Native people experience a spectrum of difficulties integrating into the modern American environment. It is because of pressure from the authorities and continuing racism toward Native peoples. Generations who grew up in the middle and late part of the last century essentially despise modern America, as it has sought to shackle its cultural heritage in every way it can. Native Americans continue to carry with them the trauma of attending boarding schools. The negative consequences of attending such schools include psychological trauma due to corporal punishment, loss of identity, and health problems.
Boarding schools were created for Native Americans to teach them new rules and standards for America that would help them fit into society. In reality, however, the schools served as a place where children were restrained and could no longer be full members of society. They were not allowed to return to reservations, see their parents, or use their language and cultural aspects. The boarding schools did everything to make the children no longer feel a connection to home.
Psychological trauma is the leading group of consequences Native American children had after attending boarding schools. Schools used the practice of corporal punishment for children who disrupted routines and school rules. Whipping and beating young children and adolescents led them to avoid contact with other people as they became adults. There was also depression and loneliness because of the cruel punishments that followed any misbehavior. Teenagers grew up and became anxious and sometimes aggressive because they always sought to protect at least part of their opinions. Injuries continue to accompany many people because it is challenging to forget physical punishments and their terrible severity.
Native American children lost their identities in boarding schools because rules forbade them from using their cultural trappings. Children could not make figurines or totems, could not see their mothers, and felt increasingly lonely. Reservation seemed distant to them, and Native values were becoming modern American. The children were losing their connection to home, which was foreign to them, and the new America seemed the only way to cope with the weight of discipline that prevailed in boarding schools. They forgot the culture and struggled to return to it as adults because the school had taught them to be ashamed of their identity.
Boarding schools were brutal: they required regular prayers to God, strict diets, and the absence of any cultural burden. Abbesses used many punishments, so children grew thin and weak. They lacked micro and macronutrients, and the constant beatings and loneliness weakened them spiritually. It led to health problems: children were repeatedly injured and bruised, their arms or fingers were broken, and some severe infections were not treated. Teenagers received illnesses that schools refused to treat and died, and other children grew frail. In addition, the mental trauma was later manifested in severe depression, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. Children could not cope with the stresses, and the world around them ceased to bring them joy.
Thus, Native American boarding schools changed their childhood, adolescence, and adulthood for the worse. They suffered many psychological traumas because the severe beatings and punishments made them afraid of many other people. They lost their cultural identity because schools forbade them to show their culture and follow its rules in any way. In addition, the severity of the schools led to health problems: lack of good nutrition and punishment led to the development of psychological illnesses and poor immunity and health in general.