Leighton, Dorothea C.

English

University of New Mexico

New Mexico Quarterly
Volume 19 | Issue 3 Article 19
1949
Rehabilitation of the Navahos
Dorothea C. Leighton
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Leighton, Dorothea C.. "Rehabilitation of the Navahos." New Mexico Quarterly 19, 3 (1949). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/
vol19/iss3/19
Dorothea C. Leighton
REHABILITATION OF
THE NAVAHOS
D,R. G:E:ORGE I. SANe,HEZ" Professor of J:ducation and Con,-• sultant in Latin American Education at the University
of Texas~ was asked by former Commissioner Brophy
to survey the Navaho school system and make recommendation~.
" The People"; a Study of the Navajos· was published as a sum-
mary of this report. .
Dr. sanchez is horrified by the physical defects of the present
Navaho school buildings, and duly ~ppreciative of the efforts"
made by the teachers and supervisors to carry on their work in
the face of such appalling inadequacies. He places the blame
for these conditions where it belongs, namely on Congress with
its "scarcity budgeting" and its unwillingness to undertake and
carry out a long-range, all-round program.
As he sees it, day schools as originally'deJined are impossible
~der present ~rcumstances, both because of difficulty of trans-
portation and because of the Navaho way of life. He would effect
a compromise between day and boarding schools by further
developing the sort of school that had to be operated during the
war: semi-boarding schools at which all but very neat-by pupils
"..
boarded for the school days of the week, some for the whole
term. "He would organize his schools into ten regions, each with
a central plant at which would be located the secondary school
and all the common facilities such as laundry, bakery, shop,
etc., and six or eight primary schools placed according to popu-
lation needs and availability of roads and water. As a matter of
faet~with a few exceptions all these schools would be where there
• u. S. Indian Service. Haskell Institute. 1948.
39°
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Leighton: Rehabilitation of the Navahos
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BOOKS AND CQMMENT 891
already are either day o~ boarding schools, and existing plants
would be used to ;theiextent po~ible.
Dr. Sanchez would prov1de much more elaborate dormitories
than were built during the war) and wo~ld'h~veimprovedho-
gans as guest houses for visiting parents. Bett~r quarters· for
. personnel, greatly improved roads; and the development· of
both primary and setondary schools as community centers and
adult education centers are ~cluded in the .plan. On the whole
it appears to me to be an elaborat~version of what was intended
in a groping way when the new day schools were planned and
built. The improvements are due in part to what has been
learned from the operation of the day schools, in part to the
lack of has~e in formulating the present program. -
The entire effott.is envision.ed,as educational, .from the con-
.struction of the roads to the use 'of the schools, and includi~g
'the improved hogans for parents. It c!luld undoubtedly be edu-
cational just as Dr. Sanchez would like; but all too often the
constructing agencies involved in such an enterprise pay little
attention to these considerations in their haste to achieve the
goal of so many buildings or so many miles of bighway.~me-,
times, moreover, the education misfires-the guest hogans sug-
gest to parents that,they should demand similar ones from the
Government, ot that they should move to Gallup or sOm~ other
center of white'uXuriesrather than that. they should try t~
copy the improvements in their own homes.'
The argument is developed cogently that a thoroughgoing
program of rehabilitation will be we cheapest in the long run, in
terms of,actual dollars and cents, in benefits to the Navahos,
and in self-respect to ourselves for finally carrying out our part
. of the treaty that ended the Navaho captivity of eighty-odd
y~ars ago. In addition to the proposed educational improve-
ments,' this will include better health facilities, irrigation proj-
ects, various manufacturing and marketing ventures, ,employ-
ment supervision for off-reserv.ation Navahos, and in general
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New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 19 [1949], Iss. 3, Art. 19
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89~ ~OROTdEA ~ LEIGHTON )
the development of all possible resources to raise the Navaho
standard of living somewhere near our own. In spite of the ul-
timate economy the initial cost is high. For example, the esti-
.mated cost. for construction (only) in one of the ten school
regions, exclusive of access roads, is $6,846,000>- Perhaps this
is cheap for what is obtilinedibut it is still a great deal of money .
when multiplied by ten. When one consid.,ers that this huge
plant has to be maintained as well as built, there seems to be
no end to the costs.
My principal quarrel with Dr. Sanchez' ptan is that it seems
to .me much too elaborate for. the present educational needs
and for the future economic ability of anyone"':federal Govern-
ment, state g~vemments, or the Navahos themselves-to main-.
tain adequately. I r~lize that some sort of balance has to be
struck between the simplest system that would serve to provide
Navaho children with elementary education, and something
that would attract a high calibre of teacher; but I doubt that
such a fine physical plant is the answer. For many school genera-
tions, much of the instruction will have to depend on the in-
genuity of the individual teacher. One of the· chief difficulties
has always been to get enough of the right kind of teachers, and
it seems to me that the conveniences recommended would be
even more attractive to the wrong kind than is the present set- .
up. A better solution, to my mind, would be to build as many
school rooms of the simplest sort as are needed to house _the
children, and then really spend money on salaries and on' re-
organizing the recruiting methods and civil service requirements
so that- peopl.e with the essential qualities and abilities could
be employed regardless of their educational backgrounds, and
at a rate that they could afford to accept.
When one considers that in spite of all the clamor-both
Navaho· and public-that something be done about educating
Navaho children, Congress has not seen fit to keep open even
the few schools already built, it seems to me entirely fantastic
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Leighton: Rehabilitation of the Navahos
Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1949
BOOltSA-ND COMMENT 893
to suppose that the same body would regularlyappropriat'e
funds to-do the job that Dr. Scinchez feels necessary. But even
if it would, I question the wisdom of such a program at present; ,
in. fifty years, maybe~ It seems-tome very ,ill-advised to speed up
the acculturation of this group to the c;,(tent that ,Dr.' Sanchez'
, . l,'
plan would if,put into effect. AccuIturation'# in the cards for
the Navaho attyway,andall the indications are)that they should
be able to h~dle,the situation more successfully on the whole
than have somf;of the other Indian tribes. However, the,eis
, no doubt in my mind that "the people" also cali be overwhelmed
. - ' ---
by the cJumges demand~, if, too many of them are:1orced to
accept these changes in too short a period. In fact, the haSte of
the change seems to have been the most destructive feature _in
many other cases. '
Educate the Navaho children by all means, but don~tat the .
Same time teach them to regard as necessities many' items of our
- ---
culture which not even their grandchildren, perhaps, will be
able to afford. .
'-
Haldeen Braddy
POE THE PEACOCK
A MERICAN READERS are probably more familiar with EdgarAllan Poe's "The Raven" than with Walt Whitman's"Song of Myself'-but possibly -~ot as aware that Poe
. no less than, Whitman cultivated a pose. Anybody -who com-
, prehends Whitman grasps the mawki&h .affectionateness of his
confessional poems and ,understands that this in his nature~y
conceal an element ~f the elf~inate. Fewer persons know that
aspects of Poe's character revealed to his contemponu:ies a By-
4
New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 19 [1949], Iss. 3, Art. 19
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol19/iss3/19


Rehabilitation of the Navahos

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Rehabilitation of the Navahos

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