86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



under any circumstances to visit their homes. Nevertheless, every 

 year a number of parents come to the school and take their children 

 out on the occasion of major ceremonials or if someone in the house- 

 hold is ill and the child's attendance is desired. On such occasions 

 it is usually necessary for the teachers to go in person to fetch the 

 child back. 



The frequency with which schoolchildren see their parents and 

 families depends largely upon how far from the school the latter live. 

 Parents and other near kin seldom pay a visit to the trading post 

 without dropping in at the school to see their children. Some chil- 

 dren see parents and relatives nearly every day; most see them at 

 least once a week. Railroad signup day (for unemployment com- 

 pensation — see "Railroad Work," pp. 129-133) brings all of the able- 

 bodied men in the community to Shonto Trading Post every Thursday 

 during the winter and much of the spring. Signup day is normally 

 "family day," when the whole household comes down, and is the rec- 

 ognized occasion for visiting schoolchildren. Visits are always ac- 

 companied by small gifts of candy and toys, which are especially 

 lavish if the father happens to get drunk — another regular Thursday 

 institution. Some parents take their children out of school and bring 

 them up to the store to buy clothing, candy, and other items. 



BOAEDING SCHOOL 



After completing the 2-year curriculum at Shonto School, the com- 

 munity's children today are promoted without exception to any of a 

 series of off-reservation boarding schools in seven States (see Officer, 

 1956, p. 60). Some of these institutions run as high as the eighth 

 grade ; others continue through high school. They differ from Shonto 

 Community School in being considerably larger and more institu- 

 tional in nature; in having fewer or, in some cases, no Navaho 

 assistants, so that English becomes the regular language of communi- 

 cation ; and in bringing together children from many different areas, 

 and sometimes from different tribes. 



Boarding-school children do not see their parents at any time during 

 the school year, though they write and receive letters frequently. 

 The occasion of their return for summer vacation is one of Shonto's 

 great annual events, with representatives from nearly every household 

 on hand at the school to meet the buses. 



It has already been stated that the extreme recency of school devel- 

 opment for Shonto's children makes it impossible to identify any 

 trend in educational experience and its subsequent effects. At the 

 present time only seven individuals have completed off-reservation 

 schooling ; two of these are currently in the armed forces and five are 

 employed in off-reservation communities. Whether or not they will 

 ever return to Shonto remains to be seen. 



