More typical of the highly schooled minority was Redfern Louttit, who went from the Anglican institution in Chapleau Ontario, to Wycliffe College in Toronto, with financial assistance from a church group in the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, a Dan Kennedy or a Redfern Louttit were exceptions. Those who went on to high school and university studies were part of a small minority who experienced advanced academic success, often against the wishes -- and certainly without the financial assistance -- of the Department of Indian Affairs. Departmental policy was stated bluntly in 1904, when an official briefed the deputy minister with the statement that 'there are no funds especially provided' for higher education.

      Most residential school students would have been under no illusions about their limited educational potential. The fact that their vocational training was preparing them for modest economic success was signalled by various forms of apprenticeship that were used in the early days of the industrial schools. On the whole, summer apprenticeship for boys and opportunities to be 'out at service' for girls served little educational purpose, whatever help they might have been to employers who obtained cheap labour by them.