30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



sive association with Wliites on an equal footing. It also gave them 

 a general sophistication and acquaintance with the outside society 

 which a few years of formal schooling could not possible provide. 

 Perhaps the most significant development that came out of the war, in 

 the long run, was the insight it gave many younger Navahos into the 

 values and opportunities inherent in modern ways of life. 



Since the war, the most significant progress has been in the field of 

 education, which was generally overlooked until about 1895 and in- 

 adequately provided for thereafter (see pp. 46-60) . The great lag in 

 the formal education of the Navaho was clearly revealed through the 

 operation of the Selective Service System during World War II, when 

 88 percent of the 4,000 male Navahos aged 18 to 35 were classified as 

 illiterate. At this time (1942-43) less than 30 percent of the children 

 aged 6 to 18 inclusive were enrolled in school.^* 



After the war, an intensive program of school construction was 

 undertaken, and considerable effort was expended to bring the school- 

 age children into the schools. In addition, special programs of adult 

 education were inaugurated. The remarkable success of these efforts 

 is indicated by the following figures on total Navaho school enroll- 

 ments: 1939—5,308; 1951-52—13,883; 1955-56—25,287; and 1960- 

 61 — 30,650. The enrollment figure for the 1960-61 school year includes 

 28,824 enrollees aged 6 through 18 years. The total Navaho popu- 

 lation in this age group at this time can be roughly estimated by tak- 

 ing the total count of Navahos aged 7 through 19 as of December 7, 

 1961, and ignoring mortality. This total comes to 31,238. Thus, 

 even if we assume that no Navahos were enrolled in schools outside the 

 administrative jurisdiction of the Navajo Agency, it would appear 

 that over 92 percent of all Navahos aged 6 through 18 years were en- 

 rolled in school by 1960. This enrollment rate is especially noteworthy 

 when compared with that of the corresponding age group for the U.S. 

 population as a whole in 1960 — 90.8 percent."® 



In concluding this brief outline of the history of the Navaho, the 

 following salient features should be emphasized: 



" Kluckhohn and Leighton, 1951, pp. 91 and 93. The official statistics of the Navajo 

 Agency for this period show a considerably higher percentage of Navaho children in 

 school, owing to a considerable amount of duplicate counting of children who appeared 

 at different schools at different times, and to a serious underestimate of the number of 

 Navahos of school age. The official figures are presented in Young, 1954, p. 104. The 

 Kluckhohn-Leighton estimates, derived from the figures of Dr. Solon Kimball, are more 

 reliable for the period of the early 1940's. 



85 Young, 1961. The school enrollment figures are summarized on p. 65 ; the total 

 Navaho population as of Dec. 7, 1961, by single years of age and sex, is given on p. 331. 

 The enrollment rate for persons aged 6 through 18 years in the United States in 19C0 is 

 derived from the Bureau of the Census, 1963 a, table 165. 



It may be surmised that the 1961 estimate of the total Navaho population is not itself 

 independent of the results of the earlier school censuses. In other words, young Navahos 

 who are not enrolled in school may have been omitted from the enrollment records as 

 well. Nevertheless, if the actual enrollment figures can be accepted at face value, they 

 would imply that a very high percentage of school-age Navahos are enrolled in school at 

 this time. 



