Volume 11 Number 3
May 1972

James E. Biglin and Jack Wilson

The highlights of a recent comprehensive study regarding parental attitudes towards public education on the Navajo and Hopi reservations of Arizona are summarized in this article. The overall objectives of this study were twofold: (1) to determine parental attitudes towards specific aspects of the school program including (a) the teachers, (b) the curriculum, (c) school policies, (d) the control of schools, and (e) rankings of the various types of educational systems on the reservations; and (2) to test the significance of the differences in attitudes of parents as a function of race, educational level, and social class membership.

In accomplishing the first objective, parental attitudes were measured by an instrument especially designed for this study. It consisted of 97 items, 76 of which required a "yes" or "no" response, and 21 items which were open-ended questions requesting spontaneous, unstructured responses from the parents. Parental responses to this instrument were our operational definition of attitude.

A random sample of 10% of all the parents having one or more children in attendance at one of the public schools on the reservation was taken. The total sample consisted of 520 parents. The sample was stratified on the basis of race, with 13% of the sample being non-Indian and 87% Indian. The six participating school districts in the study were: Chinle, Ganado, Kayenta, Keams Canyon, Tuba City, and Window Rock.

Twenty-three interviewers were selected from a list of 37. The total list was gathered from recommendations from local chapter houses or local people knowledgeable about the various communities, and skilled in bilingual communication.

In accomplishing the second objective of this study, tests of significance and differences in attitudes between the parents were made on the basis of race, educational level, and social class membership (measured by occupational level of head of the household).

The Kohnogorov-Smimov test was employed to determine the significance of the differences. The null hypotheses of no significant differences were assumed between the criterion variables and the .05 level of confidence was the criterion for rejection of the null hypothesis.

Results pertaining to the first objective indicated the following general attitudes towards the specific areas:

Parents indicated that they believed the teacher was the most important single factor affecting a successful educational program. It is interesting to note that while 98% of the parents expressed a desire to know their child’s teacher better, less than half (45%) reported that they did know their child’s teacher. Eighty-six per cent (86%) of the parents said they would enjoy having their child’s teacher visit them at home, while only 16% of the parents reported that a teacher had actually done so.

While over 67% of the parents stated that their child’s teacher did not speak the Navajo/Hopi language, 49% indicated that they felt this would be a desirable quality for the teacher to have. Some of the parents volunteered the observation that a bilingual teacher, particularly in the lower elementary grades, seemed essential if the bridge between Indian and non-Indian cultures were to be successfully crossed by the Indian child.

Some measure of parental attitudes towards education in general was evidenced by the fact that 86% of the parents indicated that they believed that the teacher was doing a good job in the classroom, and 81% said they would support their own son or daughter in their efforts to become a teacher. It was interesting to note that significantly more Indian parents would do so than non-Indian parents.

The next highest percentage reported in this study involved the curriculum. The parents believe that the primary purpose of all education should be to prepare their child to earn a living. In pursuit of this, 95% indicated that they would favor a vocational or career educational program beginning at the junior high level. They did not see that such a program need be mutually exclusive from a college preparatory program nor that there would need be an inherent distinction between academic and vocational education. Contrariwise, they tended to see the two as blending with one another.

The highest percentage figure recorded in this study was the parental attitude towards continuing education beyond high school. Over 96% of the parents indicated that they desired their child to continue education beyond high school, and while the majority preferred the four-year college for their child, 43% expressed a preference for vocational schooling.

The parents not only supported (87%) the present program of arts and crafts in the school, but 88% would like to see the school stress it even more. When asked about the teaching of science, they overwhelmingly (91%) supported it, with 7% expressing a desire to de-emphasize its importance in the curriculum.

Finally, 51% desired the teaching of the Navajo/Hopi religion and 37% wanted the school to employ a local Medicine Man to teach it. Forty-nine per cent (49%), however, saw religion as primarily the responsibility of the family and felt its inclusion in the school program was inappropriate.

Ninety-eight per cent (98%) of the parents supported the principle of compulsory school attendance. Seventy per cent (70%) opposed suspending the child after he missed over five days of school.

Over 91% of the parents believed that the grading policy of the school helped the child to learn, and 80% believed that their child should be given a failing mark if they did not study. Only 16% believed that a child should not be given a failing grade under any circumstances.

Sixty-two per cent (62%) of the parents thought that the school should punish their child when he misbehaved, while 30% believed that the school should not use punishment for children’s misbehavior.

Local control of schools, as in the public educational system, is a relatively new concept to many reservation parents. At the time of interviewing, all public school boards on the reservation had a majority of Indian people on them. Five of the six participating schools had representatives of non-Indian groups.

While most of the parents (47%) believed that non-Indians run the school, 34% of the parents thought that non-Indians should run the school, 29% believed that they should not, and a very large 37% withheld a response.

Most of the parents (73%) believed that the school board controls the school. Nearly 30% indicated they had talked with a school board member, and 58% believed that the school board was interested in their ideas and opinions. Sixty-seven per cent (67%) of the parents did not believe the school board published a financial report, yet 89% felt that they should make a public financial report.

Thirty-three per cent (33%) of the parents believed that all school board members should be Navajo/Hopi, while 55% of the parents believed they should not. Forty-nine per cent (49%) of the parents believed that the tribe should control the schools, 40% believed they should not, and 11% withheld a response to this item. Over one-half of the parents believed that the school administrator should be a Navajo or Hopi.

There was a greater division and less consensus among the parents’ attitudes on the issue of control than on any other single one included in this study.

Asked to rank which of the educational systems available on the reservation were best for their child, 55% of the parents preferred the public schools, 9% listed BIA schools, 8% mission schools, 2% listed LDS schools, 2% BIA bordertown schools, and 23% made no rankings. The reason most often given for preferring public schools was the opportunity of the parents to have their children live at home, better academic preparation, and a greater degree of local autonomy.

The second objective of the study was to test the significance of the differences between parental attitudes as a function of race, educational level, and social class membership.

There were 80 questions tested on the criterion variables for a total of 400 comparisons. Of these, 168 were significant at the .05 level of confidence. The null hypotheses were rejected and significant differences were observed in these comparisons. The null hypotheses were not rejected in 232 tests,

The single variable with the highest frequency of significant difference was race, with 45 of the 80 items reaching significance. Educational level was the second with 42 of 80 items being significant, while social class membership was third with 41 of 80 items.

There was considerable intercorrelation between the three criterion variables. In 28 of the 80 items, race, educational level, and social class membership were all significant. This was undoubtedly due to the extremely skewed distributions of the Indian and non-Indian sample. For example, there were no non-Indians who were unemployed, nor without education, while all unemployed, noneducated parents were Indian and accounted for about 36% of the parents.

A summary of the 28 items showing intercorrelation of race, educational level, and social class membership indicated the following significant differences:

Those parents were non-Indian, more educated and of a higher social class tended to:

Significantly, this group tends to disapprove of a bilingual teacher in the classroom, the teaching of local history, arts and crafts, the Navajo/Hopi languages, the Navajo/Hopi way of life and religion, while the majority of the parents favor these subjects in the curriculum.

There is nearly universal agreement (95%), however, on a marketable vocational skill as a desirable educational objective for high school graduates.

Quality education for their children. The majority of the parents evidenced tremendous support for public education on the reservation and believe that it is the key to a better life for their children.

Personal and cultural identity. They desire a curriculum in which the local language, people, history, culture and traditions play a central respected role.

Involvement. The parents desire to be included, consulted, and respected as equals in the educational process, but are reluctant to come to school and depend upon school personnel to initiate the process of involvement by coming to their homes or visiting their chapter houses.

Vocational-career education. The parents believe that the primary purpose of all education should be to prepare their child to earn a living. They support a career education concept as the focal point for the school program and see this approach as applicable to all students, both college and non-college bound.

Autonomy. They desire a school program that is locally controlled, administered and responsive to their needs.

There are many significant differences among the parents in their attitudes towards school as a function of race, educational level, and social class membership. Such differences may pose formidable challenges in the continuing development of a multi-cultural, multipurpose school program.

Biglin, James E., et al. The Kayenta Report: A Survey of Parental Attitudes Towards Education on the Navajo and Hopi Reservations. Southwestern Behavioral Institute, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1971.