The Importance of Long Hair in Schools

Students who did not adhere to school schedules and regulations received strappings, whippings, and were often humiliated in front of peers. The staff at the Mohawk Institute even built a prison cell for those who tried to escape. Indigenous children were taught only practical skills. Girls learned how to become domestic maids. Boys were taught how to do carpentry or farm or other manual labor tasks. Many students spent so little time in class that by age 18 they only reached the fifth grade.