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The survey staff appreciates that it is not practicable instantly to provide day school or public school facilities for every young Indian child and that in some instances the boarding school is the only practicable solution, but the movement away from the boarding school already under way should be accelerated in every practicable manner. One of the definite objectives of the Service, vigorously pressed, should be the elimination of pre-adolescent children from boarding schools.
Because of the nature of the Indian country, the boarding school will for many years to come be essential to provide secondary education of a type adapted to the needs of Indian youth. It can stress provision for their special needs in a way that the typical high school designed for white children already adjusted to the prevailing economic and social system could not do. It must emphasize training in health, in family and community life, in productive efficiency, and in the management and use of property and income to a degree probably unnecessary in general public schools.
Although the boarding school must be distinctive in the emphasis on the special needs of the Indians, it should not be so distinctive that it will not dovetail into the general educational system of the country. The promising Indian boy or girl who has attended an Indian boarding school and who desires to go on with his education should not encounter any educational barrier because of the limitations of the Indian boarding schools. The faculties and their courses of study should be such that they can meet the standards set for accredited high schools. It may prove necessary for the Indian youth who wishes to go on to higher institutions to spend a little longer time in the boarding school than he would have spent in an accredited high school, but the way should exist and should be plainly marked.
The Indian Service should encourage promising Indian youths to continue their education beyond the boarding schools and to fit themselves for professional, scientific, and technical callings. Not only should the educational facilities of the boarding schools provide definitely for fitting them for college entrance, but the Service should aid them in meeting the costs. Scholarships and student loan funds might well be established by the government and by organizations interested in the Indians. State universities in states with a considerable Indian population might be willing to offer