Indian boarding school

American  

[in-dee-uhn bawr-ding skool] / ˈɪn di ən ˈbɔr dɪŋ ˌskul /

noun

1. (formerly in the United States) one of many boarding schools established for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian students, first by Christian missionaries and later by the federal government, with the aim of culturally assimilating Indigenous youth and giving them a Western education.

---

Etymology

Origin of Indian boarding school

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Monica Lopez: One of five siblings, Aggie grew up at the Indian boarding school in Albuquerque and attended classes at St. Mary’s Catholic School.

From Scientific American • Jul. 27, 2023

Army installation west of White Swan, Yakima County, then home of the Yakama Agency office and several other buildings, including a federal Indian boarding school house and two dorms.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 25, 2023

Mr. Woodbury’s hair sample collection was a “part of the history of abuse” propagated by the federal Indian boarding school system, the museum said in a statement.

From New York Times • Nov. 10, 2022

Her department recently released the first volume of an investigative report into the federal Indian boarding school system.

From Washington Post • Jul. 15, 2022

It opened to a classroom, much like the ones I had sat in for endless hours at Indian boarding school.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac