^NTHEOP. PAP. EASTERN CHEROKEE GROUPS — KUPFERER 289 



who credit the school with their advancement, and those who were 

 made to feel inadequate by their attendance at Indian schools. 



Those who were harshly treated and moved out of the situation 

 are Conservatives. They generally, but not always, have the lowest 

 level of aspiration for their children; they take few direct steps to 

 implement the goal. Some of the Riu-al Whites did not complete 

 many years of schooling either, but, because of their facility with 

 English and other familiarity with White ways, they were not so 

 roughly treated. Although their years of formal education were 

 often as few as the Conservatives, they do not have the same intensity 

 of feeling about the school. Their ambitions for their children are 

 similar to those of Conservative parents, but they provide more direc- 

 tion and encouragement. 



Members of groups 2 and 3 spent more years in school than did 

 those of group 1. Whether they appreciated the training or whether 

 they felt stigmatized by it, they are the ones whose children are now 

 finishing high school and frequently going beyond it. 



The findings on educational aspirations and experiences have 

 revealed differences among the Cherokee, but the differences do not 

 fit neatly with the differences among Thomas' four groups. These 

 differences are the result of acculturation away from Conservatism. 

 They are, moreover, the result of internal differentiation among the 

 non-Conservatives, hinting at social class distinctions in regard to 

 educational goals and values. 



DOMINANT VALUES 



In the course of my fieidwork I discovered a number of behavioral 

 patterns which seemed only incidentally related to health matters and 

 to education. Such behavior led me, in turn, to suspect the existence 

 of two dominant values among the Cherokee. Thomas has identified 

 one, which he calls the "Harmony Ethic." The second is closely 

 related to Weber's "Protestant Ethic." 



This section, therefore, is devoted to a description of these values 

 and to the behavior associated with them. For if, as Evon Vogt 

 (1955, pp. 6-7) suggests, values are selecting and regulatory processes, 

 an understanding of them is relevant to the examination of the Chero- 

 kee, in accordance with Thomas' conceptual model. 



THE HARMONY ETHIC 



Thomas contends that the Harmony Ethic is central to the con- 

 servative Cherokee way of life. He says : 



According to it, the Conservative tries to maintain harmonious interpersonal 

 relationships with his fellow Cherokee by avoiding giving ofifense on the negative 



