Close Reading Practice: Understanding Boarding School Impacts

In the sentence, “Then she realized the teachers who had taken her traditional clothing upon her arrival wanted to cut her hair, too.”, the word traditional most nearly means:

• ancient and outdated

• customary and culturally specific

• imposed by outsiders

• simple and plain

What is the most likely meaning of coerced as used in “punished Native students for speaking their languages, forced them to take new names, and coerced them to convert to Christianity.”?

• persuaded gently

• encouraged freely

• made someone do something by using threats or pressure

• convinced through education

In the article, the author writes that boarding schools sought to “strip children of their culture.” The word strip most nearly means:

• decorate with new traditions

• remove forcefully

• reveal naturally

• disguise carefully

The phrase “lost my spirit” in the memoir quote by Zitkála-Šá primarily conveys:

• a sense of physical injury

• spiritual enlightenment

• psychological harm and loss of identity

• freedom from traditional constraints

Based on the structure and content of the article, which of the following best describes its central theme?

• The voluntary assimilation of Native American children into U.S. mainstream culture

• The legal strategies used by Native American activists to combat boarding school policies

• The historical oppression and lasting trauma inflicted by boarding school systems on Native Americans, and current attempts to reckon with that history

• A biography of U.S. presidents who apologized for Indian boarding schools

The author tells the story of Zitkála-Šá in the opening section mainly to:

• highlight the bravery of individuals who resisted boarding schools

• provide a detailed biography of a prominent Native American leader

• illustrate the emotional and personal impact of the boarding school system

• show the historical timeline of when boarding schools first appeared

According to the article, which of the following was not one of the policies used in the federally funded boarding schools?

• Punishing students for speaking their native languages

• Forcing students to adopt Christian names

• Encouraging students to follow their family traditions

• Coercing students to convert to Christianity

Which of the following inferences is best supported by the article? Reminder, inferences means "a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning."

• All students eventually accepted the boarding school practices.

• The U.S. government showed no interest in publicizing the abuses at the schools until very recently.

• Boarding schools were originally designed to preserve Native American cultures.

• The legacy of boarding schools continues to affect Native American communities today.

Why does the article refer to the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative? (What is the purpose of bringing it up?)

• To outline current efforts to address the harms caused by boarding schools

• To propose new boarding schools modeled after the historical ones

• To defend the actions of the historical boarding school system

• To argue that the initiative has been wholly unsuccessful

In the article, describing the cutting of Zitkála-Šá’s braid, the author uses sensory detail (“cold blades,” “gnaw off one of my thick braids”). This is primarily to:

• provide literal documentation of the tools used

• evoke the emotional and physical trauma of that moment

• criticize the craftsmanship of the scissors

• suggest that physical pain was more important than psychological pain