Volume 18 Number 2
January 1978

Barbara D. George

IN THIS article, the United States of America is considered a complex society, even though it may have some unique characteristics uncommon to other complex societies. I have chosen to look at education as a tool of a complex society used to educate the Navajo Indians residing in the Southwestern United States.

The contemporary complex society of the United States has stratified classes, occupational division of labor, power structure, a governmental apparatus with political independence, and rural and urban components. The population is pluralistic as it is composed of a variety of ethnic, cultural, and political groups. Education has been a major instrument used by the United States as a complex society in attempting to bring about social change in the ethnic, cultural, and political groups within its boundaries. It is the instrument used to instruct the youth of that society’s culture.

This article will look at the effects of the history of education on the Navajo Indian, reviewing influences by a complex society and revealing relationships between the Navajo and the United States through the process of education.

The Navajo Indians are Athabascan-speaking people who migrated from Canada to the Southwestern part of the United States. Today’s Navajo, the largest tribe in population, owns the largest reservation in the United States and operates their own utility authority and police department (see Note 9).

The United States of America was founded and established on the freedom of speech. The Navajo speak out for what they believe. This is particularly true in their beliefs about an education for their children. The Navajo have used this part of its complex parenthood society and made great achievements in the establishment of Navajo independence with cooperation from the United States government.

The historical dimension of a human institution such as education was shaped by the culture and values of the humans involved with it. Education has been thought by many to be a transmissive agency to transmit and perpetuate cultural heritage where the teaching-learning process would adapt humans to traditional practices and wisdom of the culture. Education has also been regarded as the responsible agent of cultural innovation and transformation toward social improvements (see Note 23).

Traditional life is affected when formal schooling is introduced to an area which previously lacked it. School, growing from the traditional way of life, is generally evidence of new political alignments, new systems of economic domination, and new concepts of power and prestige (see Note 18). Education is related to shifts in the style of living for many people. Schooling has an impact on a small community as it is brought into a larger power structure (see Note 6).

The history of Indian education reveals positive and negative relationships with the federal government. Affirming policy stated in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the U.S. Constitution called upon the federal government to regulate Indian commerce, make treaties, and to control the public lands they occupied. Various treaties followed which included promises of federal services such as education, health, technical, and agricultural learning.

Education in the colonial schools of America was influenced by three background components: 1) the Judeo-Christian tradition, 2) humanism, and 3) the enlightenment (see Note 19). Religious philosophy was the reason for education. Reading was necessary in order to read the Bible which was the means of personal salvation. The humanists stressed humanity and man-centered studies. Enlightenment thinking by John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and others called for developmental experience learning, rather than book learning, for young children.

Religion, humanism, and the enlightenment also influenced the colonial education of the Indian. The Bible was the primer used to "civilize" him. Education of the Indian children was in the hands of missionaries who set up a few Indian mission schools. Their primary purpose was to convert the children to Christianity and transmit Western culture and civilization (see Note 10). Man-centered studies for the Indians were white-man centered. Learning to become enlightened in reading, talking, dressing, and acting like the white man was the humanistic and enlightenment influences on Indian education.

Between 1830-1850 the idea of a "common school" evolved where all children were to be educated, not just the children of aristocrats. Education was seen as a reform measure to cure the ills of society. By 1900, the common school model had become known as an "institution." The now compulsory school system was a bureaucratic machinery that was seen as a way of fitting people into society. Most of the schools established during this time were boarding schools whose philosophy was to turn the Indian children into white children by teaching the three R’s and manual skills. No attempt was made to incorporate Indian languages, culture, or history into the curriculum (see Note 24).

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) had been established first in 1836 as part of the War Department, but in 1849 it was shifted to the Department of Interior. It was this Bureau that became responsible for proper Indian education. By 1871 most Indians were confined to reservations. The government reports during this time called for humanizing, Christianizing, and educating the Indians. A system of federally operated schools was then developed under the jurisdiction of the BIA. In continued attempts of assimilation, linguistic and cultural differences and child rearing practices among the Indians were ignored.

In an attempt to "civilize the natives," children were removed from their homes and sent long distances to boarding or day schools. They were forbidden to use their native languages and military discipline prevailed.

A progressive education movement in the early 1900s included four dominating wings: 1) the child-centered wing, 2) the social reform view, 3) intellectual reconstructionism, and 4) the scientific measurement and efficiency group (see Note 19). Progressive influence on Indian education had some effect. By the early 1920s there were still large numbers of Indians who had never attended school. At this time a Senate investigation produced a critical survey of federal Indian programs. This survey became known as the Meriarn Report.

The Meriam Report influenced by the child-centered and social reform view of the Progressive movement emphasized the value of keeping children with their families and communities rather than sending them long distances to boarding schools (see Note 21). Following the Meriam Report, the Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934 (Indian Reorganization Act) provided for tribal self government. It established a credit fund for land purchase and improvement.

In the 1940s John Collier suggested self-determination for Indian tribes where conscious efforts were made to establish community day schools which included programs in bilingual, bicultural education. Efforts were also made to recruit Indian teachers and provide in-service education. This new philosophy showed respect for the Indian heritage (see Note 10).

In the 1950s American schools were flooded with criticism. Critics of education agreed that progressive education did not meet the needs of America after World War II. They called for a return to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Federal control over educational matters appeared. The Navajo appreciated federal intervention. The Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act of 1950 appropriated large funds toward construction of more schools and provisions for trailer schools to accommodate the Indians scattered throughout the large reservations (see Note 3).

The Neo-Progressive movement of the 1960s re-affirmed belief in progressive reform to solve the problems of American society through education. Federal funding and federal control of educational matters increased through the passage of numerous acts and recommendations. A significant accomplishment in the 1960s for the Indians was the Economic Opportunity Act which gave the Indians an opportunity to participate in and control their own programs. The Head Start programs under this act provided early childhood experiences for Indian children. The Navajo Curriculum Center was established to provide needed materials on Navajo history and culture. This center attempted to transform oral tradition into written word.

In 1966, the Presidential Task Force Report called for a self-determination policy on Indian affairs. The report ranked education as a priority and endorsed Indian control. Rough Rock School, an experimental project, has an all-Indian board of directors. After review, it was recommended that Rough Rock should continue to serve as a model to other community schools in its bilingual, bicultural education.

In 1970 the Ramah community won a grant contract allowing them to form their own school board through a local election. They won the right for their curriculum to include Navajo culture and history and employ teacher aids who did not meet the state requirement of a high school diploma. Both Ramah and Rough Rock had achieved community control (see Note 27). The Navajo have also successfully established the Navajo Community College which is supported partially by the Navajo Nation and is controlled by a Navajo president and board of regents (see Note 17).

Reformers in the 1970s caused educators to analyze and synthesize the educational state of affairs. Their ideas have been moderately adopted in the rise of a variety of educational programs, thus increasing alternatives in education (see Note 19). Several federal agencies were involved in Indian affairs: the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Office of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Labor, and the Public Health Service (see Note 10). The Indian Education Act (Title IV of the Education Amendments of 1972) has had an impact on improving the quality of Indian education and offering program options not usually available in Indian schools. This act also offers Indians a chance to decide their own needs by specifically requiring that all projects funded under the Act must be organized and implemented with the cooperation of tribes, parents, teachers, and students (see Note 5).

The policy of the late 1970s, in the theme of cultural plurality, is one of self-determination where Indian participation is maximized. Congress set up a national goal for the federal government: The United States is to provide quality education and opportunities enabling Indians to compete and excel in the life areas of their choice, and to achieve a measure of self-determination essential to their social and economic well-being. These policies are based on more equitable Indian-white relationships and providing formal schooling for every Indian child. True self-determination in any society of people is dependent upon an educational process which will insure the development of qualified people to fulfill meaningful leadership roles. The Navajo have already formulated a partial self-regulated culture within the confines of a complex society.

Williams (see Note 30) reported that a complex society tends to isolate some people in various unintentional structural ways from certain information due to unfamiliar customs within that society. An example is seen in the educational history of the Navajo. Primitive education of the Navajo included learning by doing, learning from adult models, and learning from the spirits. Formal American schooling called for learning about white man’s culture and life style from books in an institutional boarding school setting with white man-made materials. Isolation from previous training and familiarity with the white man’s culture affected the early assimilation attempts. Learning did not enhance the Navajo culture in a Navajo setting with Navajo materials.

Understanding what happens at a national level of the complex society is necessary to understand what happens to lower levels of the societies within it and vice versa (see Notes 26 and 1). The complex society of the United States attempts to support endeavors of lower level societies by providing adequate funding and regulatory support in education. The Navajo are then able to provide their own education with some degree of independence.

A complex society has social movements. Gallagher (see Note 11) points out that there are more social movements in a complex society than in simpler societies because social movements increase as the rate of sociocultural evolution increases. We can also generalize from a historical study of Indian education that isolation was evident in the education of tribal customs, native language, and cultural heritage until the social movement of child-centered social reform in cultural pluralism encouraged such items to be included in the curriculum.

Adams (see Note 1) presents a framework of a complex society. He places emphasis on varieties of human species adapting to or against their environment where operating units compete with each other for power or influence. If we look at education as an operating unit with a power hierarchy starting from the federal level to the local level we can see competition for such matters as priority funding. Each level of education has priority projects and research. All must compete politically for both local and federal funding to support their endeavors. The Navajo, after years of assimilation failure, adapted to the dominant power structure in the U.S. and used the political system and social movements to their advantage.

Complex society has diversity of cultures within its boundaries, some dominating others, some forming unions (see Notes 2, 16, and 25). Smith (see Note 25) discusses two kinds of society: consensual and plural. He maintains that a consensual society is held together by agreement of basic values and that a plural society is held together by force. Each type of society has cultural sectors within it which take shape because of their position in a complex society. The United States is an example of a complex society with diversity. Education is thought to be the value tool used to handle the problems and conflicts that arise from the presence of this diversity. Navajo and American education have attempted to educate for better race relations and multi-cultural understanding and acceptance.

Complex society has interactions between groups of people (see Note 22). Educational studies on interactions have been completed. Weiss and Weiss (see Note 29), Damico (see Note 7), Goetz (see Note 12), and Khlief (see Note 15) were concerned with interactions between teachers, parents, and/or students. According to Fiske’s study of linguistic rules, the Navajo’s relations with the Anglo is noticeable in the social space of the urban Navajo as seen in his choice of address terms (see Note 8). More formal address is used with Anglos.

Age-grading occurs in a complex society. It is reflected in the educational system as one’s placement into the system is based on chronological age. For this reason the original push for assimilation of the Indians was aimed at the youth. It was thought that instruction would best benefit the young. Age-grading was used. However taking a 13-year-old Indian and placing him in an eighth-grade English class was a failure. As history reveals, this trend was abandoned and Indian children are now taught academic subjects in their own language. However, they are eventually phased into an age-grading structure which is typical of the United States as a complex society.

Margaret Mead sees education in a complex society as an extension of the educational process found in simpler societies (see Note 20). She notes that education may take longer, require more specialized institutions, and involve progressive absorption into segments of the total society. The cultural pluralism considerations found in education today took more than 200 years to evolve. Educational institutions today are more specialized. Settings today are far-removed from the one-room school house. Individualized instruction has been rekindled but in a variety of institutional settings. Such settings include the open-classroom concept, special programs for the gifted and talented as well as the disadvantaged and the handicapped. Navajo education today is a part of the total educational system in the United States but is specialized for Navajo life.

Education is related to American society because school is considered a miniature society (see Note 14). Complex societies make mistakes and suffer failures. Schools do too. Education in the U.S. is related to the rest of America through its fundamental precepts and practices (see Note 28). However, in a pluralistic society different ethnic, cultural, and political groups impose different views relative to education.

Educators, politicians, and social reformers have had time to review the migration of the Indians and the effects of imposed education. It was noted that as the American society became more complex it needed to recognize and meet the needs of more ethnic and cultural groups within its geographic boundary. In attempts to meet these needs educational objectives and goals were adapted. Yet the institution of education is still viewed as a powerfully important and necessary part of this complex society as it offers a foundation for the development of professional judgement.

Institutional education relates to the development of a complex society. Changing traditions are usually followed by new methodologies of education. Governments have a concern and investment in the institution of education as it can result in successful instruction or produce active rebellion (see Note 4). The United States educational system has been powerful enough to withstand the social upheavals of the past. Yet instruction is made flexible in order to be made applicable for a selected group.

Recent views of Navajo education are a reflection of one type of education offered by the complex society of the United States. The acceptance of cultural pluralism is part of the democratic ideals of this country. One can look at the freedom and funding of the Navajo schools and see the allowance made for a different culture through its bilingual and bicultural programs. It is seen then that a complex society attempts to take care of its smaller societies while at the same time setting a framework within which to work. Education is a tool used to enhance this attempt.

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