No.™!]^' ^^^' EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — KUPFERER 285 



Their mother said, "I sure could have used them when I was in school, 

 but we couldn't afford it." The mother graduated from high school. 

 The father finished the eighth grade. He said, "In those days, I 

 didn't know what was good for me. I would have gone further, but 

 my Daddy died. He would have made me stay in school ... he 

 went to Carlisle." ^' One of his reasons for urging his children is the 

 employment potential inherent in a college education. 



Rare, but present in a few cases, is the idea that an education 

 includes more than a means for earning a living, that it is a liberating 

 and stimulating experience. One informant has been planning for a 

 college education for her son from his infancy. The boy has never 

 attended reservation schools. All his educational experiences have 

 been geared to his ultimate entrance to college. He is a better than 

 average student but has required tutoring in French. A year in 

 preparatory school would help him, according to his mother, but the 

 expense involved makes the extra year out of the question. There is 

 a long tradition of education in the family, extending back four 

 generations. The choice of institution for the boy is conditioned 

 both by expense and his particular needs. Because he is unassertive, 

 his parents think he might be lost at a State university. The cost 

 precludes following some of his uncles who attended New England 

 colleges. The task is to find a good small school which will arouse 

 his curiosity and widen his horizons. 



None of the reasons for college education is mutually exclusive. 

 And, of course, employment possibilities are woven through all the 

 motives, but only in the sense that certain kinds of positions and 

 occupations are appropriate to the socioeconomic status of this group. 

 Most of the people of this category consist of people in Thomas' 

 Middle Class. However, there are a few Generalized Indians and 

 Rural Whites who, although not having the economic level of the 

 Middle Class, have the educational orientation. Strangely enough, 

 there is among our cases, at least one who is, in many respects, a 

 Conservative. 



REFLECTIONS ON EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES 



Perceptions and memories of one's school experience have a bearing 

 on aspiration levels. They also serve as a sorting device for the 

 fieldworker. Attitudes toward school and things remembered differ 

 Prom person to person. But certain recurrent themes appeared as I 

 talked with informants. I have placed my informants into three 

 major groups on the basis of their reactions to boarding-school 

 experiences. 



" Carlisle, now closed, was a school In Pennsylvania for Indians which provided both high school and 

 3ost-hlgh school training. 



7147-014—66 19 



