Response to the short story “Indian Education”

The short story “Indian Education” in the book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie is about a young poor Indian boy named Junior growing up on a reservation, and his various forms of education not only in school but also on the street.  Sherman divides the story up by the grades he was in and what he learned each year. The story shows the lessons that were very adult that he learns very young. Sherman Alexie splits up the story by grade ironically because it’s not about the academic education, but the “street” education like drugs and racism.

Sherman Alexie splits the story up by grades. Junior learns about how people can be racist. For instance when Junior is in second grade he has a teacher who is mean. “‘Indians, indians, indians.’ She said it without capitalization. She called me ‘indian, indian, indian.’ And I said, Yes, I am. I am Indian. Indian, I am.” This shows that the teacher had no respect for him and even his culture. He also learns about drugs and how Indian kids learn about them. The story states how his cousin does drugs: “Steven Ford sniffed rubber cement from a paper bag and leaned back on the merry-go-round. His ears rang, his mouth was dry, and everyone seemed so far away. But it felt good, that buzz in his head, all those colors and noises. It was chemistry, biology. It was beautiful.” This shows how Sherman Alexie ironically uses topics in school like chemistry and biology in relation to drugs to show that was how Indian kids learned.

Sherman Alexie shows how Indians are “educated” in life with lessons from drugs to racism. This story made me feel sad because on the reservation there was so little hope for Indians that they were driven to start doing drugs and drinking very young.