282 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



receive more education than they did. At this writing, they are taking 

 measures to implement the goal, but these children are young. 

 Whether the adults will continue to directly influence them as they 

 mature is a moot point. 



CATEGORY 2. POST-HIGH-SCHOOL VOCATIONAL TRAINING ORIENTED 



NoncoUegiate post-high-school training is a common goal for many 

 people, and well within the reach of most of them, since the Federal 

 Government maintains free vocational schools for Indians. (The major 

 cost is transportation.) Cherokee who take advantage of these schools 

 go either to Haskell Institute, in Kansas, or to Chilocco, in Oklahoma. 

 The reasons parents give for encouraging their children to continue 

 are almost entirely associated with better economic opportunities. 



Luke Diver, a Conservative resident of Big Cove, has two boys and 

 a girl who graduated from Cherokee High School and are now at- 

 tending Chilocco. He was asked whether he thought that it was a good 

 idea to have them in school. "Well, it don't cost nothing, and it 

 looks like nowadays you can't get work unless you go on . . . like 

 me, it's hard to get work. I ain't heard from the plant yet." Luke 

 has not given his children as strong encouragement to continue their 

 education as has his neighbor, Wilbur, the father of three children 

 now in elementary school. I asked Wilbur if he was planning to see 

 that aU of his children graduate from high school. "Yes," he replied. 

 "But of course, a high school education doesn't mean much nowadays; 

 if they want a white collar job, they got to have college or vocational 

 training." His wife added, "If we can't afford college maybe we can 

 get them into other training. It seems like it is easier now than it was 

 when I was growing up." Wilbur continued, "Look at some of these 

 kids who are getting high school diplomas. They don't know what 

 they ought to know. I don't think the schools are as good as they 

 were when I went, back in the boarding school days." Wilbur would 

 like to send his children to a local public school for better preparation. 

 However, it isn't possible because they live much too far from the 

 county school-bus lines. 



Another informant, a Generalized Indian, attended Chilocco and 

 feels that vocational education is important. He is sending his son 

 to high school in Waynesville so that he wiU be better prepared to 

 attend ChUocco. "Cherokee is no school; those kids can't do a thing 

 when they get out . . . nothing but loaf. Not enough of them go on 

 to school and when they do, they can't last." He continued, "Another 

 important thing about Chilocco is the getting out and mixing with 

 people." 



