Kevin Berman's thoughts of The School Days of an Indian Girl

First I thought it was interesting about how Gertrude's mom just let let her daughter go to the apple orchards, without putting much of a fight. I know if I were in her shoes and knew what the apple orchards were and how my son or daughter would lose their innocence if they went, then I would not let them go to go.
Also I was interested in how important Gertrude's hair was to her. She made it clear that her hair was not going be cut by any teachers. It was ludicrous how the teachers dragged her out of her room and tied her up to chair. This is a great example though of clashing cultures, because the Quakers have a tradition of cutting their hair short, but for Native Americans cutting their is a symbol of shame or mourning. So in the end you have to see where both sides are coming from because everybody has their own opinions and come from different backgrounds and its these backgrounds influence their opinions.
In addition to this I found it interesting how when Gertrude went back to her home she felt so alienated from society. I couldn't believe that after just 4 years she lost all of her heritage and how her family just disregarded her.
I was also really impressed on how Gertrude won the Indiana State Oratorical Contest. However, what really surprised me was how hostile the crowd was. Not only did they make racist comments behind her back, but also they waved flags around with racial slurs and other derogatory sayings.
All in all this was a really eye opening reading for and taught me a lot about different cultures and we need to look at different situations through different shoes.