Johnston] 



NAVAHO POPULATION 51 



approximately 4,000 Navaho males who were found to be 88 percent 

 illiterate in 1942^3. Many of these persons must have acquired ad- 

 ditional education during the following 7 or 8 years to permit a decline 

 in illiteracy to 62 percent. This decline can scarcely be attributed 

 entirely to the increased school enrollments of Navaho youth during 

 this interval.®^ 



After World War II, the improvement of educational facilities 

 throughout the reservation became a goal of top priority. By 1950, 

 the reported enrollment figures for Navaho school-age children ex- 

 ceeded 50 percent of the total number eligible for schooling for the 

 first time. This expansion was further accelerated after 1950, bring- 

 ing the total school enrollment to 15,501 in 1954, which amounted to 

 57 percent of the 27,362 Navaho children aged 6 to 18 at this time 

 (Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1954 b, p. 5). Since 1954, the remaining 

 gap between Navaho educational facilities and those available to the 

 general population of the United States has been narrowed consider- 

 ably. The reported enrollment for 1955 reached a high of 22,741, or 82 

 percent of the estimated school-age population.^^ Since then, an ap- 

 parent decline has been noted, but this may again be due to shifts in 

 the estimates of the school-age population. The figures on school 

 enrollment for fiscal year 1957 (i.e., for the school year from Septem- 

 ber 1956 to June 1957) show a total enrollment of 21,339 out of an 

 estimated total school-age jDopulation (aged 6 to 18 years, inclusive) 

 of 28,973. This amounts to an enrollment of 74 percent of all Navahos 

 of school age. Table 9 presents selected school enrollment data for 

 the five Navaho subagencies during the 1956-57 school year.^° 



From table 9, certain tentative conclusions can be drawn regard- 

 ing the present status and future prospects of education among the 

 Navaho. It is evident, in the first place, that significant progress has 

 been made in establishing elementary education on a broad base 

 throughout the reservation. The only serious lag remains in the 

 Tuba City subagency which includes the most farflung and isolated 

 parts of the reservation." Secondly, the proportions of the school- 

 age group who are actually enrolled in school are finally approach- 

 ing the level prevailing in the general society. 



8* It should be added that considerable numbers of Navaho servicemen were taught to 

 read and write English as a part of their basic training. This instruction was provided 

 to a number of illiterates in the Armed Forces during World War II. 



8" Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1955, table 1, p. 6. An additional 93S students under age 

 R or over age 18 were also enrolled in 1955, making a total school enrollment of 23,679 

 Navahos during fiscal year 1955. 



s" Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1957 a. Copies of these reports were supplied through the 

 courtesy of Dr. Don May of the Navajo Agency staff at Window Rock. 



91 The construction of the dam at Glen Canyon may eventually do as much to reduce 

 the isolation of the Western Navaho region as did the discovery and development of oil 

 and natural gas resources in the Shiprock area to the east. 



