Native American Languages Act: Twenty Years Later, Has It Made a Difference? (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

July 19, 2012

*Native American Languages Act: Twenty Years Later, Has It Made a
Difference?*

By Kelsey Klug
US

Native Americans lost control of the education of their children when the
United States government forcibly enrolled them in residential schools
designed for assimilation into an “American” mold. This policy began in the
1870s and continued on a large scale through the 1970s; a few schools are
still operating today. In these institutions, children were severely
punished, both physically and psychologically, for using their own
languages instead of English. These experiences convinced entire
generations of Native people that their children would be better off
learning to speak only English. Hoping to spare their children the pain
they once went through, parents stopped passing their languages on to their
children, and thereby stopped creating fluent speakers of those languages.
As a result, numerous languages indigenous to America are now severely in
danger of losing their last native speakers.

Access full article below:
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/native-american-languages-act-twenty-years-later-has-it-made-difference
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