Life of Indian Education Essay

Indian statement it doesnt necessarily mean to get an Indian program line rather to be taught how to be Indian. In Sherman Alexies abruptly tosh Indian Education the main character, younger, is taught the lessons of being an Indian. The score is about juniors life in school from setoff to one- 12th descriptor with a class reunion at the end. Through each variant we see lowly festering up as well as lessons to be learned. Junior finds himself facing numerous stereotypes, racial discrimination, and discrimination towards him, his people, and culture. The short write up ends with Junior beating the odds and overcoming all the obstacles he faced.Throughout the story Indian Education Alexies character learns to be an Indian and learns some lessons of how gruelling it is to be Indian. The first lesson being learned of being Indian is being unforesightful. In the first grade Junior was picked on because he was different than the other boys. My blurcloth was too short and my U. S. Government supply were horn-rimmed, ugly. The storyteller states how he is different by having his hair too short and ugly glasses. Having his hair too short shows the other Indian boys that hes different because in Indian tradition the guys usually grow their hair out.He handlewise states that his glasses argon provided by the political relation which tells the reader that he is poor. Experiencing this poverty is common amongst Indians because many of them arent educate enough to get a good job to support themselves. another(prenominal) example from the first grade is when Junior is given nicknames like Junior Falls Down and Cries-Like-a-White-Boy. His nickname Cries-Like-a-White-Boy hints that there is some tension surrounded by the Whites and Indians because as said in the story theyve never heard a exsanguine boy cry.These examples show the fabricator is learning of being an Indian because being poor is common within the Indian culture and having hostile ten sions between the Whites is something Indians have had for decades. In the second grade Junior faces racism and discrimination from his teacher. Tell me youre sorry, she said. Sorry for what? I asked. E reallything, she said. Here, his teacher is sullen him for no reason. This shows the teacher views herself higherthan him and thinks of Indians as at the bottom. This is the first time he faces racism and hes only(prenominal) a young small fry at this time.This is one of the many difficulties Indians have to face e real twenty-four hour period because they look, act, and are viewed differently. In the fourth grade he is shown encouragement for the first of few times. His teacher tells him he should be a doctor, because he is very smart, so he can come back and help his tribe. At this same time the narrators mom and dad are sitting in their own darkness drinking and being down in the mouth because of their lives. Junior, having to face his parents like this, knows what he has t o do to help not only his family but his finished culture.Its the first time he looks himself in the mirror and sees himself becoming something and wants to do something with his life. This can be seen by the many difficulties Indians face versus how much encouragement and belief they get from others and their selves. It can also be seen as him breaking away from the Indian culture and trash to be different than everyone else in his reservation because its almost a tradition for Indians to get criticism from others that theyre never loss to be anything in life and for the Indians to stop believing in their selves. These were the first lessons he learned of becoming an Indian.Going through the fifth grade the narrator shot his first basketball and air balled everything. However, instead of giving up he looked at the positive and saw math and geometry in it and unploughed on trying. This can also be seen as a parable As Indians, and the culture of Indians, hardly anything goes m ature for them. Theyre poor, they have poor education, and a lot of them receive alcoholics, but for Junior he doesnt give up, he keeps his head up and despite all of these proscribe events happening around him he is be quiet able to know that he can choose how his life turns out and not become like everyone else in his tribe.At this same time he shot a basketball his cousin was sniffing cement and his cousin saw beauty and chemical science in this. Junior, learning to be Indian, sees his own family making the wrong decisions on his own because no one is there to tell him whats right or wrong. Learning to be an Indian can be tough with no supervision and guidance from a more responsible person. He also learns lessons of being an Indian during the seventh grade when he disjointed from his tribe.But on the day I leaned through the basement window of the HUD house and kissed the white girl, I felt the good-byes I was saying to my entire tribe. Junior left his tribe to get a bett er education at a white school. Leaving your own people to go live with the enemy is a hard thing to cope with for Junior and his tribe. This teaches him lessons of being Indian because he realizes that living on his reservation is not going to get him the education he needs to be self-made because Indians have a poor education system.All the way until the twelfth grade Junior faced many obstacles, stereotypes, and racism in the white world. In the twelfth grade the narrator graduates as valedictorian and states that his hair is longer than ever. I walk down the aisle, valedictorian of this farm town high school, and my cap doesnt fit because Ive grown my hair longer than its ever been. This shows the audience that hes very smart and that he beat all the challenges and obstacles put in social movement of him.This teaches him how to be Indian because it shows the narrator that being Indian is tough and he knows its not easy for people with an Indian background to become a success ful person out in the world. However, he fulfil things no one believed he could. He beat the odds and turn out a lot of people wrong. His long hair symbolismizes that he hasnt forgotten where hes come from. Its a symbol his Indian heritage and even though hes been going to a white school for some years he still hasnt forgotten about his life back at home. Hes always kept a part of him everywhere he went.Throughout the story Junior grows up to become a tender person beating the odds and defeating all the obstacles he had to face. Even though he came from an Indian reservation where people saw themselves as failures, he overcame those odds and saw that he can choose how his life turns out. The narrator is educated of being an Indian facing racism and discrimination. The story talks about the narrators education from the first through twelfth grade but doesnt necessarily give the image of him acquire an education but rather it sends out the message of him learning to be an Indian .