Skip to content
Support local, fact-based journalism today and
you could win a $500 Mike’s Bikes gift card.
Support essential local journalism for your community.
2021 Spring News | Mikes Bikes
Donate Now

View thank you gift options

CapRadio

CapRadio

signal status listen live donate
listen live donate signal status
listen live donate signal status
  • News
    • beats
    • State Government
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • Business
    • Arts and Lifestyle
    • Food and Sustainability
    • PolitiFact California
    • California Dream
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Music
    • genres
    • Classical
    • Jazz
    • Roots
    • Eclectic
    • Videos
    • Daily Playlist
  • Programs + Podcasts
    • news
    • Morning Edition
    • All Things Considered
    • Marketplace
    • Insight
    • California State of Mind
    • The View From Here
    • music
    • Acid Jazz
    • At the Opera
    • Classical Music
    • Connections
    • Excellence in Jazz
    • Hey, Listen!
    • Insight Music
    • K-ZAP on CapRadio
    • Mick Martin's Blues Party
    • Programs A-Z
    • Podcast Directory
  • Schedules
    • News
    • Music
    • ClassicalStream
    • JazzStream
    • Weekly Schedule
    • Daily Playlist
  • Community
    • Events Calendar
    • CapRadio Garden
    • CapRadio Reads
    • CapRadio Travels
    • Ticket Giveaways
  • Support
    • Evergreen Gift
    • One-Time Gift
    • Corporate Support / Underwriting
    • Vehicle Donation
    • Stock Gift
    • Legacy Gift
    • Endowment Gift
    • Volunteering
    • Benefits
    • Member FAQ
    • e‑Newsletter
    • Drawing Winners
    • Thank You Gifts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Close Menu

California Native

 

California Native is a monthly series examining the role the state's indigenous people had in California. For 6 months, different topics such as the history or culture of area tribes tribes will be discussed.

Series and Project Archive

 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 
 We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter 

Mission Project Protests Help Spur Changes

  •  Steve Milne 
Wednesday, May 17, 2017 | Sacramento, CA
Listen
/
download audio
Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin.
  

Some Native American parents are urging California school teachers to stop assigning the mission project. That’s where kids in the fourth grade build replicas of historic Spanish missions. 

Lori Rushford is a fourth grade teacher at Albert Schweitzer Elementary School in Carmichael. It’s the last recess of the day and she’s getting her students set to go home.

“…and then we’ll get lined up and ready to go,” she instructs students just seconds before the bell rings.

Rushford has been a teacher for more than 30 years. She grew up in California and recalls when she was in the 4th grade, doing the mission project with her father.

“It was very special because it was a time to be with just my dad out in the garage," says Rushford. "We built our mission, which was San Juan Capistrano – I still remember.”

Rushford and her dad built it out of cardboard.

“We painted everything and we cut out doors and windows," she says. "Nowadays you can go and buy a lot of the things. And that was one of the complaints that we had. Parents were complaining about how much it would cost them to build these missions.”

More recently, parents of Native American children have been complaining about the project for other reasons.

“This is offensive to some people," says Calvin Hedrick, a Sacramento area father of three school-age kids. He comes from the Maidu Mountain Indian tribe. Hedrick also leads The 5th Direction. It’s a group that promotes cultural strength among tribal youth.

Hedrick says the 4th grade mission project gives kids a false impression of what life was like for California’s indigenous people. 

"This is traumatizing to some of our students. What should happen is that a school district should say ‘we will no longer be doing the mission project.’"

“It was a very horrific time for native people," says Hedrick. "Everything was taken away from them – physical, sexual, mental, spiritual, emotional abuse happening when people were being taken to these places to be taught how to be civilized. And the whole idea of what civilization was, was very different through the minds of the missionaries coming in."

The California Department of Education says it’s already made changes to the project. Last year, the state Board of Education approved a new framework for teaching 4th graders about the missions. Robert Oakes is with the department.

“We have a whole different way of recommending that teachers talk to their students about this period, get them to understand the terrible impacts that the missions had on many of our Native American populations in California,” says Oakes.

The new framework says: “Building missions from sugar cubes or popsicle sticks does not help students understand the period and is offensive to many. Instead, students should have access to multiple sources that identify and help children understand the lives of different groups of people who lived in and around the missions so that students can place them in a comparative context. Missions were sites of conflict, conquest and forced labor.”

The changes will be reflected in future textbooks.

Nancy McTygue helped write the framework. She heads the California History-Social Science Project at UC Davis.

“What we’re asking teachers to do, and I’m not suggesting this is an easy task especially with nine year olds, but really to kind of tell the larger story," says McTygue. "And we felt that the mission project itself, doesn’t provide the kind of nuance and support for students understanding a really complex past."

But Calvin Hedrick says it’s unlikely every 4th grade teacher in California is aware of the state’s new framework for teaching the project.

“It’s much more than just putting it down in the framework," says Hedrick. "I think you need to get out there and you need to tell people and you need to have parents at every single school district questioning it.”

For teachers like Lori Rushford at Albert Schweitzer Elementary, that sort of consciousness raising about the mission project is having an effect.

“I chose not to do them this year after a parent came to me concerned about the project,” says Rushford.

She says her students did read about the missions and wrote compare and contrast essays.

But Rushford replaced the mission replica building assignment with a science project instead.

“There are lots of other projects we can build," says Rushford. "Our society has changed, education has changed. This is just something that has been in our curriculum for so long, it’s just taking a while to make that change, but I think it’s an important change.”

CA kids have been building Spanish mission replicas for decades. Some say the project is out-of-date & offensive. https://t.co/JZf9cxH5z3

— CapRadio News (@CapRadioNews) May 17, 2017

Follow us for more stories like this

CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you.  As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.

Donate Today  

 educationcultureteacherschoolschildrenNative Americans

Steve Milne

Morning Edition Anchor & Reporter

Steve is the Morning Edition anchor for Capital Public Radio. He covers stories on a wide range of topics including: business, education, real estate, agriculture and music.  Read Full Bio 

Coronavirus Newsletter

Get answers to your questions, the latest updates and easy access to the resources you need, delivered to your inbox.

 

Want to know what to expect? Here's a recent newsletter.

Thanks for subscribing!

We'll send you weekly emails so you can stay informed about the coronavirus in California.

Browse all newsletters

Most Viewed

California Coronavirus Updates: Yosemite To Open Limited Summer Reservations

Signatures Are In. What You Need To Know About The Gavin Newsom Recall Effort.

Can Vaccines Stop Variants? Here's What We Know So Far

When Can I Get A COVID-19 Vaccine? How Will I Find Out? Answers To Your California Vaccine Questions.

Vaccine Passports In California? Answers To Your Questions

We Get Support From:
Become a Supporter

Most Viewed

California Coronavirus Updates: Yosemite To Open Limited Summer Reservations

Signatures Are In. What You Need To Know About The Gavin Newsom Recall Effort.

Can Vaccines Stop Variants? Here's What We Know So Far

When Can I Get A COVID-19 Vaccine? How Will I Find Out? Answers To Your California Vaccine Questions.

Vaccine Passports In California? Answers To Your Questions

Back to Top

  • CapRadio

    7055 Folsom Boulevard
    Sacramento, CA 95826-2625

    • (916) 278-8900
    • Toll-free (877) 480-5900
    • Email Us
    • Submit a News Tip
  • Contact Us

  • About Us

    • Contact Us / Feedback
    • Coverage
    • Directions
    • Jobs & Internships
    • Mission / Vision / Core Values
    • Press
    • Staff Directory
    • Board of Directors
  • Listening Options

    • Mobile App
    • On Air Schedules
    • Smart Speakers
    • Playlist
    • Podcasts
    • RSS
  • Connect With Us

    •  Facebook
    •  Twitter
    •  Instagram
    •  YouTube
  • Donate

  • Listen

  • Newsletters

CapRadio stations are licensed to California State University, Sacramento. © 2021, Capital Public Radio. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Website Feedback FCC Public Files: KXJZ KKTO KUOP KQNC KXPR KXSR KXJS. For assistance accessing our public files, please call 916-278-8900 or email us.