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Cllifornia STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE A . ---- ... ------- -~----···-----~------- -cLLIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY J1 OF IDENTITY CRISIS AND SELF-CONCEPT MAJOR FACTORS IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF NATIVE AMERICANS A project submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for a degree of Master of Arts ln Education, Educational Psychology Counseling and Guidance by Floyd.Maurice Henley ......... · June, 1979 - .. ·---·-·-. --~------~--------~-------~ I. T~e Thesis of Floyd Maurice Henley is ipproved: Carole Bare, Ph.D. 7 California State University, Northridge ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT . v INTRODUCTION •••••••••••..... ·· ......... ~ . 1 THE PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION WHICH FOSTER NEGATIVE SELF-CONCEPT AND IDENTITY CRISIS AMONG NATIVE AMERICANS .... -. 5 Basic Assu.mptions . ~ . 5 Methods Used in Assimilation ................ 7 Degrees of Assimilation 9 The Decline of Academic Performance ......... 12 School Attendance ........................... 13 THE CAUSE OF PROBLE11S IN INDIAN EDUCATION . 16 Isolation and Alienation . 16 The Question of Indian Intelligence ......... 17 ·Prejudices that Effect Indian Education ..... 21 Awareness of Cultural Differences ........... 23 Stereotype vs. the Truth About Modern Indians.27 THE NATIVE AMERICAN IN HIGHER EDUCATION .......... 30 Profile of the Indian College Student ....... 31 Social and Personal Problems ................ 33 Negative Self-Concept ........................ 34 Programs that Perpetuate Negative Self-Concept.35 Identity Crisis ............................. 36 CONCLUSION 39 REFERENCES 42 iv ABSTRACT This project was intended to identify specific problems effecting Native Americans in higher education. Emphasis was placed on the historical background in elementary and ' secondary education, identifying the effects of ~he problem, ' determining the underlying causes and recorrunending solutions. An extensive review of the literature was conducted, and Native American college students and.ex-students in four states were interviewed. Some personal observations and personal experiences of the author, an American Indian, were included. The desired results were obtained. Two major factors effecting successful education among the Native American population in higher education were identified -- identity crisis and negative self-concept. The background, problems, effects and possible solutions are discussed. Areas for further research are suggested; and an extensive reference list is included to aid further research. v INTRODUCTION The greater part of literature concerning Native Americans deals with Indians as they used to be. The trend has been to focus on their origin and antiquity, their arts and crafts, their history and archaeology, their wars and migrations and their diverse and colorful cultures. Indians in contempor.a~y society have developed sociological problems that are far less popular with the media and public than is the history and culture of their ancestors. Vice and des- pair, poverty and disease, discrimination and exploitation, dominant problems among Native American society, attract a very limited audience. This project was concerned primarily with Indian educa- tion at the college level. The focus was on Indians from reservations and rural backgrounds. One cannot understand the difficulties encountered by Native Americans in higher education without some understanding of American Indian education at the primary and secondary levels. For the most part, the history of Indian education is a record of frustra- tion, dissatisfaction and disappointment. This history must be examined in order to give some understanding of the prob- lems and the causes of difficulties to provide some guide- lines for new directions for research in Native American 1 2 Education. New research is particularly needed 1n the areas of self-concept and identity crisis. Throughout this paper, I have used the terms "Indians," ·"Native Americans" and "American Indians" synonymously. The material for this project was gathered by exten- sively surveying literature on the education of Native Americans in the United States and by informally interviewing Native Americans who are currently, enrolled, or have been enrolled on university and college campuses in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah. The feelings expressed by those I interviewed were astonishingly similar, reflecting the same feelings that I, as an Indian, have expressed also. However, I have come to believe that most reasons given for dropping out of college are not•the true reasons, and that the true reasons II\ay not be known even by those who. have dropped out. As an undergraduate, I never seriously entertained the idea of dropping out until approximately two months prior to graduation. It was then that I was faced with the realiza- tion that I was on the verge of succeeding at something that was socially acceptable in a white man's world. This realiza- tion was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. My thoughts were, "What in hell do I do now?" Had I been unable to draw from a few meaningful relationships developed during my college experience, I would have run to the farthest corner of the reservation and in all probability would still 3 be there today. In retrospect I can conclude_: At that period in my life my self-concept was not such that I could realize that I had worth as a college graduate, not only t-o my own people, but also to society at large. I have also shared the feeling that something more than just being another student was expected of me. In the class­ room, after being identified as Indian, many non-Indian students viewed me as if I had recently been yanked from my pony at full gallop, while 1n hot pursuit of buffalo, and dragged kicking and screaming into a life of academia. In addition to interviewing numerous students and ex­ students, the aid of various professors and college officials was solicited. Those professors and college officials have been involved in programs ostensibly designed to aid in the higher education of Native Americans. In spite of the efforts of professors, students and the U.S. Government, education of the Native American has failed miserably. It is the hope of this writer that this project will point out the need for further research in the areas bf self-concept and identity crisis. The inexhaustible amount of mimeographed material per­ taining to Indian education consists of committee reports, term papers, proceedings and sem1nar and workshop reports. Hopefully this material will be available for broader review in the future. 4 The majority of the research on Indian education has been done by graduate students and submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for their degrees. Most of the books and journal articles Legan as graduate theses.· Many of these works were completed in the departments of anthropology. Although a few were completed in the depart­ ments of sociology and psychology, the bulk of the material was done in the field of educ'ation. Most of the authors have first-hand exper1ence with Indian pupils in the class­ room, which adds a measure of validity to even those theses of lesser merit. Based on the assumption that the major portion of research on Indian education will be continued by graduate students~ this project is addressed to that audience of students. PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION WHICH FOSTER NEGATIVE SELF-CONCEPT AND IDENTITY CRISIS AMONG ANERICAN INDIANS Before inquiring into the cause of ~he failure of Indian education, it is necessary to define the'problem. In defining the problem, we must consider one basic assumption upon which virtually all educational efforts among the Indians rested. That assumption is that the purpose of educating the Indian is to insure assimilation into the b~oader culture. Basic Assumptions Those who have been involved 1n the formal education of Indians have assumed that the main purpose of school is to facilitate assimilation into the broader culture. -The Indian would be better, it was believed, if he or she could be encouraged to adopt the white man's habits, skills, knowledge, '· language, values, religion, attitudes, and customs. Assimila- tion, to be sure, is a reciprocal process; and in the course of it the white man has learned much from the Indian. Today American culture is immeasurably enriched by items adopted from the Indian. But it was always the white man's way of life which set the pattern. Formal education has been re- garded as the most effective means of bringing about such assimilation. 5 6 Formal education, however, has not brought about the I~dian's assimilation into the ~ajority culture. Certainly the Jesuits, whose contributions to exploration and politics are well known, failed to reach their objective of Frenchifi- cation and Christianization. The Franciscans, while success- ful for a time, discovered as soon as they departed from the Southwest that their Indian converts were unprepared either to keep their mission community going or to resume their traditional way of life. John Elliot's autonomous Indian villages came to a sad end (Layman, 48), Eleazar Wheelock's experiments failed, the efforts of the Virginia colonists were disappointing (Layman, 48), and various Protestant missionaries could seldom poirit to any solid educational achievements. Summarizing the period 1778-1871, when mission- ary teachers and federal .subsidies provided the Indian with their schooling, Layman says: The net results of almost a hundred years of efforts and expenditures of hundreds of thou­ sands of dollars
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