Unschooling: a Creative Way to Approach Education

Here I have written a persuasive paper on how unschooling is more effective than a formal education (K-12). Unschooling is a creative way in which to educate our children, or rather let them educate themselves. We just need to provide the resources and atmosphere for their natural curiosity. 

English 312 Audience Enthymeme

Enthymeme

What Are the Consequences of un-schooling on a child’s potential for success?

Claim: Un-schooling enhances a child’s potential for success.

Because: having a child make his/her own curriculum improves a child’s development of social skills. 

Implicit Assumption: Whatever improves a child’s development of social skills also enhances a child’s potential for success.

Contract Question: What effect does un-schooling have on a child’s potential for success?

Bradley Gregory

Omitted 

English 312

Winter 2014

A 21^st Century Education

            From the age of eleven I have received some 12 years of structured, and formal dance education. It is safe to say that my dance education was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Professionals from around the globe trained me. The professionals would live at the house for about a week, and every day there was a three-hour lesson. The lessons were highly structured and very formal, most of the time requiring a collared shirt and tie for me. The structure and repetition from the lessons raised my partner and I to the top of the competition. We quickly waltzed our way to the top three in the nation for our division.  It is undeniable that this type of formal education was the reason for my partner’s success and mine. If we adhered to an un-schooling type of education we might not have been as successful. In other words, if we made up our own practice regiment and curriculum, we never would have risen to the top.

            A formal and structured academic education acts similar to the dance education experience that I went through. You need a college degree if you ever hope to make more than $34K a year (United States BLS). If a child ever hopes to get to college, he/she must be prepared from K-12 age for the rigors that college and later life will undoubtedly present to them. It is obvious that preparation for college is attained by doing homework, assignments, and complying with due dates like they do in a structured/formal K-12 education. However, another element is crucial to a child’s potential for success - their social skills development. Because a student must interact with their professors and future employers, they must learn to develop their social skills in order to be successful in navigating our highly social world. Most people of conventional thought would say that a formal/structured K-12 education provides a perfect atmosphere to develop a child’s social skills because they interact with their peers and teachers on a daily basis. However, some say that the un-schooling ideal, having children make their own curriculum, will better build children’s motivation for success and inevitably develop their social skills and perhaps surpass those from a formal educational upbringing. Un-schooling is becoming popular in the U.S. and Canada, so it would be important that we don’t have an influx of socially inept and unsuccessful people that aren’t contributing to society. What effects then does un-schooling have on a child’s potential for success?

            Experts say there are about two million home-educated students in the U.S., and it is estimated that 10% adhere to unschooling ideals (Wilson). How many of these unschooled children are entering into college, and are they doing better or worse than their formal/structured education counterpart? In the case of Sudbury Valley, an unschooling facility, 90% of the graduates go on to pursue a college education as opposed to the 69% from the public school system (Wilson). It’s hardly strong enough empirical evidence to compare just one unschooling facility to the entire nations formal/structured education, but the data does show that the possibility for success and even outperforming the formal/structured education system is there.

            A big worry for those against the unschooling ideal is that the children will be lazy and not really learn anything. After all, we all want to just play and have fun whenever we have any unstructured moment. How are we supposed to trust that children will be motivated and engaged in their learning if they are the ones with the responsibility to take the reins of their educational journey? Just like riding a horse, it’s as if we are giving a child the reigns and telling them to take off when they haven’t even learned to ride the horse yet. However, if you remember back to your public school days, you might remember a sense of excitement and enthusiasm you got in the summer months when you had 3 months off of school. At some point or another in the summer you were really excited to go back to school. You even got excited to buy pencils and backpacks because it meant that you were one step closer to learning in school again. As human beings we are naturally curious creatures (Morrison).  Although we imagine that we might spend our 3-month summer “doing absolutely nothing” because we are tired of school, we actually get anxious to get back to school and learn. This happens to all of us, structurally educated and unschooled alike, except that an unschooled child doesn’t have to wait for their education to start. 

            In addition to possibly being lazy, another major concern is that the unschooled will be socially handicap in the “real world” day-to-day functions of college classes and career life. If you have ever socialized with someone who has been separated from mainstream education, you might have thought, “oh you must be really awkward” or, “do you have any friends?” The stereotype came from somewhere; otherwise, there would never be the stereotype. When a child is brought out of the formal education system it would seem hard to find a support group of either kids the same age or other adults. Whom are the children going to associate with if they have no peers and can’t have the chance to develop their social skills? One unschooled woman feels in contrast that she was actually too normal in a social sense, and that she was “much friendlier than a lot of kids who went to school. And more confident. At least around adults” (Kate). There is more than meets the eye of a supposed socially-excluded-unschooled-child.

            A prime example of the potential that the unschooled have of being not just functionally sociable but even more socially developed than their counterpart is Logan LePlante. LePlante is a current participant who adheres to the unschooling ideal. He is 14 years old, and at the early age of 13 he gave a presentation at a TEDX conference in Arizona in front of a large audience of adults. He gives a well-formulated argument about how he is “happier and healthier” for adhering to the unschooling ideal. He has sought learning through internships with a textile company as well as a winter sports company whose employees inspired him to learn math and physics. He communicates daily with others, oftentimes being with adults. LePlante communicates clearly and confidently like any other speaker at a TED conference (LePlante). Keep in mind that other TED speakers are typically adults that have had at least a decade worth of career experience.  LePlante is clearly proof that other unschooled children can reach a high level of social capability much sooner than their peers in a formal and structured environment.

            LePlante’s story however doesn’t show us if he has currently been successful in getting to college or if he even plans on going to college since he is only 14 years old. Whether or not unschooled children will be able to get into college is a major concern. One reason for concern for unschoolded children getting into college is the fact that they don’t have official transcripts to look at. They may not have taken standardized test before either and they will have to take either the SAT or ACT in order to get into a U.S. college. However, two sisters named Kate and Molly have overcome these challenges and were accepted to the University of Colorado as well as five “more selective” small liberal arts colleges (Leadbetter).

            Both girls decided to go to college by their own free will and choice because they wanted to play collegiate sports. Kate for one has demonstrated exceptional success in a variety of ways including socially, fitness wise, and academically. In the first year of her enrolment she accomplished A’s and B’s in all her courses while being a two-sport athlete. She gives lively discussion in her classes making her professors grateful to have her in their classes.  Kate and Molly’s mom says “they had enough opportunities for socializing in sports, community theater and homeschool teen activities” (Leadbetter). Formal school is not the only place for children to develop their social skills.

            Both sisters attend the same liberal arts college and although Molly hasn’t yet gone through her first semester, both sisters had the same success getting accepted to college. In order to have a transcript for the colleges to look at, the sisters did some things to remedy the problem. Since they planned on wanting to attend college in advance, they had time to do research on how to get there and what they needed to do. They thought they needed to have official high school transcripts in order to play sports in college but it turns out that any school under the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) doesn’t require the transcripts. Even though Kate and Molly enrolled to be a part of the American School of Correspondence’s high school program to provide that transcript, they didn’t need to. Their mother thought they would be better prepared for college life by being a part of the American School of Correspondence. When she asked Kate if that was true, she says her daughter responded saying “’No’, in a duh-of-course-not kind of way” (Leadbetter).

            In order to hurdle over the obstacle of needing to take the ACT they took the test two times. The first time they took the test they paid extra to receive the answers and results back so they could see where they struggled most. As is expected, both girls lacked most in the science and math areas. Before taking the test a second time, they crammed about 3 hours of targeted problems and rules for math and science. Kate raised her score by four points while Molly raised hers three points. Both scored at least three points higher than my own highest ACT score (Leadbetter). I took the ACT three times just to get my score up to a decent level while they only took it twice. They prepared for three hours with targeted study to raise their score while it took me three years to raise my score 4 points and their scores were still higher than mine (Gregory).

            My own learning in the public school system demonstrates why formal education is ill suited to do what unschooling can do in a fraction of the time. Although the social scene in high school was nice, I found it difficult to be motivated in going to school. It was difficult not only learning subject matters like Math, Science, and English, but also planning whatever it was I wanted to pursue in my life as an occupation. I didn’t even like to read until my senior year of high school, and that was only because a friend of mine introduced a book that gave me a love for reading. My love for learning, which is essential to academic and personal growth, didn’t develop until I was on my own, serving a church mission in Argentina where my study was open to whatever subject I wanted in the gospel and language.  Because my schooling was simply a “requirement” that I had to do no matter what and not because I wanted to, It took me 12 years of education to realize what I could have realized in a fraction of the time being unschooled (Gregory).

            While developing social skills is important, it is essential to determine if unschooled children will be able to bring value and purpose to society. Contributing to society is captured by what you do as an occupation. Our current school system “was set up in the late 1800s and early 1900s, to meet the needs of the industrial economy” (The Big Picture). Essentially the school system was set up in a similar fashion of an assembly line, much like the factories. Every year is segmented for specific learning topics, and the masses can enter to learn and be spit out like the hundreds of Ford cars left the assembly lines starting in 1913. The mass production of educating our students is good for an industrial economy, but may not be the best for an ever-increasing nimble and global economy. One may go through school now only to realize that if they “choose to rely on the skill set he acquired at school [he] may quickly discover that his skills are obsolete” (The Big Picture). In our current, every-changing global environment, there is hardly a “perfect mold” type of education to prepare us for contribution to society. It is possible that the formal education structure will only provide a narrow learning to a student, and not contain the depth or quality that is needed in our currently complex world. The industrial education setup is like an old assembly line for early 20^th century cars. The cars may be beautiful and they work, but they are no longer capable of enduring the needs of modern society.   

            Unschooling is aided by many learning platforms and technologies that are widely available to almost anyone who desires to learn on their own. These were not widely available if at all in the industrial era. Things like Youtube, the Internet, E-books, public education centers that are free, local libraries etc. These platforms and many more, provide many of the tools needed for a proper education. If you have ever had a question that you didn’t know the answer to, I am sure you most likely found the quickest answer by simply asking the Internet. Even social media provides a platform for interconnectivity that provides not only educational benefits, but social as well. The materials needed for learning are a simple click away thanks to the 21^st century.

            Consider the potential for success of being unschooled and if that potential is high or low. Sociological research suggests that hacker ethic is an ideal characteristic of creativity and innovation therefore making the “hacker” a more successful person (West & Hannafin). A hacker ethic basically means the same thing as LePlante doing whatever it takes to learn what he wants to. The key is that it is something that LePlante wants to learn and that he will “hack” the way he learns it. He is essentially unhindered in the way he learns and is motivated in doing so. West and Hannifin’s research on COI’s (Communities of Innovation) digs deeper on hacker ethic and what its implications are. The research was done with four students whom they allowed to choose any subject and/or skill they were interested in. They were given little criteria and guidance. The research indicated that all of them went beyond the project bounds in their learning of their particular subject and/or skill because of their hacker ethic. They didn’t just simply learn facts about the subject and skills, they went beyond that and excelled at them (West & Hannafin).  A curriculum and structure in formal education may provide a potential for success but it will not be nearly as high of a potential for success in college and career life as those who are unschooled.

            In addition to hacker ethic, flow is an essential characteristic that describes in better detail what is going on when the “hacker” is doing work they want to do. Research describes how flow is usually preceded by hacker ethic. Flow is a semi-new concept in research that is described as “participating in intense engagement and learning at the edge of one’s competence” (West & Hannafin 823). Respondents from the research reported flow happened almost more than other characteristics when they worked on their projects. It was essential to the project success. When the students became “completely engaged to the point of losing consciousness of their surroundings and of time” they were experiencing flow (West & Hannafin 828). One example from the study was a young man that chose to learn coding. He reported “You get lost in the flow . . . I’m a dork like that. I like digging into the code and . . . I would just get lost in that” (West & Hannafin 829). The students essentially get hyper focused on learning their subject matters and become “experts” in the subject. This is made possible because they have a desire or hacker ethic for wanting to learn the subject. Flow and hacker ethic illustrate the potential that unschooling can have for success in teaching children not only how to be experts in subjects they love but in teaching children to love learning. Teaching children to love learning is a challenge all by itself in a formal educational environment.

            Although a structured formal education provides a stable educational platform, unschooling provides a unique advantage to a child’s social development as well as preparedness for college and career life. Unschooling enhances a child’s social development, which in turn increases their potential for success.  As a future parent, you need to take a step back and ask yourself if a structured/formal education is the best route for your naturally curious child. Instead of throwing them into the archaic educational system without a second thought, give a second thought about the archaic habits your child will exhibit in their day-to-day lives if they learn from a formal/structured educational environment. Break the chains of non-progressive industrial learning, and start implementing unschooling techniques that fit your child’s 21^st century life now.

Works Cited

United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Earnings and Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment. 19 Dec. 2013. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

Gregory, Bradley. Personal Interview 13 April. 2014.

Kate. "Unschooling didnt make me abnormal enough." Eat the Damn Cake. 19 Aug. 2010. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Leadbetter, Ann. "Unschooled Teens Go To College." Life Learning Magazine Dec. 2003. Web 13 Apr. 2014.

LePlante, Logan. “Curious and Creative Wingnut.” TEDx. University of Nevada. January 24, 2013. Conference presentation.

Wilson, Jacque. “Unschoolers Learn what they want, when they want.” CNN US. CNN, 3 Aug. 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

West, Richard & Michael Hannafin. “Learning to Design collaboratively: Participation of Student Designers in a Community of Innovation.” Instr Sci 39 (2011): 821-839.

Morrison, Kristan A. “Unschooling: Homeschools Can Provide the Freedom to Learn.” Encounter 20.2 (2007): 42-49. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

The Big Picture. "Rethinking Education, Part 1: Why Our School System Is Broken." The Big Picture. N.p., 28 Nov. 2010. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Argentina: Julio A. Roca and The Conquest of the Desert

Disclaimer: This is a research paper I wrote for my History of Argentina class at BYU. It isn't something that everyone is going to agree with, but it was a good opportunity to stretch my research and writing skills. I hope it provides a valuable and different point of view on a part of Argentine history.

Julio A. Roca and The Conquest of the Desert

By Bradley Gregory

Written Fall 2010

The Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign against the Indians in the Argentine pampas from 1878-1879 lead by General Julio A. Roca.  Many scholars debate about whether his campaign against the Indians was beneficial or destructive to the Argentine identity.  Speaking to his fellow countrymen Roca argued that, “our self-respect as a virile people obliges us to put down as soon as possible, by reason or by force, this handful of savages who destroy our wealth and prevent us from definitively occupying, in the name of the law, progress and our own security, the richest and most fertile lands of the Republic.”[1]  According to Hinton, the previous statement about the Conquest of the Desert is placed in the context that Roca committed genocide against the Indians.  Understanding the motives of Roca’s strategy behind the conquest and the benefits that arose because of it, it becomes clear that in spite of the minimal tragedies and losses, the conquest was a success and lead to greater economic and territorial growth in Argentina.

For decades the Argentine nation had been trying to solve the so called “Indian problem”.  From the days of Juan Manuel de Rosas to the late 1870’s the nation had failed to solve this “problem”.  During Avellaneda’s presidency there were frequent Indian raids along the southern national borders of Argentina.  These raids “limited the field of agriculture and cattle of the inhabitants of the country” furthermore, “The cattle ranches and outposts . . . suffered the raids periodically, with its following loss of precious lives, the degrading captivity of women, the looting of towns and the theft on the ranches”.[2]  These raids and lootings of the Indians were common place for decades. 

President Avellaneda tried to combat these raids and lootings upon entering his presidency in 1874.  He entrusted his Minister of War Dr. Adolfo Alsina to study the problem.  Alsina planned to send five commands throughout the Pampas, Neuquén Cordillera, and Rio Negro.[3]  He commenced his plans and had various successes advancing the border to Carhue, Guamini, Puan, Trenque Lauquen and other cities.  He also marched toward Azul with various triumphs over Cacique Indians like Namuncura, Catriel and Pincen.  Due to Alsina’s unexpected death in December of 1877, President Avellaneda placed the responsibility of continuing with the conquest on the shoulders of Julio A. Roca.  Roca differed from Alsina however in how to carry out the conquest.  Roca’s idea was to get the Conquest done quickly and to go on the offensive by a series of invested raids rather than the defensive like Alsina.  He committed to himself, to the government, and to the country that he would complete the conquest in two years.[4]  In conquering the desert quickly and in the offensive way done by Roca, some scholars feel it was good and brought much to the Argentine nation, and some feel it was unbeneficial and even harmful.

 According to Bustos-Videla the conquest provided a great opportunity for Catholic priests to venture in places they otherwise would not have been able too.  In venturing with the commands these priests were then able to convert and civilize the Indian savages.  Safety was also provided to them in not having to worry about Indian raids while in any given town.  Having this safety with them aloud them to establish many schools, libraries and churches.[5]

In addition to the religious benefits of the conquest, the dissertation of Richard O. Perry gives great personal insight of the Indian culture on the pampas and gives good reasoning as to why they were feared by the Argentines.  In contrast, by having such detailed information of the culture, cultural losses are seen more clearly as a result of the deaths and relocation of the Indians due to the conquest.[6]

The compilation done by Cristina San Roman provides living documents of correspondence letters written by various leaders such as Roca, Bernardo de Irigoyen, and Alsina; all key leaders of the conquest.  The conquest strategy of Roca is clearly depicted in his letter to Alsina in which he objects to the strategy plan of Alsina and gives his own input on how it should be done.

Furthermore, Roca’s strong character is captured by Felix Luna.  Luna makes a free re-creation of the life of Roca within a rigorous historical context. The words he puts into the mouth of Roca are based on “correspondence letters and other documents from his authorship”.

Armando Mendez confirms the strong character of Roca because he illustrates how Roca dissented from Alsina’s plan to conquer.  Also relevant is the confirmation given by Mendez of the barbaric and savage nature of the Indians. 

In contrast to the previously mentioned authors, Alexander Laban Hinton places the Conquest of the Desert in the context of genocide.  Though only a brief mention is made of Roca in Hinton’s work, it presents the argument that what Roca did was genocide like unto the westward expansion during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency in the United States. [7]

In contrast of these authors, what will be added in this paper will show the genocide aspect and how Roca in reality contributed to the Argentine nation building by expulsing the Indians from the pampas to the other side of the Rio Negro.

Roca’s motives for his strategy are seen clearly in various correspondence letters written by Bernardo de Irigoyen to the Chilean National Congress, Alsina to Roca, and Roca to Alsina and President Avellaneda.  Irigoyen, the minister of foreign affairs, notes in a letter written to the National Congress that the Indians raided the Argentine borders and stole cattle to then illegally sell them to Chile.[8] He writes,

”The government of Chile can’t ignore that in the foothills of the Andes, to the south of the slab, there lives only a few hordes of savages encouraged by the reported trade, that dedicate themselves to pillaging our borders; and Chile can’t ignore that every introduction at those heights is proceeded by the thefts of the Indians and they are frequently accompanied by other crimes…”[9]

      Illegal correspondence between the Indians and the Chileans created more friction between the two nations.  The border disputes made it more logical to conquer the Patagonia so as to secure an extended border, and acquire rich fertile lands.

      In Alsina’s plan, the nation would build a trench to divide the savages from the border towns of Argentina.  This in Roca’s opinion was like waiting for the Indians to come to them, constantly threatening the towns, the Indians having the upper hand.  He writes to President Avellaneda that the Indian’s population is insignificant to what the nation has to offer them.  They have only primitive lances and as a defense they only disperse.  He continues, “We have six thousand soldiers armed with the latest modern inventions and yet we allow them to have the initiative of war… remaining as cowards against a handful of barbarians”.[10]  By being on the offensive and gaining ground to the Rio Negro, they could then use that great river as a natural barrier that is deeper than the man made trenches and of less cost to the national treasury as well.  Having control of the river would bring a great economic advantage to Argentina; it would make colonizing a lot easier due to the river being so navigable.  Metal of all types could be brought and transported, mainly “copper gold and coal”.  Even having 15,000 leagues of land for the people and productive work, the value would grow to an insurmountable worth.[11] 

      In a letter written to Alsina about Alsina’s strategy of the conquest, Roca explains that by using forts and getting closer to the towns, the Indians will become stirred and will take advantage even by just creating alarm.  If all the commands worked by getting closer to the Indian populations through using forts all along the borders, this would eventually create an inevitable war with all the tribes.[12]

      Roca’s reasoning behind the conquest and how it was to be done can be supported by his patriotism and motivated character.  Roca only had the nation’s best interest in mind.  His patriotism is painted well in his desire to reach Choele Choel (the end of his campaign) by the 25 of May, the celebrated day of the First National Government of the father land.  In Roca’s words “We were giving the father land 500,000 kilometers for its birthday so that in that enormous extension it could grow”.[13]  His command reached Choele Choel as scheduled and did not waste time.  A commentator of the day described Roca as being all “calculation, reflection, thorough analysis of the pros and cons”.[14]  He had the right character to carry the conquest out quickly and efficiently for the benefit of the Argentine people.

      The Indians tragedies from the conquest can be seen in the lifestyle they lived.  The Indians in the pampas were mainly Aracaunian, centered on Mapuche culture and language. These Indians were highly skilled at horse riding, even comparable to the gauchos.  Many European travelers marveled at the skill the Indians had at training and disciplining the horses to be far superior to Argentines horses.  Though the Indians’ horses came from the same plains as the Argentines, the Indians’ horses had more strength and durability because they were put through more rigorous training than the Argentine horses.[15]  These Indians were admired for their discipline and skill in training the horses.  They had a beautiful culture that centered on the horse; the horse being the reason that drew the Indians to the Pampas in the first place. Though not all of the Indian population was destroyed in the conquest perhaps a great majority of this culture was lost in relocating the Indians to Buenos Aires and other reserves.  The Indians that fought against the commands were highly skilled in riding but their riding skills did not keep them from being captured or killed.  Total numbers resulted in 1600 either killed or made prisoner, and around 10,000 were forced to turn themselves in.[16]

      Due to Roca being as calculative and analytical as he was, the casualties resulted in a minimum on both sides; the Indians and the soldiers.  In fact, lives were even saved thanks to the campaign.  In fact, at the end of Roca’s first phase of the conquest, which consisted of scouting out the land with a few attacks, there were 300 captives that were rescued.[17]  This was only one of the many benefactors of the conquest.

      Having a natural barrier between the Indians meant less insecurity about Indian raids on the border towns.  Cattle would be safe from theft, and as a result there would be no illegal commerce with Chile.  What also stopped the illegal commerce from continuing was the strengthened border of the Andes between Argentina and Chile.

      Security of the border towns was now sure.  The decade’s long war with the Indians was finally over. 

The fact that it was carried out with so little apparent effort and such trifling losses does not minimize the importance of the accomplishment, but simply shows that it was so carefully planned as to work to perfection.  The saving of life and the rapidity of accomplishment were not owing to the simplicity of the problem but to the care with which each detail had been thought out and planned.  To General Roca belongs the lion’s share of the credit for working out these details.[18]

      With the accomplishment of expulsing the Indians to the other side of the Rio Negro, there was an added 15,000 square leagues of land with untold economic potential.  Immigration to Argentina became more appealing.  Great amounts of land were sold for cheap prices attracting immigrants from Europe, Chile and other adjacent countries.  The Welsh for example were some of the first to populate the Patagonia. 

The land was also distributed to the officials who took part in the campaign and also to the Argentine citizens who were under terms to better the land by building wells and cultivating it. [19]  Land value rose quickly in the coming years of cultivation.

Many of the generals sold their distributed lands at a price value that they thought was a good profit.  The generals were disappointed to learn that they sold prematurely when discovering that just a couple decades later the land value was sometimes 250 times more than the original value.[20]

The motives behind General Roca’s quick tactics to clear the desert were for the benefit of the Argentine people.  He was not motivated by a desire to exterminate the Indian enemy but rather clear the desert by pushing the Indians southward.  Roca even suggested to Alsina that they offer the main cacique Indians a bought piece of land reserve to lure them out.[21]  

 Roca’s meticulous plans had fruits of a quick campaign with minimal casualties on both sides.  Because of the success of the campaign, land and territorial advantages were gained as a result with control of the Rio Negro and Rio Colorado.  Rivers which helped in colonization and transportation to the western cordillera. 

Economic growth was made sure with the acquiring of the rich fertile lands of the Patagonia.  The land would now be fully utilized in the hands of a civilized and modern people.

The act of General Julio A. Roca in the Conquest of the Desert was not an act of genocide but an act of building a nation.  He made sure the security and economic growth for all Argentine citizens.  

    

Works Cited

Bustos-Videla, César.  “The 1879 Conquest of the Argentine

Desert and Its Religious Aspects.”  The Americas 21 (1964).

                                    

Hasbrouck, Alfred. “The Conquest of the Desert.” The Hispanic                       

American Historical Review 15 (1935).

Hinton, Alexander Laban.  Annihilating Difference: the

     Anthropology of Genocide.  University of California Press,

     2002.

Luna, Felix. Soy Roca. Buenos Aires, Editorial Sudamericana,

     1989.

Menendez, Armando. Roca las dos presidencias. Buenos Aires:

     Compania Impresora Argentina S.A., August 1990.

Newton, Jorge. El General Roca Conquistador del Desierto. Buenos

     Aires, Editorial Claridad, S. A., November 1966.

Perry, Richard O.  “The Argentine Frontier the Conquest of The

     Desert 1878-1879.”  diss., Athens Georgia, 1971.

Roman, Cristina San.  Roca y su tiempo, documentos vivos de

     nuestro pasado, ed. Centro Editor de América Latina. Bs.

     As., talleres de prensa medica, November 1983.

---

[1] Alexander Laban Hinton, Annihilating difference: the anthropology of genocide (University of California Press, 2002), 45.

[2] Armando Menendez, Roca las dos presidencias (Buenos Aires: Compania Impresora Argentina S.A., August 1990), 13. 

[3] César Bustos-Videla, “The 1879 Conquest of the Argentine ‘Desert’ and Its Religious Aspects,” The Americas 21 (1964): 42. 

[4] Menendez, Roca las dos presidencias, 13-14.  Alsina’s approach was to travel in jagged lines and set up a defense system of deep trenches obtaining Indian zones little by little.  Roca however would be on the offensive and finish within two years, one to plan and prepare and the other to carry it out.

[5] Bustos-Videla, The 1879 Conquest of the Argentine ‘Desert’ and Its Religious Aspects, 36-57.

[6] Richard O. Perry, “The Argentine Frontier The Conquest of The Desert 1878-1879” (diss., Athens Georgia, 1971).

[7] Hinton, Annihilating difference: the anthropology of genocide, 44-45.

[8] Cristina San Román, Roca y su tiempo, Documentos vivos de nuestro pasado, ed. Centro Editor de América Latina (Bs. As., talleres de prensa medica, november 1983), 41-56.

[9] Ibid., 45.

[10]Ibid., 55.

[11] Ibid., 53.

[12] Ibid., 48.

[13] Felix Luna, Soy Roca(Buenos Aires, Editorial Sudamericana, 1989),145.

[14] Jorge Newton, El General Roca Conquistador del Desierto(Buenos Aires, Editorial Claridad, S. A., November 1966), 41.

[15] Perry, The Argentine Frontier The Conquest of The Desert 1878-1879, 29-32.

[16] Luna, Soy Roca, 147.

[17] Bustos-Videla, The 1879 Conquest of the Argentine ‘Desert’ and Its Religious Aspects, 45.

[18] Alfred Hasbrouck, “The Conquest of the Desert,” The Hispanic American Historical Review 15(1935): 225.

[19]Ibid., 227.

[20] Ibid., 227.

[21] Román, Roca y su tiempo, Documentos vivos de nuestro pasado, 47.