58 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[Bull. 197 



Table 13. — Median years of school completed by adult male Navahos registered 

 for employment in Arizona, hy age and veteran status — 1950-56 ^ 



1 Arizona State Employment Service, 1956, table 9. 



The most important feature of the above figures is the clear indi- 

 cation that Navaho veterans have greatly improved their educational 

 qualifications during and since their period of active service. Al- 

 though precise information is lacking, the median educational level 

 of these veterans upon entry into active service could not have been 

 much over 2 or 3 years of formal schooling. This much can be de- 

 duced from the fact previously mentioned; that 88 percent of the 

 males aged 18 to 35 were classified by the Selective Service as il- 

 literate, and some 3,600 Navahos did enter active service during the 

 Second World War. These figures imply that many Navahos have 

 availed themselves of opportunities to increase their formal educa- 

 tion during and since their period of service. 



It is evident, therefore, that the war had a profound effect upon 

 the values and motivations of many Navahos, giving them a valuable 

 insight into the opportunities inherent in the general American so- 

 ciety. The above figures suggest, further, that the Navaho veterans 

 possess sufficient education to allow them to play an important role 

 in mediating between the reservation and the outside society, bring- 

 ing their experience in both worlds to bear on the crucial problems 

 of the present and future. These veterans are undoubtedly provid- 

 ing an important source of community leadership, in view of their 

 experience and training and the high prestige accorded military ex- 

 perience in traditional Navaho culture. 



In concluding this survey of the efforts made to establish formal 

 education among the Navaho, a word must be said regarding the 

 educational policies which have informed these efforts. In her study 

 of Navaho education, Woerner (MS., pp. 174 ff.) analyzed these 

 policies into six major phases, covering the century from 1846 to the 

 start of World War II. A brief description of these phases will serve 

 as a convenient summary of the trends indicated in the above discus- 

 sion. 



Phase 1 (1846-68). — ^Woerner terms this phase the "years of pre- 

 liminary contact." It was characterized by a general appreciation of 



