Essay Questions

Is the title ‘Bad Indians’ stereotypical?

The title of the book might suggest that it is discussing the Indians from a lousy perspective. For instance, the book is assumed to be stereotyping the Indian tribes living in America, thus giving the group a bad image. However, after reading the book, the reader realizes that it is about westernizing the Indian tribes to embrace the American culture and doing things. To achieve this, the American government forces all children to attend government and missionary schools to ensure that the native Indian children are assimilated to Americanism.

Why is Miranda determined to tell the world how the American government destroyed the native Indian culture?

Deborah Miranda is a native Indian, and she grew up under the American government's influence to assimilate to western culture. Miranda recalls how the missionary schools in America intentionally ignored teaching children about Indian history and culture. Instead, most missionary schools taught Indian children about American history. According to Miranda, her people were devastated. She must let the world know how the American government destroyed the culture of native Indians who currently do not even know the history of their lineage.

Why is the American government defensive of its education system, which destroyed the couture of the native Indians?

The American education system is based on Christianity, and all the Indians in California were forced to take their children to Christian schools. According to the government, it had good intentions because it wanted to empower all the people, including the Indians. The best way of doing so was to assimilate all people to think like Americans. The government further argued that it aimed to make the native more productive. Therefore, despite the many criticisms, the American government believes that its education system offers all Americans equal opportunities. That is why all the native Indians were forced to take their children to missionary schools.