52 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[Bull. 197 



Table 9. — Selected school enrollment data for the five Navaho subagencies — 



1956-57 ^ 



1 Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1957 a. 



A serious lag persists, however, at the higher levels of education. 

 The number of Navahos graduating from high school in 1936 was 

 only 38. It had risen to 139 as of June 1957. Summing the annual 

 number of high school graduates since 1935, we obtain a total of only 

 1,385 up to and including the 1956 class. In the same 20-year period, 

 the number of Navahos undertaking various kinds of post-high-school 

 education or training rose from 8 in 1936 to 160 in 1956. Finally, as 

 noted in table 9, the number of Navahos attending colleges or uni- 

 versities during fiscal year 1957 stood at 113.°" 



The extent of the gap implicit in the above figures can be demon- 

 strated in table 10. In this table, the number of high school gradu- 

 ates in a given year is expressed as a percentage of the total popula- 

 tion aged 17 years in that year. A recent study by the U.S. Office 

 of Education presents these ratios for the total continental popula- 

 tion of the United States, at specified years. Comparable figures for 

 the Navaho can be obtained by estimating the number of Navahos 

 aged 17 for selected years." 



»2 Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1957 a. Cf. Young, 1955, pp. 175 and 177. On the latter 

 page. Young quotes Dr. May's estimates to the effect that the number of Navaho high 

 school graduates will increase to 500 a year by 1962 and to over 1,800 a year by 1966. 

 If this is realized, the proportion of Navaho high school graduates in 1966 will exceed that 

 in the United States as a whole at the present time. It is interesting to note in this con- 

 nection that the Nava.io Tribal Council has recently included in Its annual budget a sum 

 of $5 million for a scholarship fund for Navahos who seek to pursue higher education 

 (Kelly, 1957, p. 78). 



»3 U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1957, table 15, p. 27. The number 

 of Navahos aged 17 in 1949-50 and in 1954-55 is estimated from the reported age distribu- 

 tion of Navahos in the 1950 census, assuming an average annual increase of 2.25 percent 

 for the period 1950-54. The number of Navaho high school graduates for these years is 

 from Young, 1955, p. 175. In estimating the number of Navahos aged 17, the number 

 reported in the age group 15-19 was simply divided by 5. This procedure introduces no 

 serious bias, since the required year is at the center of the interval, and mortality is low 

 and fairly constant throughout this interval (Bureau of the Census, 1953 a, table 16, p. 62). 



