Phyllis Tempest

The Navajo student does not achieve according to his non-Indian counterpart (see Note 1). This author felt that the Navajo self-concept should be evaluated as a contributor to underachievement. When a student is struggling in the classroom, emotional interferents to learning are an essential part of the student’s individual education plan and awareness of the student’s self-concept enables the teacher to have an estimate of the student’s needs as a whole.

The Navajo people divide their land into a number of geo-politically defined areas called chapters. Within each chapter are a variable number of aggregations of dwellings called camps, within which the residents are matrilineally related. Eight chapters have public schools within the Gallup-McKinley County School District. Via a stratified random sample, two hundred and twenty-two students, registered as Navajo were selected from the fifth graders of these eight schools and given a battery of tests, including the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised (WISC-R), and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT). The regular teacher administered the School Behavior Checklist (SBC) and she assessed the student’s motivation and interest in school. The student rated himself via the Burks Self Assessment Scale. The author interviewed and sent questionnaires to "Successful Navajo" to determine what contributed to their success and to learn more about the Navajo and problems of achievement in school. The author also assessed the socio-economic status and emotional trauma in the family. Permission was granted by the Navajo Tribe to conduct the study and by the parents to test their children.

When the original two hundred and twenty-two students became seventh graders, thirty-three of them, who were in one school, and had an average WISCR performance score, were given a prescriptive intervention program for one period daily in their Spring semester. As eighth graders, 16 of these 33 students were randomly selected and given an additional program of effective living skills for twenty minutes daily before school in their Spring semester.

The 33 students with a mean age of 13.25 years were divided into two classes with separate teachers. They were administered a TSC and a pre and post SBC to ascertain if this additional test showed problems that were similarly defined via the TSC. The students were also given a pre and post WRAT. The sixteen, as well as the seventeen students, that were not selected for the second intervention program as eighth graders were given the TSC, the WRAT, and the SBC. There was a control group in another school who met the same criteria as these thirty-three students and they were given the WRAT and the SBC as seventh and eighth graders.

The TSC is designed to measure how the student feels about himself. All questions were read by the author to the students. The students were: high in True/False Ratio, a measure of response bias - high scores indicate that the student is achieving self definition by focusing on what he is and that he is relatively unable to accomplish the same thing by eliminating what he is not; high in net conflict which suggests that the student is over-affirming his positive attributes; high in total conflict which indicates confusion, and general conflict in self-perception; low in the total P score, the most important single score, which reflects the overall level of self-esteem, a low score infers that the student feels anxious, depressed, and has little faith in himself; low in identity—the student describes his basic identity—how he sees himself; low in moral-ethical self or his feelings of being a "good" or "bad" person.

Heaps and MorrilI (see Note 2) used the TSC to study the Navajo and Caucasian high school students in Arizona. They did not find a significant difference between the Navajo and Caucasian student in their total positive score, their behavior, self-satisfaction, physical self, personal worth, and value as a family member. It is interesting to note, however, that the TSC for all scores (except self-criticism) are low for both groups of students; their total positive scores, their behavior, and their value as a family member are below the twentieth percentile. Heaps and Morrill did find significant differences in that the Navajo was less satisfied with his personal identity, his moral-ethical self, his relations with other people, and his social defensiveness. Again, both groups have scores below the twentieth percentile. Their conclusions were: in general, Navajo students are not significantly different from Caucasian students; that the Navajo students differ in those areas of self-perception involving social comparisons or moral values more unique and important to each culture; that improvement of the student’s self concept is an important task of the educational system.

Bognar (see Note 3) used the TSC to replicate the Heaps and Morrill study with two substantially different native populations, in four Labrador communities. He also added the true/false ratios (as a partial validity check for the other ratings) and the net and total conflict scores. Bognar feels that the TSC should be used with caution with Native persons because of the high true/false ratios but he also mentioned that part of the problem may be that the student has difficulty in reading the questions. This author found that even those who could read the questions, needed interpretation of them—"I often act like I am all thumbs, I gossip a little at times, I am satisfied with my moral behavior", were not self-evident to the Navajo students.

There was a positive correlation between scores for the TSC total person for seventh and eighth graders who were achievers in WRAT reading. Achievers were those who achieved at or above grade 5 or those who had improved .5 grade or more during the intervention class. But, there was no correlation between total conflict and the seventh and eighth grader achievers.

In general, there was a positive correlation between the seventh and eighth graders in the TSC—Total Person (Cor .47); therefore, the test has some consistency from year to year.

Only the spelling achievers had a significant difference between their total p score (Raw score); however, all under-achievers were lower in their total P score.

The thirty-three students were rated on the SBC, a social judgement inventory that represents a combination of child behavior and teacher personality. The SBC test results suggest that these students, when compared to the control group, scored significantly different before and after the intervention in their reduction of anxiety and academic disability, and in their increase in extraversion.

The student who was in both experimental groups appears to have less emotional interferents in the school situation. These intervention programs were of a short duration, yet the students grew in measurable and unmeasurable ways—they seemed more cooperative, they were different in their overall affect, in that they were more personable and appropriate in their behavior—both in and out of the school setting.

These 33 Navajo students are forced to deal with a disproportionate amount of emotional trauma and this is evidenced when:

The family size is 7.7 (SEm.4) which is significantly greater than the general population of 3.2. There is one income worker for 29 of the 33 students, 58% of the families have an income. Of those who are employed, the mother was the only source of income, in 12 homes—two homes had grandparents for a source of income and one home had a brother for a source of income. Forty-five percent of these families did not have a home that was supported by a father.

Twenty-eight percent of these students did not have a parent who finished school. 28% of the families did not purchase a newspaper, and 37% did not have access to books within the home.

These students evidence the deficit hypothesis (McShane: see Note 4)--in that—the size of the family limits individual attention for the child and there is the absence of the father figure.

The students rated themselves on the Burks Self Assessment Scale in regard to their attitude toward school. 75% of the students felt that they had a positive attitude. The teachers rated the students in regard to their interest and Motivation toward school; 63% were rated as motivated and 53% were rated as interested and attentive in school. The students see themselves as more positive toward school than their teachers.

The "Successful Navajo" was interviewed to learn more about the importance of school to the Navajo, reasons for motivation, ideas about competition, and what contributes to success. The "Successful Navajo" stated that school is an Anglo concept and that it is secondary to the family. If the family is in need of a baby sitter, sheep herder, wood or water, the student is to forego school, which is considered to be a pleasure for the student and a burden for the family, in that someone must wash the student’s clothes, see that he has a hair cut, a bath, and shoes. Interestingly, the "Successful Navajo" also stated that when the Navajo parents send their children to school, they feel that they have done their part; the school is to educate the child. This is felt to be a remnant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs School - the parent sends the child to an institution that has full control and responsibility for the child. If the child does not learn, it is the school’s problem. Another interesting finding is that the Navajo student is to go further in school than his parents. Whether he achieves while in school is not an issue. Also, the student who does exceptionally well might have to struggle with imposed witchcraft from others who are jealous of his successes. Lastly, the Navajo home is unstructured; rules are undefined. There are no deadlines and there is little time consciousness unless the parents work regularly. Therefore, the student is apt to go to school late, without breakfast or with little sleep.

In response to what was difficult for you in school? The "Successful Navajo" stated, "knowing the rules . . . too often teachers assumed we knew what to do . . . we knew we were agile, dexterous, able to find our way to anywhere, able to herd sheep all by ourselves, but no one was interested in what we knew . . . we were reduced to nothing . . . what we did know did not seem to be worth anything . . . we felt as though we were starting all over when we went to school, then when we went home, our school teachings made us suspect of our parents’ teaching . . . we didn’t fit anywhere."

Are the Navajo competitive? "I believe that every youngster has a sense of competition built into them . . . but the Navajo are only competitive to the degree wherein they can compete . . . they can compete in basketball . . . sometimes they compete with one another by shaming and teasing . . . they are more comfortable competing in groups . . . too often they do not compete because of a low self-concept and limited life experiences."

What contributes to your success? "Someone expected me to make it." Some said a teacher, an aunt, or a parent believed in me.

The problem of finding an adequate measure of personality for a struggling minority student is real. Test results must be used with caution. Troubled students could be measured periodically and their test results could be compared for consistency. In addition, the examiner should look for patterns of emotional problems in additional tests or assess problems that the student must contend with in the home or school situation that are seemingly interferents in his learning.

These Navajo students do have extreme emotional needs and these needs are capable of interfering with achievement. The TSC suggests that the Navajo student wrestles with conflict and low self esteem and indeed, he is divided between home and school when he is not given a clear parental "message" that school is important. Additionally, when he is not acknowledged for the skills he brings with him to the school situation, he is not viewed as the person of worth that he is.

An emotional measure that is applicable to troubled students can aid the teacher in conferencing with the student and with the student’s parents, and pre and post tests can be used to note improvement. When the student is given license to respond to his behavior rating, and encouraged to put his feelings and thoughts, the determiners of his behavior into words, all will benefit. The teacher will be able to understand the student and the student will gain insight into how his behavior is viewed by his teacher and how it affects his achievement.

Croft, Carolyn. The First American: Last in Education. Journal of American Indian Education, Jan 1977, 15-18.

Heaps, Richard and Morill, Stanley. Comparing the Self-Concepts of Navajo and White High School Students. Journal of American Indian Education, May 1979, 12-14.

Bognar, Carl. Self-Concept and Native Identity: Comparison of Four Communities in Labrador. Journal of American Indian Education Jan 1981, 28-32.

McShane, Damian. A Review of Scores of American Indian Children on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. White Cloud Journal, 1980, 3-10.