Volume 10 Number 2
January 1971

Everett D. Edington and Darrell S. Willey

It is ironic that the people in the United States with the lowest standards of living are the original Americans. The American Indian has the highest rate of unemployment, the lowest average education, the lowest annual income, the shortest expected life span, and the highest rate of infant mortality of any group of its size or larger in the nation. Some of the worst poverty areas to be found in the world are in our centers of Indian population. There are approximately 650,000 Indians living in the United States today, of which 75% live on the reservations. The bulk of these persons are in the western states, with two-fifths (or slightly over 250,000) living in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

Many of the Indians who have left the reservation and migrated to the cities have found themselves extremely disadvantaged. They lack the communication, education, and skills to enable them to compete on the labor market. A vast majority have little knowledge of the English language, which complicates further their ability to find employment to sustain themselves. Those who do find work are employed at the extreme low end of the pay scale. This is complicated further by the fact that, when a member of a family is employed, extended family members move in with him, making many more mouths to feed.

In 1960, some 12.60% of all Indian males over 25 years of age had no schooling—compared with 2.4% of the total population. In Oklahoma, Hunter and Tucker found that 58.9% of the Indians had not gone beyond the eighth grade. The same report gave the following data on the economic and educational status of the American Indian:

In the past, few specialized programs of vocational education were designed specifically for Indians. Two of the most successful, however, are the Haskell Institute at Lawrence, Kansas, and the Intermountain Indian School at Brigham City, Utah. These are operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the Department of Interior.

In August, 1969, a national conference was conducted to encourage development of more vocational education programs for American Indians. It was sponsored by New Mexico State University under a grant from the Division of Comprehensive and Vocational Research of the Bureau of Research. Involved were educators from the Federal, state, and local levels (from both public and BIA schools), business and industry representatives, Indian leaders, and state department of employment personnel.

Two major conclusions were drawn from the workshop. The first was that not all Indians have the same problems in relation to vocational education. Characteristics of the Indian people differ in the various regions of the country, making it necessary that vocational education programs for Indians be developed at the regional, state, and local levels rather than at the national level. The problems of the urban Indians seem to differ significantly from problems of those living on reservations in predominantly rural areas since urban young people have been assimilated into the ongoing culture much more readily than others.

The second major conclusion from the workshop was that, gcnerally, vocational education programs have not been adequate to meet the training needs of the American Indian in either urban or rural areas. Although this was true of programs conducted by high schools, public schools, BIA, and kindred agencies, it does not mean that the programs conducted by these agencies were not successful; in the main, there were too few vocational education programs to meet the needs of the Indian people.

Some of the recommendations were as follows:

A. That planning for implementation of vocational and technical education programs for the American Indian take place on the regional, state, and local levels, and that specific programs be developed, either for training of the American Indian or for the recruitment of the American Indian into existing programs in vocational education.

B. Such training and recruitment programs should recognize the cultural differences as well as the occupational needs of the Indian people. It is important to know how to obtain and keep a job as well as the skills necessary to perform the operation.

C. That extensive in-service training courses be conducted for all persons who will be teaching Indian pupils. This should be done at both the pre-service and in-service levels. It should be emphasized, however, that the training for cultural differences alone is not adequate, and that definite occupational skills must be developed before the Indian can obtain and hold a job.

D. The Johnson O’Malley funds going to local school districts be ear-marked for vocational education in direct proportion to the number of students who are not college bound in that particular school district.

E. Every state with a significant Indian population should have an American Indian representative on the State Vocational Education Advisory Council.

F. Vocational education should be an integral part of the school system enrolling large numbers of Indians. It should have pre-vocational type K through 6, with more specific training being initiated from grades 7 through 12. All BIA, as well as public schools, should make vocational training available to the Indian students.

G. Vocational education in the state, in cooperation with federal funding agencies such as the BIA and MDTA, should sponsor and operate job skill centers for the undereducated and underemployed adult Indians. Such centers should offer counseling, basic education, remedial education, skill training, job placement, as well as retraining for those persons whose jobs have become obsolete. Private agencies, such as the Indian Associations, should be involved in the recruitment, staffing, and servicing of these centers.

H. Business and industry should accomplish the following: Gear in-house training programs to the ability levels of the American Indian; make certain that management and supervisory positions are available to the Indian people; establish and maintain good communications and relations with representatives of labor to create more job opportunities and skilled trades for the Indian; determine that requirements for entry level jobs be realistic with what is actually needed to perform the operation of such jobs.

I. More adequate methods of selection for training and employment should be developed in selecting American Indians. Standardized tests should be used only as an indicator until the time such tests are validated for the group.

Six months after the completion of the workshop, 11 of the participants were randomly selected and visited in order to determine if the recommendations were being carried out. Those selected were as follows:

Results of the follow-up were very encouraging; in most cases, a noticeable change in providing vocational training programs for Indians had taken place. There was evidence that the Indian people were being consulted in the planning of programs in occupational training. At least four states had either appointed or were in the process of appointing an Indian to the state advisory board. Industry and business sectors had definitely taken the lead with both formal and informal on-the-job training programs. Examples of this were the programs conducted by Thiokol and Philco Ford for adults and the onthe-job program known as "Operation Passport" initiated by Honeywell.

There was a definite increase in cooperation among agencies at the state levels in providing adequate vocational education programs for Indians. Arizona has probably forged ahead in this, with labor and education working together in developing training programs for adult Indians in the Phoenix area.

There still appeared to be some lack of cooperation between the BIA and other agencies. This was not, however, due to the lack of willingness on the part of agency personnel. It was probably due to organizational structure which does not easily accommodate change.

With the enthusiasm and dedication of the BIA personnel there is little doubt that within the near future there will be an increase of cooperative ventures in developing more adequate programs of vocational education for American Indians.

Bright spots are observable for the future of occupational training for our most disadvantaged minority. Industry, business, labor, education, and the Indian people recognize this need. Much remains to be done, however, before the original American has the proper vocational and technical education necessary for him to perform as he rightfully should in America’s labor force.

1. Bill Hunter and Tom Tucker, "Indians in Oklahoma, Social and Economic Statistical Data, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State Employment Security Commission, September 1966, pp. 4-5.