Volume 11 Number 1
October 1971

John W. Friesen and Linda Moseson

Education has always been a primary concern of human society, and every society has its own particular method of preparing its young for adult participation in that society. The problem of clarifying the theoretical grounds of a particular educational system is a difficult one, however, and literature in the field of philosophy of education in regard to the American school system bears this out.

This article concerns itself with an elucidation of the educational theory of the nineteenth-century North American Plains Indian cultures as they existed before significant contact occurred with European invaders. Anthropological monographs and informal literary contributions of Indian researchers which have added authenticity to some aspects of earlier studies make possible some general observations about these cultures, but an exact depicture of the Plains Indian way of life in that time period is not easily accomplished. It should be noted that this overview pertains to Plains Indian cultures only and should not be generalized to include other groups. Plains Indian tribes may be considered those belonging to the following language groupings: Algonkian, Athabaskan, Caddoan, Kiowan, Siouan, and Uto-Aztecan (see Note 1).

Educational theory consists of a series of statements or assumptions about phenomena which have to do with the learning process and may encompass statements about educational aims, the content of education, and its methodology. Assumptions about the nature of man, his relation to the environment, and his capacity to learn may also be included. Educational theories are to be differentiated from philosophies of education; the latter are frequently delineated in terms of a world-view orientation comprising idealism, realism, pragmatism, etc (see Note 2). In this paper only the general themes of Plains Indian educational theory will be explored as a means of compiling some of the most salient features.

Theories of learning may be articulated from assumption about the nature of man because such concepts indicate something about man’s capability and flexibility in the learning process. Such postulations also anticipate emphases, designs and structures of educational programs.

A fundamental observation about Plains Indian life was that belief in the supernatural pervaded their entire way of life. In all areas of their culture, some direct or indirect reference to this belief, and to the implications of it for daily tasks, could be located. For example, early white settlers observed the benefits Indians enjoyed in their health, in a psychotherapeutic sense, through relating their beliefs to the operations of skilled non-Indian medicine. The combination of a strong faith in the supernatural and the skills of medical surgery provided an admixture hard to surpass (see Note 3). Man’s obligations to the supernatural also produced a solidarity among the people which enhanced their belief system and added to the fraternal spirit of cooperation which aided in the perpetuation of their culture.

A classic study of five southern United States communities by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck demonstrates well the man-nature value continuum of Indians of the Southwest--in no sense did they believe they could control nature but were bound to obey her laws and be appreciative of the life they were given at her hand (see Note 4). A characteristic of what might be termed the Pre-Neolithic society was the assumption that man’s welfare could best be assured by his working in harmony with nature; valuation of activity and work for their own sake and beyond the physical needs of the moment was therefore absent (see Note 5). The resultant emphasis on continuous revelation as opposed to empirical observation and measurement parallels the point already made about a supernatural frame of reference for Plains culture. Man was viewed, therefore, as a part of nature and his orientation to life was through the medium of supernatural favor and guidance. Hence, his freedom for individual or corporate action and belief was regulated by a higher sphere of life and his entire frame of involvement had to be viewed in terms of the supernatural and of the limits of nature.

The Plains Indians’ style of life was closely tied to the natural forces around them in terms of hunting, fishing, and other forms of food-gathering, and their acculturation and socialization measures were oriented to these activities. In terms of what the educational enterprise of the Indians was designed to do--to preserve and maintain their way of life, it was a success. Children of each sex were trained to perform the various functions that would eventually be expected of them when they assumed adult roles in the social system. This education-to-a-purpose enabled the child gradually to become a functioning, contributing part of his society, and because he felt part of this stable social system, he knew who he was and how he related to the world and the people around him (see Note 6).

Consciously or unconsciously, the Indian child was expected to grow up as his parents were and to perpetuate his culture. The ideal character structure took the form of a person who achieved skills, courage and resourcefulness in hunting, warfare or healing, who shared freely the material benefits which accrued to him as a consequence of such powers and skills, who was intensely concerned about his own spiritual and moral welfare, and who respected the individuality of others. Above all he was to be attuned to the mystery and power of nature, and should attempt to live in harmony with her (see Note 7).

Certain measures of attainment could be observed among the Plains Indians to denote the passing of an adolescent from one educational stage to another. The status markers of maturity were the rewards for acquiring the abilities, skills and knowledge of the adult. Initiations into adult life were the most significant and marked the acquisition of adult status on the part of the youths who qualified. Still later, a successful war record became a prerequisite to recognized manhood (see Note 8). The point to be realized here is that the educational aim for Plains society was to maintain their way of life in an environment that permitted a particular fashion of survival, and, in modern day terms, a minimum of art, leisure or other forms of social pleasure. The socialization of the child was a very basic enterprise because he would be called on to face the same challenge of survival on reaching adulthood. Consequently, the most feasible method of education was to teach the skills and abilities necessary to attain the desired goal, and to do this in the manner amenable to the age and maturity of the cultural neonate.

The concept of character education was also a part of the Plains culture especially in terms of what that culture deemed to be moral character. Among the Cheyennes, for example, such an admonition as the following might be quite typical, "Be brave, be honest, be virtuous . . . If you do not do these things people will talk about you in the camp; they will not respect you; you will be shamed. If you listen to this advice you will grow to be a good man, and you will amount to something" (see Note 9). The values implicit in such admonitions were reinforced by many explicit mechanisms, notably by family approval.

Plains Indian education, or the process of socialization, basically took the form of patterning the life of the children after the manner in which their elders lived. Boys learned to ride as soon as they were able; little girls took up the challenge of gathering wood, carrying burdens and preparing food by the age of seven or eight. The transition into adult life was natural and accomplished early because the contributions which youthful persons made to the culture in terms of hunting, warfare and the like, were valued, wanted and ostentatiously rewarded (see Note 10). In this sense, because the discontinuities within Plains Indian culture were minimal and the rites of passage equally open, the overall educational aim of perpetuating a way of life was very successful. The method by which education was proffered--through virtually everything that made up childhood activities--left little room for alternative patterns developing from within the ranks. The decay of Plains culture, therefore, had to be induced from outside sources, for it had virtually no potentialities nor structural components which could precipitate transformation from within.

The skills and activities taught the Plains Indian child had a direct relation to the aims of that culture and helped sustain their way of life. Consequently, the content of education consisted of adult tasks miniaturized and simplified for the child to accomplish. Young girls were taught to cook meat brought in by the men of the household sometimes making pemmican or jerky from it. They were responsible for sewing buffalo hides together for tipis and clothing, utilizing their creative powers in formulating intricate designs on them as they worked. Similar basic tasks were expected of the boys.

Besides attaining contingent skills for fundamental cultural roles related to food gathering and hunting, the Plains culture offered a limited degree of alternative roles and professions having to do with the religion and health. Some youth learned the specialties for caring for the sick, and were on occasion even called on to minister to those ill among white settlers, and all of them learned the mysteries of ceremonial dances and chants (see Note 11). Harold Driver estimates that in one Southwestern band the male spent one third of his life learning and participating in one kind of religious ceremony or another (see Note 12). These ceremonies were transmitted from generation to generation, but each individual was expected to seek to individualize his knowledge of the supernatural by questing for a personal visionary experience. They were required to learn new secrets given them through dreams; such might take the form of innovational cures for ills, designs for painting on their clothes, or special information regarding warfare techniques or the whereabouts of the enemy (see Note 13).

Perhaps the most effective portrayal of Plains Indian educational content is a report from an actual participant. A 60-year-old Cree Indian respondent living in Alberta put it this way:

This interview establishes two things: first, much of what was learned was attributable to word-of-mouth transmission basically on the principle of respect for older people; and, secondly, the composition of education pertained to all facets of Indian culture--the people worked, played and grew together. Thus the culture remained intact partially because of a limitation of cultural alternatives for behavior and partly because the ways and customs of the culture were enacted in harmony by all the members including the youngest.

An element of the progressivist slogan "learning by doing" was a real factor in Plains Indian culture if the phrase is interpreted to mean that children learn things better through actual doing. Activities essential to the maintenance of Indian life were adapted to the age of the child and these were gradually intensified to resemble as closely as possible the actual deeds of hunting and warfare as the youth matured.

The basic orientation of Plains Indian education was traditional in the sense that the past was revered. The elders of the band, in conjunction with the parents, were responsible for the total learning of the child, and they were to be respected for their wisdom, age and experience (see Note 14). The actual methods by which children were taught were coincidental with the traditional theme of education and reflected the factors of respect and obedience. Children of all societies with an orientation to cultural perpetuation are taught by this methodology, but "Indian children probably learned more by free imitation and less by conscious instruction than do children in the modern world" (see Note 15). They were not pressured into being better than their parents, nor even as good as them, for the individual child’s freedom was highly prized; nevertheless they were expected to copy adult behavior. Grandparents especially occupied an important child-rearing role, for these older people fulfilled the capacity of nursemaid for their married children. These were the constant, and often stabilizing companions for the very young, and the part they played may have been quite influential in transmitting supernatural systems of belief" (see Note 16).

An interesting aspect of Plains Indian educational ways was the lack of differentiation between work and play. This unique combination enabled the children to see the tasks they would later pursue in all seriousness as adults as part of their daily play routine. In some bands children tagged along with adults and copied what they did. The older people especially encouraged this kind of thing and such activities constituted the bulk of the child’s daily schedule. Actual play periods, specifically segregated from the work aspect of life were virtually unknown. In this sense the child lived his way into his culture without burdening himself with any schizoid partitions of role expectation.

Of particular importance in established Plains culture was the art of storytelling and its counterpart of myth transmission. Again the older and revered members of the society took the major responsibility for this instruction, and although many of the myths still persist in the stronghold of written form, some of them have been forgotten or intermingled with non-Indian folklore. Folk tales could not always be differentiated from sacred myths and such accounts as the creation of the world might occasionally be related only as a folk tale (see Note 17). In the case of the Sioux, particularly, tales and myths were passed down from generation to generation almost word for word with changes occurring due only to faulty memory. Each credulous myth which recounted the supernatural tradition was in fact the religious history of the Sioux (see Note 18).

Physical violence as a form of child discipline was virtually unknown among the Plains Indians, probably because such action was not considered as congenial to a good parent-child relationship. Instead other forms of positive and negative discipline were utilized, notably praise and ridicule. Among the Crow Indians a person might be chided by his "joking relative" who was perhaps his cousin; the intent of such joking was to serve as a deterrent to deviant behavior (see Note 19). Children too were publicly ridiculed, for scorn served as a real social conditioner for both child and family. Like other aspects of teaching methodology, child disciplinary forms were aimed at keeping the child in adherence to the established norms of Plains Indian culture while permitting him as much as possible the free establishment of personal growth along approved lines.

It would be incorrect to say that there was no formal education at all among Plains people, for the military societies (sodalities) had a particular kind of initiation process, which required of the uninitiated to engage in a series of specified activities which required at least a few days to complete, although in some cases even longer. In most cases boys alone were eligible to be admitted to sodalities (associations implying comradeship, companionship or fraternal order), but girls were also known to have been admitted (see Note 20). The primary purpose of these societies has been compared to that of the American Legion or VFW posts--social and civic organizations mainly centered on the common experience of the members as warriors, with rituals glorifying and enhancing that experience, and with duties and services performed on behalf of the community at large (see Note 21).

One of the important components of secret societies’ philosophy was the desirability of the vision which indicated the Indians’ belief in the supernatural, and which would serve for the youthful Indian as an indication of his having won contact with the supernatural. Each initiate was required to seek a vision, or source of power, and if he did not succeed he was free to keep trying. No one could be absolutely sure if he had obtained what he aspired to, but, for example, if a warrior was successful in what he attempted to do after be sought a vision, it was considered a bona fide vision. The formal requirement of a vision was validated in part by a candidate’s own admission of success or failure to communicate with the supernatural world. However, the best form of validation originated from the measure of success he had in other labors after the attempt (see Note 22). The rigor of this requirement and the degree of admiration and respect a successful search for contact with the spirit world obtained, signify its importance for those attempting to gain entry into the formal societies. In this sense, "formal" education was an entity in Plains Indian culture.

In conclusion, the following set of statements may serve to summarize the basic points of Plains Indian educational theory.