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I doubt that most teachers would know ANY answers to that question, but here are a few:
1. ��Origin
Christians believe Adam was made of clay like most Native Americans believe Earth Mother was their creator, but all Apaches were "born of the water", which keeps the scientists happy. The mother of all Apaches was "Changing Woman" who emerged from the ocean in a seashell and was impregnated by the rays of the sun. Today, when a pregnant Apache woman's water breaks, her Apache baby seeks dry land. During the puberty rite, an abalone shell hangs from the forelock to honour Changing Woman and the ocean which gave us life. Isn't this an amazing belief for people who live in the Sonoran Desert?
2.��Homes
Most southwestern tribes build hogans and pueblos from adobe, but Apache wickiups are more like Hawaiian grass huts. Apaches discovered that people living in permanent homes rapidly deplete nearby firewood and food sources and, by living on top of each other, contagious diseases quickly take their toll on the people, so Apaches built temporary homes which could easily be burnt to the ground to curtail the spread of those diseases brought from the old world to the new world.
3. ��Arrowheads
Although an Apache might use an arrowhead made by someone else, Apache arrows seldom had arrowheads. Apache hunters were expected to get close enough to their supper that arrowheads were unnecessary; after all, if an Apache could not get close enough to catch his supper, how could he be expected to get close to an enemy?
4. ��Moccasins
Apache moccasins are immediately distinguished by a buckskin flap on the toe. The reason for this flap is debated by the modern generation, but the flap is undeniably useful in deflecting cactus spines when one runs near "Jumping" cholla cactus!!
5. ��Warriors
Apaches have no warrior society, so the term "Apache Warrior" exists only in Hollywood and the fiction writer's mind.
6. ��Warfare
Apaches seldom went to war, but often went on raids to punish their enemies. These raids were not intended to kill people, but to deprive them of the means to raid Apaches, i.e., horses, weapons and food supplies. Unlike the Americans and Mexicans who took every opportunity to slaughter Apache woman and children, Apaches seldom killed an enemy unless in self defense. It was much more satisfying to an Apache that the enemy lived to regret attacking Apaches, and especially for that enemy to know his wife and children were being raised as Apaches, who might some day return to attack him as an enemy of their new family!In the Age of Technology, it is rather simple to go through historical records and count the number of times Apaches killed an enemy (or were reputed to have killed an enemy) and the number of times settlers, miners, tradesmen and ranchers wrote in their diaries that Apaches had instead killed their best bull, favourite team of horses, destroyed the food stores, or taken their women and children, and those statistics will clearly establish Apaches were not the "murderous savages" of the popular press.
The most notorious exception to this rule was Geronimo, who lost several wives and children to Mexicans, and to American scalp hunters. Finding his first family butchered like animals changed "He who Yawns" into "Geronimo" intent on killing every Mexican he could touch. Some history books call Geronimo a "War Chief" , but Apaches had no chiefs (just clan leaders), and history clearly establishes that most Apaches would never follow Geronimo into a battle because that was a sure way to get killed!
As a medicine man with exceptional gifts, Geronimo was clearly an asset to any raid - or battle - but Geronimo was never in command (except for a few raids at the beginning, in which many Apache lives were lost because Geronimo's was focused on "Killing all I could" rather than on the safety of his men, or the success of the raid).
7. ��Names
Despite the popular press, Apaches did not have names like "Silver birch" or "Lone Wolf", because Apache names describe the person not the totem, e.g., "He who yawns" clearly described a easy-going medicine living in peace with his family. When the first white settlers arrived, the most popular Apache names usually began with "Angry", e.g., "Angry he shakes his fist", or "Angry he stomps the ground," etc.8. ��Language
The Apache language does not have ��F, ��P, ��Q, ��R, or ���� V sounds. Despite television, radio, the U.S.Government, and the Department of Education, Apache is still the mother-tongue of the majority of Apaches, and is spoken by every member of the Tribal Council.
9. ��Bears
Geronimo�s "autobiography" has a passage stating that Apache Scouts were amusing themselves by killing bears on the opposite side of the canyon. I don�t believe Geronimo said that, because Apaches believe bears can be their "grandfather", and Apaches don�t go around shooting their grandfathers. There are several passage in Geronimo�s autobiography which are not the Apache way of thinking or doing things, and I believe these passages were added to increase book sales and please the readers who wanted to believe all the dime-novel histories of Geronimo.10. ��Territory
Although Fort Apache Reservation has illegally been reduced in size five times by Congress to accommodate Mormons, miners, and ranchers, the White Mountain Apache Tribe is one of the few tribes in America still living on their ancestral land.
So how many of the above differences did your teacher know?