Richard Pratt was the founder of the Carlisle Industrial Indian School in Pennsylvania. He was considered to be an "expert" in the education and assimilation of Native Peoples in the US. According to his philosophy, Indians were most successful if they could be assimilated into White society. His school taught students how to behave and work in White society, ignoring the riches of culture and family that are cornerstones of the Native way of life.

This is why he refused Zintka as a student at Carlisle. She had been giving the gift of growing up in a White home, he wrote Clara, and should be kept away from all contact with Indians, even at his own school. Clara continued to look for schooling for Zintka, who was now more restless and uncontrollably afraid of her surroundings. Clara also pursued official enrollment of Zintka in her native Sioux nation, a title that would come with a land grant in South Dakota for Zintka.

Zintka attended a finishing school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1903. Within a week, she was expelled. Later that year, she would attend and be forced to leave other schools, including St. Mary's Academy in Alexandria, Virginia. Another school, All Saints in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was closer to her homeland, and Zintka began schooling there in late 1903. Leonard Colby provided next-to-nothing for Zintka's education, and was rather perturbed to have Zintka close to Beatrice again.

Zintka wrote letters home, begging Clara to send for her. The administration too requested that Clara, now living in Portland, Oregon, remove her daughter. Zintka became suicidal, even threatening harm to her classmates.

In mid-1904, Zintka was bitten by a dog at her school, and wrote that the infection was severe and wouldn't heal. Clara sent Zintka to Madison, Wisconsin, where her sister Mary White was practicing medicine. When Zintka arrived, there was hardly any sign of dog bite. Zintka had escaped another cruel episode, using the deception that she had learned so well from her father.

In Maine that summer, Zintka grew promiscuous, and was caught sneaking out with a boy. All Saints refused admission the next year, and Zintka was sent instead to the Indian Industrial Boarding School in Chamberlain, SD. Despite its horrid conditions, Zintka actually loved this boarding school. The students were all Natives like herself, and she was allowed to rediscover some of her own culture, the Dakota lands of her ancestors.

Her joy at school wouldn't last long. Money ran out again, and the wealthy Leonard Colby again refused to help. Zintka got trachoma, a disease that left a white speck in her eye and forced her to wear dark glasses. Soon, Zintka was to discover the inspirations to help her set her own, unique path in the world.