. In other words, “Education for All” is an institution backed up by major outlets to
ensure a single outcome for the future of third-world students, one that is ruled by the western
sector of the world, thanks to the White Man’s Burden.
In conclusion, there are connections between the newer “Education for All” initiative, and
the older US Indian school initiative that suggests the continuation of “The White Man’s
Burden” in the modern day. Both focused on introducing western education and ideas to outsider
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groups in an attempt to assimilate them into the growing urban white consumer society. For that
to happen, however, it came with the cost of preventing the spread of indigenous teachings,
language, and importantly, the cultural aspects of the declining populations. As more people
become aware of preserving as many indigenous cultures as possible, they need to also bring
focus on the teachings that, even today are being used to systematically destroy our unique
cultures.
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Works Cited
"American Indian boarding schools." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Oct. 2022,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_boarding_schools. Accessed 3 Nov. 2022.
Bear, Charla. “American Indian Boarding Schools Haunt Many” NPR, 12 May 2008.
https://www.npr.org/2008/05/12/16516865/american-indian-boarding-schools-haunt-
many. Accessed 3 Nov 2022.
"Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Sept. 2022,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follow_the_Rabbit-Proof_Fence. Accessed 3 Nov. 2022.
Schooling the World. Directed by Carol Black. Lost People Films. 2010.
https://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/schooling-the-world-2010/. Accessed 3 Nov 2022.
Waxman, Olivia B. “The History of Native American Boarding Schools Is Even More
Complicated than a New Report Reveals” Time, 17 May 2022.
https://time.com/6177069/american-indian-boarding-schools-history/. Accessed 3 Nov
2022.
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