280 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



tive if one is to get a job. The fact has been underscored by the 

 presence of the Harns Manufacturing Plant, for although workers 

 have been employed who are not high school graduates many have 

 been refused on this basis. Younger workers are encouraged to apply 

 only after they have finished school. 



Jack Johnson recognizes the importance of a high school education 

 for obtaining a job. The fact that his oldest son married without 

 finishing high school was a great disappointment to him and his wife. 

 His second son went West with a Mormon missionary and is attending 

 public high school there. Jack misses him but contends that he is 

 better off out there. "They can't do anything without an education." 

 The boy in the West wants to join the Navy. Jack said he would 

 sign the papers provided his son finishes high school first. Jack 

 completed the 11th grade, and his wife finished high school. 



In agreement with Jack is Tom, the father of 12 children. He told 

 his boys that they were all going to finish school "even if they are 30 

 before they do it. They can't get a job now unless they've got an 

 education." One son was a victim of polio, and, Tom says, "He has 

 got to go past high school because he isn't as strong as the others." 



Concomitant with the parents' desire to have their children "better 

 themselves" by finishing school, is their concern over the quality of 

 the reservation schools. Lizzie, for example, is critical of the reserva- 

 tion educational program. She sends her grandson to summer school 

 at Cullowhee, a small college about 40 miles from the reservation. 

 In this connection she plans to put Frank in "public school," ^^ for she 

 does not see "why Indian children can't learn as good as White 

 children." She is convinced that Indian children are not educated 

 as well as they should be. "Long time ago," she said, "a superin- 

 tendent [superuitendent in charge of the reservation] told them 

 teachers that Indians shouldn't learn like White people. I know a 

 girl graduated from Cherokee can't even count." 



Jack Johnson also questions the quality of the reservation schools. 

 "The Indian school isn't like it used to be when I went .... If I 

 had the money, I'd send every one of mine to public school in Bryson 

 or Whittier. They need good schooling." 



These four informants are typical of many who stress the importance 

 of secondary school preparation. Whether they will see their children 

 achieve this is impossible to predict with certainty. (None of Lizzie's 

 own children have finished high school. The two youngest, a boy and 

 girl in their early 20's entered, but despite Lizzie's "begging them to 

 finish, they stopped after the ninth grade." She insists that her 

 grandson will not do this.) But their approach to the problem differs 



" County and city schools adjacent to the reservation. Cf. footnote 2, p. 226. 



