CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
CERTAIN NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF CULTURE-CONFLICT
AFFECTING
THE AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
AND POSSIBLE WAYS TO ALLEVIATE THE SITUATION
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Special Major
American Indian Studies
by
Shirley Moe Ickes
June 1981
The Thesis of Shirley Moe Ickes is approved:
Raymond McHugh, Ed. D.
,__
Richard doldberg, Ph . .
Sis~r Grace Ann Rabideau, M.A.
David L. Wood, Ph.D., Chairperson
ii
CONTENTS
Page
Chapter
1.
INTRODUCTION . . .
. . .
1
2.
STATISTICAL INFORMATION.
3
3.
RESEARCH
. . 13
Indian Education History .
. . 13
Values and Value Conflicts .
White College Norms.
. 22
. . .
. . 31
Completed Studies of Indians in
Higher Education
. 35
Specific Topics in Questionnaire . . . 39
4.
JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY.
5.
DESIGN OF THE STUDY.
6.
RESULTS OF THE STUDY • .
7.
CONCLUSIONS
. 55
8.
REFERENCES
• 57
9.
APPENDIXES .
• • 46
• 49
. . 53
Copy of Questionnaire
.
Tabulated Results
Comments of Those Surveyed .
iii
•
•
• 63
•
• • 63
•
.
. 65
•
•
67
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
This paper examines certain aspects of cultureconflict affecting the American Indian student in higher
education, and studies possible ways to begin to alleviate the situation through the development of Indian
support systems and Indian personnel on campus.
A survey was conducted at California State University, Northridqe, with Indian students, both past and
present, to determine their opinions concerning the need
for Indian counselors/advisors/recruiters/faculty on
campus.
The questionnaire also investigated the need
for Indian student organizations, a campus space for
Indian students, and the Indian Studies Minor Program.
Other topics covered were Indian and nonindian peer acceptance and Indian/nonindian values.
The search revealed some information about these
topics, but due to the specifity of the subject, a brief
synopsis of the history of Indians in higher education
has been included, as well as relevant statistical information on Indian population and college enrollment.
In addition, research was done on Indian/nonindian values,
and noticeable value-conflicts; one section of this paper
reports on studies already completed concerning Indians
2
in higher education.
Other factors influencing the Indian student, such
as financial need and lack of academic preparation, are
obviously important, but have not been covered in this
study, except as they relate to values, and value conflicts.
Chapter 2
STATISTICAL INFORMATION
Consideration of the term "Indian" leads to the
question: what specific peoples are included under this
designated terminology?
both simple and complex.
The answer to the question is
It is simple enough to say that
an Indian is a person who can trace his or her origins
to the indigenous peoples of Americaf
Even the Bureau
of the Census permits a broad interpretation of the
term, by defining an Indian as someone whose Indian blood
is one-fourth or more, or if the person is regarded as an
Indian in the community in which he lives.2
But it must
be admitted that there are literally hundreds of different
cultural groups falling within such a definition of "Indian".
These groups are diverse in their values and
family structures, as well as their achievement in the
educational sphere.3
1 Robert L. Faherty, "The American Indian:An
Overview" Current History (Vol. 67. No. 400, December,
1974)' p. 241.
2 stan Steiner, The New Indians (New York: Harper
and Row:l967), appendices, p. 323.
3Ann H. Beuf, "The Home of Whose Brave? Problems
Confronting the Native American in Education,"
(paper
presented at the annual conference of the National
Association for Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors, Philadelphia, April, 1975), p. 1.
3
4
Estimates of the Indian population in the United
States are truly estimates rather than accurate counts,
due to inadequate methods of taking the census on reservations and the low visibility of Indians relocated in
large cities.
Another factor is that a people come to
mistrust the government "head count" when it has been
used in the past to control lands, funds, and services,
and shows little sign of changing.4
Graph I on page 5
reflects the dramatic decline of the Indian population
in the early 1800's, and the gradual resurgence through
the 1900's.
Although these estimates are based on consensus
of four sources, other researchers differ in their
findings.
For example, Costa and Henry noted that the
total count of less than lFOOO,OOO Indian population
reported in the 1970 census was generally conceded to
be inaccurate, due to the fact that most reservations
were not adequately counted.
Their "rough but educated
guess" of the Indian population was closer to three
m1'11'lOll. 5
Another "unofficial estimate" ranged from several
4
R. Costo and J. Henry, Indian Treaties:Two
Centuries of Dishonor
(San Franc1sco, Ind1an H1storian
Press, Inc., 1977), p. 149.
5 R. Costo and J. Henry, p.l50.
5
GRAPH I
Estimates of Indian Population Since 1492
1492
800,000
1850
1,153,450
1860
44,021
1870
25,731
1900
248,253
1910
237,196
1920
276,927
1930
244,437
1940
343,352
1950
345,252
1960
357,499
1970
523,591
1980
1,418,195
5u. s. Commission on Civil Rights Reports,
(Washington, D.C., 1961);
Steiner, appendices, p. 324:
Bureau of the Census, We, The First Americans, Commerce
News; Bureau of the Census, 1980 Census Population Totals,
Commerce News,(Washington, D.C., 1981), p. 1.
6
to fifteen million.?
It would therefore seem logical to
say that no one was able to obtain an accurate count
during the past years, and that the 1970 census, although
below the true population, at least served as an indication of Indian population growth.
This 1970 census credited California as the state
with the third largest Indian population, 91,018, and
the Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan population area
with 25,000, by far the largest metropolitan population
of Indians in the country.8
This latter statement is
relevant when considering the enrollment of Indians in
a state university within the L.A. area, such as CSUN.
The latest 1980 census figures, released February,
1981, credit the American Indian-Alaska Native population
as being more than 1,000,000 for the first time.
Census Bureau's count of 1,418,195
The
American Indians,
Eskimos, and Aleuts in 1980 is a 71 percent increase
over the count of 827,268 in 1970.9
The Census Bureau attributed most of this increase
not to natural increases, although the Indian birth rate
7 Faherty, p. 243
8Bureau of the Census, We, The First Americans
(Commerce News, Washington, D. c., 1961), p. 4.
9Indian Affairs Newsletter, (Bureau of Indian
Affairs, Wash1ngton, D. C., February 25, 1981), p. 1.
7
remains double that of the nation as a whole, but to imprved census taking and the greater likelihood in 1980
that people would identify themselves in this category.lO
A better understanding of this growth occurs when
it is viewed in relationship to the population growth of
other U.S. racial groups.
Graph II reveals the provision-
al race and Spanish origin population totals for the
United States from the 1980 census.ll
GRAPH II
United States
1980
1970
Total .. ~ ........ 226,504,825
203,211,926
White ...•••.....•..•. 188,340,790
Black .......•...••.•. 26,488,218
American Indian, Eskimo
and Aleut..........
1, 418,195
Asian and Pacific
Islander ..•.•....•.
3,500,636
6,756,986
Other .
177,748,975
22,580,289
eo
"
"
••••••••••••
Persons of Spanish
Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,605,883
Persons not of Spanish
Origin ............. 211,898,942
827,268
1,538,721
516,673
9,072,602
194,139,324
10 Indian Affairs Newsletter, p. 1.
11Bureau of the Census, 1980 Census Population
Totals (Commerce News, Washington~.c., 1981), p. 1.
8
As in the statistical variables of Indian population,
college and university enrollment figures, compiled in
Graph III, conflict.
While Fuchs and Havighurst esti-
mated some two thousand Indian students in college in
1957, and about ten thousand in 1970, 12 the Bureau of
Census found about 14,000 college Indian students in
1970.
13
In addition, Washburn states that 3,441 Indians
were enrolled in colleges and universities in 1960,14
but Chavers reports only 1,400 in 1963.
count is 30,000. 15
Chavers' 1978
These enrollment numbers,as in the
population growth count, serve mostly as evidence of
rapid growth, not a strict "head count".
California followed the trend of increased enrollment
in the 1960's and 1970's.
In 1967, 92 Indian students
12E. Fuchs and R.J. Havighurst, To Live on This
Earth-American Indian Education (Garden City, New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1972), p. 250.
13 u.s. Bureau of the Census, American Indians,
Census of Population:l970 Report PC (2)-IF, (Wash1ngton,
D.C. ,1973) I p. 1.
14 wilcomb E. Washburn, The Indian in America
(New York: Harper and Row, 1975), p. 41.
15 nean Chavers, "The Revolution in Indian Education," (paper presented to the Seventh Annual Symposium
on the American Indian, Northeastern Oklahoma State
University, Oklahoma, April, 1979), p. 2.
9
GRAPH III
Approximate Enrollment of American Indians (College)
(Sources in footnotes 12-15)
United States
Year
- _1251 1958
California
~,QOQ
- -
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
- - -
1964
-
1965
- -
1966
- - - -
-
- - 1967
- - - - - - - 1968
- -
- - -
- -
~,QOQ
- - 1969
- - - - - 1970
- - (10,000)??(14,191)
- - - - - - - - -
1971
- - 1972
- - - - 1973
- - - 1974
- - -to -1977
- - - - - - - - - - - - __ 1~7~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3Q,QOQ ____ _
725
- - - -
10
were known to be enrolled in California colleges and
universities.
In 1970, there were 725, and in 1972,
2,400 Indian students. 16
So, the number of Indian students entering college
showed a phenomal increase during these last twenty
years.
Now, the other side of the coin, the attrition
rate, must also be examined.
As in the preceding pages, researchers, writers
and speakers project a variety of statistics, but all
agree on one aspect concerning Indian student enrollment
in higher education: the dropout rate is atrocious.
A few direct quotes:
The estimates of drop out in the higher
education systi9 range from a low of 79% to
a high of 93%.
The attrition rate is extremely high: most
Native Americans do not complete the first two
years.l8
16chavers,
(1979), p. 3.
17A. McDonald, "Value Conflict as a Course for
Dropouts"
(paper presented at the Native American Teacher
Corps Conference, Denver, Colorado, 1973), p. 1.
18
P.D. Lujan and D. Dobkins, "Communicative
Reticence: Native Americans in the College Classroom"
(paper presented at the Convention of the Speech
Communication Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
November, 1978), p. 2.
11
In the Coleman Report (1966) fewer than
50% said they intended to complete college and
those who did attend college suffered from a
shockingly high rate of attrition.l9
One of the major problems has been a very
high dropout or pushout rate. So, while there
are 30,000 total Indian college students in the
nation, the best projections are that only some
ten per cent to thirty per cent will complete
the degree requirements.20
The largest Indian population lies in the southwest
portion of the United States, and it might seem that the
dropout rate would be lower in this area, due to the
natural visible encouragement of knowing that other
Indians attend the same universities.
During a study
(1958-1962) of twenty-seven Southwestern colleges and
universities, 416 Indian students were known to be enrolled
but during that same period, 237 were known to drop out.21
A 1962 study at the University of New Mexico reported
that about 75% of all Indian students at that university
would drop out of school before completing their degrees.22
19Hargaret Szasz, Education and the American
Indian, The Road to Self-determ1.nat1.on s1.nce 1928
(Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press,
1973), p. 29.
°
2 Chavers ,
( 19 7 9) , p. 2 .
21 G.D. McGrath, R. Roessel, B. Meader, G. HelmStadter, and J. Barnes, "Higher Education of Southwestern
Indians," Journal of American Indian Education, (Vol. 4 .• 2,
19 7 4) •
22
c. M. Charles, "A Tutoring-Counseling Program
for Indian Students in College" ·Journal of American Indian
12
One evident fact that could be drawn from the above
statistics is that even with so few American Indians
enrolled in higher education institutions, much larger
percentages than in the mainstream population are dropping
out. 23
Education,
(Vol. 1.3, 1962), 10-12.
23 E. D. Edington, "A Communication System for
the American Indian in Higher Education" (paper presented
at the UCLA EPDA Short Term Summer Institute, Many Farms,
Arizona, July, 1971).
Chapter 3
RESEARCH
Indian Education History
In 1979, there were very few Indian college-educated
professionals in the nation, probably less than five
thousand total Indian college graduates, while for the
nation as a whole, almost one-third of the population
was classified as managers
~r
professionals, with college
background. The approximate total of five thousand means
that less than one-half of one per cent of Indians were
college graduates.
This was one out of every 200 Indians,
compared to one out of three for the total population.l
An understanding of Indian education necessitates
an awareness of the government's official treatment of
the Indians through history.
Time might be divided
according to legislation:
1778-1871 Treaty Period.Indians were regarded as sovereign
powers, with some 195 treaties entered into between the
United States and Indian tribes.
1871-1887 Reservation Period.
An act passed in 1871
established Indians as wards of the United States.
1 nean Chavers, "The Revolution in Indian Education" (paper presented to the Seventh Annual Symposium
on the American Indian, Northeastern Oklahoma State
University, Oklahoma, April, 1979), p. 9.
13
14
1887-1934 Allotment Period.
The Dawes Act passed in 1887
aimed to break communal patterns of Indian landholding by
encouraging small freehold farming detrimental to tribal
life.
(Note: Indians became American citizens in 1924).
1934-1953 The Wheeler-Howard Act.
This act made it impos-
sible for any individual Indian to own reservation land.
In 1953, Congress resolved to end the ward status of
Indians.2
1953-1960 Termination-Relocation.
The legislative base
for the termination policy was laid in 1953 with passage
of Public Law 280, which transferred Federal jurisdiction
over law and order on Indian reservations to individual
states, and House Concurrent Resolution 108, which called
for the end of Federal services to Indians.
In 1954, ten
termination bills were introduced, with six of them
passing.
1960's ...
Legislation was enacted which created special
Federal offices to work with Indian people through the
Office of Economic Opportunity.3
2R. F. Ryberg and M.V. Belok. Exploration in
the History and Sociology of American Ind1an Educat1on
(32 Shivajo Marg, Meerut: Piush Printers, Indian, 1973),
pp.40-41.
3Morgan Otis, "Indian Education A Cultural
Dilemma" (Lecture delivered by Director of Native American
Studies, Sacramento State College, 1974), p. 3.
15
From the beginning the government took its responsibilities seriously, and systematic attempts went forward
to "educate" the Indian, to train him to think and act
in order to fit comfortably into middle-class America.
Soon after independence, the United States government
began to create federal and state agencies to impose
"American" educational programs on American Indians.
Attempts were made to alienate Indian people from their
traditional educational process and force them into a
formal system initially established by their conquerors.
Thus, a basis was established for the relationship which
exists today between American Indians and the American
educational system.
This relationship is characterized
by the Indian's fear that he will completely lose his
cultural identity if he receives a "whiteman's education".4
Schools were begun in earnest during the Reservation
Period.
In 1819, Congress passed the first legislation
setting up a "Civilization Fund" for the Indian through
education.
In addition, private institutions and churches
gave sporadic educational assistance to Indians by providing some schools, teachers, and scholarships, sometimes
with, sometimes without Indian agreement. 5
A lottery
4otis, p. 3.
5 G.A. Rabideau, "Culture Awareness in Counseling
16
determined which denomination would become established
on which Reservation.6
In spite of the irrelevancy of
the imposed "white" educational efforts, the American
Indian recognized early the value of an education and
sought to have educational provisions included in early
agreements and treaties with the Federal Government.
Church-oriented education became widespread in the
plains region between 1871-1897.
The missionary zeal
further attempted to break down tribal tradition and
customs by taking Indian children away from their parents
and placing them in mission schools subsidized by the
Federal Government.
In many cases, mission schools
obtained valuable land on the Indian reservations.
In
1879, Carlisle Indian School was founded by General R.H.
Pratt.
This Indian school was to serve as a model for
many Bureau of Indian Affairs schools.7
The Carlisle school and other subsequent ventures
were very much militarily oriented, and the process was
the Native American Indian"
(paper presented at the
Psychologists National Convention, San Diego, April,
1975)' p. 4.
6 vine Deloria, Custer Died For Your Sins (New
York: The Macmillan Company, 1969).
7Otis, p. 2.
17
still to take Indian children away from their parents
and home, and this formal system of education did not
differ much from the church-oriented schools system.
The boarding school concept declined early after the
Merriam Report of 1928, but over fifteen of these nonReservation boarding schools are still in operation
throughout the United States today.8
In 1744, \vhen commissioners of the government of
Virginia offered to educate six sons of the Chiefs of
the Six Nations, the Chiefs did not look upon this offer
with gratitude, but instead replied:
Several of our young people were formerly
brought up at the colleges of the Northern
Provinces; they were instructed in all your
sciences; but when they came back to us, they
were bad runners; ignorant of every means of
living in the woods; unable to bear neither
cold nor hunger; knew neither hm¥ to build
a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy; spoke
our language imperfectly; were therefore
neither fit for hunters, warriors, nor coun~
selors, they were totally good for nothing.
We are, however, not the less obliged by your
kind offer, though we decline accepting it;
and to show our grateful sense of it, if the
gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen
of their sons, we will take great care of
their education, inst9uct them in all we know,
and make men of them.
Bot is, p. 2.
9 navid Adams, "A Case Study: Self-Determination
and Indian Education," Journal of American Indian Education
Vol. 13, 2. (February 1974), 21-27.
18
Since 1744 there have emerged a series of strategies
by educational and governmental institutions, which have
contained the implicit assumption: the main thing wrong
with Indians is that they are Indians.lO
Indians, as a people, perceive their cultural value
system to be superior to anybody else's, and therefore
resist attempts to be assimilated.
Distrust of America's
educational systems is natural, based on knowledge that
schooling has been the prime coercive instrument to
" .•. destroy self-esteem, foster new needs, create dissatisfactions and generally disrupt traditional cultures." 11
Despite this, Indians do want education for their
people, and this "want" goes back a long way.
Be it
remembered that when Indians were removed forcibly from
their ancestral lands, in most land acquisition agreements
a promise of education was involved.
Indians perceive
the value of education as that which will assist them in
dealing effectively with White America.
Education is
desired, and yet is a threat, with the compulsion of
lOp. D. Lujan and D. Dobkins, "Communicative
Reticence: Native Americans in the College Classroom"
(paper presented at the Convention of the Speech Communication Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November
1978), p.6.
11 John H. Bodley, Victims of Progress (Menlo
Park, California, Cumming Publishing Company, Inc.,
1975), p. 12.
19
of schools to implant White America's values in Indian
children.l2
A brief synopsis of higher education for Indians
would begin after World War II.
Previous to that, Amer-
ican society and its system of higher education lacked
the vision to conceive a workable rationale for Indian
education.
Private education, with an emphasis on relig-
ous sources, focused on elementary and secondary levels,
and was the primary educational force from the arrival
of the White man until the 19th century.
Governmental
domination began with the establishment of the Bureau of
Indian Affairs in 1824.
Boarding schools and the bureauc-
racy of the Bureau flourished after 1870 when Congress
appropriated finances for Indian schools.l3
At the close of World War II and the Korean War,
the influx of Indian veterans returning to the reservation
stimulated significant increased involvement of Indians
at the college level.
Formal education in the White man's
universities, long frowned upon by some of the tribal
1 2 c. Croft, "The First American - Last in
Education" Journal of American Indian Education, Vol.l6.2
(January, 1977), IS 19.
13 R. 0. Clark, "Higher Education Programs for
American Indians," Journal of American Indian Education,
Vol.l2.1 (October, 1972), 16-20; Croft, p. 15.
' .
20
elders and skeptically ignored by the government educators,became a necessity for survival.l4
During the 1960's, publicity was given to the
statistics of the plight of the Indian.
For example, in
1966, more than 16,000 Indian children of school age were
not attending any school at all; of those who made it
through highschool, studies revealed that the Indian child
in the 12th grade had the poorest self-concept of all
minority groups tested.l5
In 1967, the average school dropout rate of Indian
children was 50%, compared with a national average of
29%.
In 1970, with the unemployment rate of Indians
ten times the national average, and their average annual
income 75% below that of the national average, the time
had come for higher education.l6
In 1966, the passage of the Federal Student Aid
Legislation had helped to open the doors of higher education to Indian people.
Since some 75% of Indian families
14 stan Steiner, The New Indians (New York:
Harper and Row, 1967), pp.30-31.
15 Edgar S. Cahn and D. w. Hearne, Our Brother's
Keeper: The Indian in White America (Washington: New
Cornrnun1ty Press, 1969), p. 42.
America
16 Alvin M. Josephy, The Indian Heritage of
(New York: Knopf, 1968), p. 359.
21
were too poor to contribute any funds toward a college
education, lack of money prior to 1966 was a very effective
deterent to higher education.l7
The colleges and universities have responded to the
needs of the Indian in higher education, but with a
fluctuating inconsistency.
Some have provided compensa-
tory assistance to overcome the causes of failure to
complete degree programs.
The thrust of the assistance
has been in the areas of counseling, orientation and
curriculum modifications. 1 B
However, the typical coun-
selor, college instructor and administrator is unprepared
to deal with a culturally different people.
They have
little comprehension of " ... the desires of the Indian
student regarding curriculum standards and development,
supportive services, social life, and intellectual
stimulation while the student is in school, and even
less knowledge of the realities of life for the Native
American .•• " 19
Such knowledge would help to give them
an understanding of the meaning of "foreign" education
for the Indian.
17 Bureau of Indian Affairs, Higher Education
Evaluation:Student Characteristics and Op1n1ons, Ind1an
Educat1on Resources Center, Research and Evaluation Report
Series No. 20-A, (Washington, D. C., June, 1973).
18 Clark, p. 1.
19Chavers, pp. 5-6.
22
Values and Value Conflicts
Indians are a people - with their own languages,
customs, and beliefs.
the first Americans.
They share a special heritage as
At the same time they are also part
of nonindian society and must adapt to nonindian laws,
customs, and economic ways.
There seems to be an intel-
lectual acceptance of technological society and a real
desire by American Indians to find economic security.
At
the same time there is an ever increasing rejection of the
social values of the "main stream" and a return to Indian
values.20
Indians entering universities and colleges are undergoing the same negative educational experiences as they
were subjected to in elementary and secondary education.21
Rooted in the fact of differing sets of communication
patterns and interaction norms, these differences in
expectations are representative of the basic value systems
of each student.22
20Editorial, National Congress of American
Indians Sentinel, Spring, 1966.
21 Lujan and Dobkins, p. 3.
22 Ann H. Beuf, "The Horne of Whose Brave? Problems
Confronting Native Americans in Education," (paper presented at the annual conference of the National Association
for Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors, Philadelphia, April, 1975), p. 14.
23
Hall in Psychology Today
asserts that much of one's
culture is Picked up "in the cradle" where onP learns
division of time and space, what to notice and what not
to notice, and how to relate to others.
He also states
that different cultures have "unconscious ingrained
assumptions" relating to time, space, and interpersonal
relations, and these varying assumptions often cause misunderstanding between people.23
Any presentation of Indian values if difficult.
Three factors must be taken into consideration: first,
the,cultural differences of tribes; secondly, the degree
of acculturation of Indians who are functioning within
the American way-of-life; and thirdly, the perceptions
or misperceptions of Indian values by the dominant
society.
The values mentioned here are by no means conclusive,
but are common to most tribes, and so would cover the
value-systems of most Indian College students.
It has
been found that those Indians (usually urban) who have had
to cope with America's White value system still retain
certain aspects of basic Indian values.
23Edward T. Hall, "How Cultures Collide,"
Psychology Today (July, 1976), p. 69.
24
INDIAN VALUES
NONINDIAN VALUES
Present Oriented ...•.•...••.••. Future Oriented
Time Consciousness ....•..••••.• Time Consciousness
related to natural
Clock oriented
phenomena. (days, years,
seasons)
Giving .•••••.....••.......••..• Saving
Respect for Age ...•••••.••.•.•. Emphasis on Youth
Cooperation ....••••...•...•••.• Competition
Harmony with nature •••...••.•.• Conquest over nature24
In the Indian culture, natural time is important.
A meeting will start "this evening sharp"
Whether the
meeting starts at seven o'clock, eight o'clock or nine
o'clock, it will be held and it will continue until everyone who wishes to has had his or her say.
The concept of sharing is deeply ingrained.
is asked to help, he simply cannot refuse.
If one
Thus, a
student getting a phone call that he is needed at home,
goes.
Receiving an F for the course is of little relative
importance.
If he is needed, he is needed.25
This value of sharing relates to material things
as well as time.
Visitors to traditional Indian homes
24 Alonzo Spang, "Counseling the Indian," Journal
of American Indian Education, Vol.5.11 (
1965),
10-15; R. G. Lewis and M. K. Ho, "Social Work with Native
Americans," Social Work, Vol.20.5 (September 1975), 379382;
Larry A. Samovar and R. E. Porter, Intercultural
Communication: A Reader (Belmont, California:Nadsworth
Publishing Company, Inc.,l976), pp.96-97.
25 A. McDonald, "Value Conflict as a Course for
25
learn to be very careful of commenting admiringly on anything belonging to the people living there, because the
traditional Indian has been taught to give you what you
admire, whether it be clothing, plants, pictures, etc.
To refuse such a gift is an insult.
Competition is not stressed in traditional Indian
families.
It follows then that it is no disgrace to drop
out of college, and if the Indian student decides that
something else is more valuable to him at the time, the
family usually supports the student in his actions.
In
fact, many Indian students receive little or no_encouragement from their families to stay in college.
In the Indian cultures, values are a stong cementing
bond.
Even though there are some Native American groups,
and of course individuals, who vary in one value-aspect
or another, the similarities of traditional values have
brought the Indian people together, especially during
recent years.
The dynamic inner relationships of their
culture patterns have not withered and died despite the
continual attempt toward assimilation.
Indian cultures
are changing, yet Indian traditional values and institutions live on.26
Dropouts." (paper presented at the Native American
Teacher Corps Conference, Denver, April 1973), p. 2.
26 Robert L. Faherty, p.241.
26
Indian values, especially giving, respect for age,
and cooperation, stress the importance of the group,
whereas nonindians place emphasis on the individual.
Deloria (1970) remarks that the vital difference between
Indians in their individualism and the traditional individualism and the traditional individualism of Anglo-Saxon
American is that these two understandings of man are
built on entirely different premises.
White America
speaks of individualism on an economic basis.
speak of individualism on a social basis.27
Indians
The impor-
tance of the group (tribe, reservation community,
extended family)
is such that many individuals think of
the good of the group when considering higher education.
Many Indian students entering college have plans to go
back and "help their people" after they get their degrees.
The culture-conflict experienced by Indian students
can reach a high level.
As in their earlier school
experiences, they are affected by their Indian culture
and by the culture of the white society that surrounds
them.
27 vine Deloria, We Talk, You Listen: New Tribes,
New Turf (New York: The Macm1llan Company, 1970), p. 170.
27
They may be torn between the two cultures;
they may favor one culture and reject the other;
they may work out some tolerable combination of
the two. Although people may participate in two
cultures which are quite different and even contradictory in some respects, they have the ability
to compartmentalize their behavior into separable
roles which can coexist within a single life.
It
is this capacity that allows a person to live as
a man of two cultures.28
Research and experience has revealed that cultural
problems faced by Indian college students can determine
the success or failure of these students.2
To quote three sources:
Among individuals of minority culture background, we find many instances of culture conflict;
the individual finds that he is heir to two different cultural traditions, and he may have difficulty
in reconciling their effects on his own personality; he may find it difficult to decide to which
culture he owes primary loyalty.30
For the young Indians who are caught in the
middle, with the dominant society urging them to
forge ahead and achieve according to certain
standards, and the Indian culture saying it is
not important to be the "topcheese", there can be
paths to tragic ends.31
28 E. Fuchs and R.J. Havighurst, To Live on This
Earth - American Indian Education (Garden C1ty, New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1972), p. 12S
29G. D. McGrath, R. Roessel, B. Meader, G. Helmstadter, and J. Barnes, "Higher Education of Southwestern
Indians," Journal of American Indian Education, (Vol. 4.2,
1974 ,
30 Derald N. Sue, Asian-Americans:Psychological
Perspectives (Palo Alto, Cal1torn1a:Sc1ence and Behav1or
Books, 1973), p. 34.
28
The anxieties of the university student (Indian)
is not due to their tribal past, or university present
so much as to their fear of the ~ducational "no-man's
land" between the two cultures.3
A forced change in culture - meaning one imposed on
a people by a foreign culture - might have certain effects
as a resultant confusion of ideals and values, with
" ... a fading out of hope, loss of self-respect, loss of
self-confidence, loss of enthusiasm and initiative, and
a gradual weakening into apparent submission."33
What can the Indian college student do?
As was
mentioned, there are three possible ways to alleviate
culture-conflict.
(1) A person may remain allied to the
values of his own culture;
(2) he may attempt to become
over-Nesternized and reject the Indian ways, or (3) he may
attempt to integrate aspects of both cultures which he
believes are functional to his own self-esteem and identity. 34
31 G. Youngman and M. Sadongei, "Counseling the
American Indian Child," Elementary School Guidance
Counseling, 1974, p. 275.
32 steiner, p. 32.
33s. I. Hilger, "Culture and Human Behavior"
(paper presented at the Institute on Indian Life and
Culture, Madison, Wisconsin, 1967), p. 3.
34 Sue, p. 36.
29
In order to retain Indian cultural values, but still
function as a "successful" student, an Indian student
would do well to absorb the following message:
You are Indians, therefore, you should realize
you are Indians, nothing else but Indians. Think
like Indians, be like Indians, but learn English,
learn how to write, be educated. You are Indian,
you have other ideas, be educated. You have somebody else's minds You have two minds and you can
work with both.3
Developing two minds is a difficult process, and
most Indian students are reticent to reveal their inner
struggles.
In fact, listening to them talk, few of their
classmates could imagine the "cultural abyss" they have
to cross.
Journeys of this kind are too hazardous and
frightening to talk about, and students do not often talk
about them.36
There are some cultural differences apparent in
elementary and secondary classrooms, and to some degree
in college classrooms, depending on the amount of participation demanded by the instructors. Many instructors
lack knowledge and awareness of possible areas of culture
conflict in teaching
as in the following examples.
35virginia I. Armstrong, compiler. I Have Spoken,
American History Through the Voices of the Indians (New
York: Pocket Books, 1971) ,p. 181.
36 steiner, p. 30.
30
Anglo-American
American Indian
Allows room for mistakes, no
shame attached.
No room or mistakes of
"overbright" answers.
Social control through
peer group shaming.
Encouragement of individual
competition.
r.~any
Talkativeness encouraged.
Learn by listening and
watching. (Reticence)
Eye contact means interest,
paying attention.
In some Indian cultures,
eyecontact is an act of
rudeness.3 7
are brought up to
disapprove of those who
try to get ahead of
others.
Gearning (1962) reported that in a study of direct
observations of one hundred Indian students in college
classrooms, there were several consistent behaviors
identified which implied a functioning verbal conflict
avoidance ethic.
These were as follows:
1. General nonparticipation in classroom discussion. This is accomplished through a number
of means including self-imposed physical separation
from other class members, and avoidance of direct
eye contact with teachers.
2.
The avoidance or refusal to answer direct
questions which call for value judgements or personal
opinions.
3.
The failure to ask questions in class.38
37Rabideau, p. 3.
38 Frederick 0. Gearning, Priests and Warriors:
Social Structures for Cherokee Pol1t1cs 1n the 18th
Century (Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropologial
Assoc1ation, 1962) 1 p. 30.
31
Even the most successful of the Native American
students, represented by good grade point averages, demonstrate a marked tendency to avoid classroom discussion
and
advocating a point of view.39
To Indian students brought up with strict tradition-
al values, the university is more than strange.
It is
foreign and alien.
White College Norms
Several major themes run through the spectrum of
educational levels, one of which is cultural bias, or
cultural ignorance, as the case may be; this has already
been mentioned in the previous section.
Perhaps it is
because of the obvious power at their disposal that industrial countries such as America tend to be so aggressively ethnocentric that they have difficulty even
imagining that another lifestyle could possibly have
value and personal satisfaction for the peoples following
.
40
lt.
"Happily arrogant in their own supposed cultural
superiority, industrial peoples assume that those in
39 Lujan and Dobkins, p. 5.
40 Bodly, p. 14.
32
other cultures must realize their obsolescence and inferiority and eagerly desire progress toward the better
life." 41
The potential of the Indian for a "white" education
has never been doubted by those best able to judge.
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Captain Richard H.
Pratt (head of the famous Carlisle Indian school in Pennsylvania) , and Senator Robert F. Kennedy are only a few
of those who have expressed their conviction on this point
after long study of the evidence.42
Most researchers agree that cultural, not genetic
factors make the differences in the relative achievements
of Indian and white students.43
White institutions, such as universities, do not
understand the complexity of the so-called "Indian
Problem".
The admission requirements alone are often a
sufficient deterrent to an Indian contemplating college.
41 Bodley, p. 14.
42 Washburn, p. 34.
43 John F. Bryde, The Indian Student: A Studt of
Scholastic Failure and Personal1ty Confl1.ct(Univers1y
of South Dakota:Dakota Press, 1970), p. 15.
33
However, the standards of excellence for a particular
program must be measured in terms of the final end product or it makes no sense at all.
In other words,
standards must be evaluated and established in terms of
the program's final objectives.
Indian students are
entering colleges only to be subjected to inflexible
norms and requirements inseparably interwoven with White
values.
American Indians tend to disregard or resist educational programs designed for them by nonindians and those
which greatly conflict with their individual value systems.44
In relatively stable self-reliant cultures,
resistance to change is a positive value.
It is only
White American culture that places such emphasis on
change for its own sake, and White American educational
institutions that subject nonWhite students to White
values, so that they may "succeed".
Cultural stability
is given a negative connotation, and is identified as
backwardness and stagnation.45
It is an increasingly common theme among Indian
leaders that education is both the source of their
44Ryberg and Belok, p. 25.
45Bodley, p. 22.
34
problems and the hopes for their solutions.
As one
Indian leader commented as far back as 1893:
It is as though the whites were in a
grassy canyon and there they have wagons,
plows, and plenty of food. We Navajos are up
upon the dry mesa. We can hear them talking, but we cannot get to them. My grandchild, education is the ladder ..•.
(Manuelito, Navajo leader)46
Seventy to eighty years later, Indian leaders
till
value higher education as a necessary tool, but deplore
its White-oriented assimilation tactics. Lujan and
Dobkins point out that Indian individuals are subjected
to the greatest pressure to change by the American educational institution. 4 7
Beuf comments that in education
in the United States, readings, curriculum, indeed
knowledge itself , are white-defined and exclude information not deemed valuable by the majority society.48
The goal of American higher education should not be
assimilation, not separation, but acculturation, so that
each individual student has opportunities and competencies
enabling him or her to function in the mainstream of
social, economic and political life, but also has oppor-
4 6Fuchs and Havighurst, p. 246.
47Lujan and Dobkins, p. 1.
48 Beuf, p. 18
35
tunities and competencies to function with pride and
self-confidence and a sense of tradition in the culture
and lifestyle of the group with which he or she identifies.
White college norms reflect White values.49
Completed Studies of Indians in Higher Education
Indian college students are unique.
They have sur-
vived twelve years of attempted acculturation of White
man's education, and have come back for more.
These
young men and women must have been able, to some degree,
to adjst to white-oriented institutions; the factors
which cause younger Indians trouble -- cultural difference,
White attitudes, testing biases -- would seem to be dimensions of life with which these students have come to terms.
However, the damage to self-concept is evident, though
difficult to assess.
In a 1973 Research Project at CSUN, 15 Indian students
and 15 nonindian students were given a list of forty terms
(20 positive, and 20 negative) and asked to choose those
that they remembered as best describing Indians in their
elementary and juniorhigh textbooks.
Of the forty terms,
both groups chose seven of the same terms in the ten most
frequently checked words.
It is a most interesting
49Gunsky, "Intergroup Relations in Higher Education" California State Department of Education, (paper
36
fact that both groups seem to remember the same thing,
or at least thought they did, the terms were WARLIKE,
NOBLE SAVAGE, PRIHITIVE, WILD, TREACHEROUS, BRUTAL, and
CRUEL. SO
Another report concluded:
"While historically
Indians were killed in massacres, cultural genocide
continues to operate through the institutional racism of
education." 51
Studies also show a marked academic deficiency in
Indian students.
This, combined with a negative self-
concept, can be most destructive in any learning situation.
A study, completed in 1962, reported that approximately 75% of the Indian students who enter the University of New Mexico drop out of school before completing
degrees.
Of those who did obtain degrees, the majority
were at some time placed on academic probation.
One
conclusion of this study was that certain factors, believed by many authorities to be intercultural differences
of various sorts, resulted in marked academic retardation
presented at UCLA Conference, California, February,
1979)' p. 9.
SOc. La Pointe and G. A. Rabideau, "Self-concept
and the American Indian" (graduate research project,CSUN,
1973) ' pp. 6-7.
51 n.R. Atkinson, G. Morten and G.W.Sue, Counseling American Minorities (Dubuque:W.C. Brown Co., 1979)p.31.
37
in those areas which require a high degree of facility
in English.s2
A 1978 survey at the University of Oklahoma noted
that the Native American population represented 40 to
45 different tribal groups.
Indians represented a
"significant minority" on campus, and considerable
attention was being given to the development of the Indian
as a student.
Yet, only a small percentage of Indian
students were accomplishing their educational goals.53
The problems were more than academic weaknesses.
The Indian college student does not progress through
the curriculum at the "normal" rate.
One study showed
that the Indian students at seven colleges with a combined enrollment of some 2,000 Indians, usually took
ten to twelve semesters to complete the degree requirements, earning on the average ten credit hours per semester, with a GPA of 2.1 out of 4.0, which compares to a
2.7 out of 4.0 for all undergraduates at those colleges.
The average score of the Indian students on the ACT was
13, which placed them in the 18th percentile nationally.54
52 c. M. Charles, "A Tutoring-Counseling Program
For Indian Students in College," Journal of American
Indian Education (Vol.l.3, 1962), 10-12.
53 Lujan and Dobkins, p.2.
54 Chavers, p. 2.
38
At Bacone College in Oklahoma during the middle
1970's, some 25% of the entering freshmen scored below
10 on the ACT, and most of them were at the 8th grade or
below in grade level placement as entering freshmen.
Yet at this college the school officials felt that the
major reasons for Native Americans dropping out were,
in order of importance:
1.
lack of adequate finances,
2.
failure to make an adequate cultural
adjustment to the school,
3. lack of support or encouragement
from school officials,
4. other uncategorizable reasons, usually
personal. 5 5
Another research report, this one on higher education
of Southwestern Indians, found significant differences
between in-school Indians and Indian dropouts.
The
dropout was more likely to have been born on a reservation, more likely to discuss only academic problems
with his college instructors, and more likely to be
placed by his college instructors on the undesirable end
of scales in classroom comparisons. 56
Encouraging information came from a 1974 study of
four western institutions: Brigham Young University,
55
Chavers, p. 5.
56
McGrath, Roessel, Meader, Helmstadter and
Barnes, pp. 67-68.
39
Fort Lewis College, in Colorado, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University, Tempe.
All have an
Indian Orientation Program, Special English Program,
Indian Counseling Services, Indian Tutoring Program, and
Campus Indian Club.
The dropout rate for these schools
averages 15 per cent.57
Specific Topics Covered in Questionnaire
One of the questions covered in the questionnaire
and examined in this paper is whether or not universities
and colleges should provide a single individual, preferably an Indian person, to be responsible for the advisement/counseling of Indian students.
Such a person would
need to be fully aware of the many special needs of the
Indian students.
All research found on this subject
agrees on the preferability of Indian personnel for counseling Indian students.
Beuf (1975) considers the role of the Native American
advisor as "crucial", stating that this person can make
the difference between satisfaction and enthusiasm for
college, or a "grin-and'bear'it" embittered experience.58
McGrath (1974) quotes tribal leaders and scholarship
57 Clark, pp. 2-3.
58 Beuf, p. 17.
40
granting agencies as frequently mentioning the need for
qualified college counselors for Indian students, "qualified" to them meaning both professional guidance certification and also a thorough understanding of Indian
culture.59
Rabideau (1975) stresses that nonindian teachers
and counselors can actually alienate Indian students by
unconsciously signaling their own value system to them.60
Spanq points out that the nonindian counselor must be
ever mindful or aware of the unique value system of the
Indian counselee in the counseling relationship, and
should not impose his value system upon the Indian
student.61
Lujan and Dobkins (1978) comment that the lack of
visible Indian counselors decreases the likelihood that
a student w·ill communicate their problems. 62
by LaFramboise, Dauphinais and Row (1978)
Studies
indicate that
Native American students are significantly less likely
59NcGrath, Roessel, Meader, Helmstadter and
Barnes, p. 70.
60 Ra b.1 d eau, p. 4 .
6lspang, p. 13.
62Lujan and Dobkins, p. 5.
41
than nonindians to seek help from counselors and other
University personnel.63
Edington (1971) recommends that
each college enrolling Indian students have an Indian
counselor on campus to become aware of all Indian students,
and to "help them from the very beginning".64
Zitzow
and Estes (1980) decided that the primary concerns of
counselors of Native American students at college level
should be the alienation and value conflicts between the
minority and dominant culture.65
Reporting on the results of a 1980 questionnaire to
812
Indian students in 24 institutions of higher educa-
tion in Los Angeles and Oranges, it was noted that the
percentage of respondents who took advantage of counseling
services at their college (65%) was very close to the
percentage (69%) whose colleges offered counseling services
specifically for Indian students - presumably counselors
who are themselves Indians.
Several respondents, all
63LaFromboise, Dauphinais, Rowe, "A Survey of
Indian Students' Perceptions of the Counseling Experience"
(paper presented at the American Educational
Research Association Annual Meeting, Canada, March, 1978).
64 E. D. Edington, "A Communication System for
the American Indian in Higher Education" (paper presented
at the UCLA EPDA Short Term Summer Institute, Many Farms,
Arizona, July, 1971), p. 4.
65 n. Zitzow and G. Ester, "The Heritage Consistency in Counselinq Native American Students," (research
paper presented at .. UCLA Conference, March, 1980), p. 1.
42
attending the state universities made specific mention
of their Indian counselor, often with high praise.66
Ideally, in counseling, any Indian student, as any
other student, must first be regarded not as a member
of a tribe or race, but as an individual.
However, one
critical element in counseling any individual is his/her
background with its value system.
One often overlooked
individual Native American characteristic that is crucial
to developing understanding in counseling is the degree
to which the individual's lifestyle reflects his/her
tribal culture.67
Research suggests, then, that a college counseling
and guidance program for Indians would fare best with
an Indian counselor, but, in a rare case, if none can be
recruited, then only with a nonindian counselor who can
"tune in" to the Indian way.
The questionnaire also contains statements about
instructors and recruiters, Indian and nonindian.
During
the research, little information surfaced concerning the
preferability of Indian or nonindian instructors at the
College level.
Lujan and Dobkins demand an increase of
66E. A. Rinnander, "The BIA Higher Education
Program in Southern California, 11
(paper submitted for
Contemporary American Indian Series, California, 1980),
p. 11.
67zi tzow and Estes, p. 2.
43
cultural sensitivity on the part of the individual college
instructor, because, in dealing with "minority" students,
the instructor must be aware of his own assumptions about
classroom performance and be ready to interpret the behaviour of the student on a much broader range of possibility.68
Only one source mentioned recruiters.
The Universities and colleges and those
organizations concerned .... should each
designate a person to be responsible in the
selection and recruitment of Indian students
for higher education.
If at all possible,
the person with this responsibility should
be an Indian, or a person with knowledge
of the Indian cultures.69
The matter of student organizations (clubs) are
also part of
~he
questionnaire.
McGrath writes that
Indian clubs play an important role in colleges and
universities enrolling a number of Indian students.
Ten
of the forty-three southwestern institutions of higher
learning have active Indian clubs on campus.70
Beuf
and Stein agree that these clubs serve to strengthen and
support the Indian student.71
68Lujan and Dobkins, p. 8.
69Edington, p. 2.
70McGrath, p. 62.
71Beuf, p. 17; Steiner, pp.31-32.
44
Another topic in the questionnaire is that of the
Indian Studies Monor program.
Various universities and
colleges now have Indian Studies programs.
By the early
1970's, these proqrams had sprung up on numerous campuses,
and several major institutions were already revising their
programs in terms of establishing a major in this subject? 2
To summarize this section, a search of publications
to determine the reality of the need for Indian counselors,
Indian instructors, Indian recruiters, and Indian student
organizations, and for a special space for Indian students,
and Indian studies programs at college level was inconelusive except with a positive reference to Indian
counselors.
However, as far back as 1967, the report of that
year's First All-Indian Statewide Conference on California Indian Education strongly recommended that California's colleges and universities strengthen their
programs in California Indian history and culture,
72 Margaret Szasz, Education and the American
Indian, the Road to self-Determination Since 1928
Albuquerque, New Mexico:University of New Mexico Press,
1973) .p. 37.
45
" ••. and take steps to insure that full information on
college requirements and scholarships are made available
to Indian highschool students .... and special counseling
and tutoring arrangements be developed to help Indian
students to overcome highschool deficiencies." 73
73
california Indian Education, Report of the
First All-Indian Statewide Conference of California
Indian Education (Modesto, California: Ad Hoc Committee
on California Indian Education, 1967). pp. 11-12.
Chapter 4
JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY
The research has proven that the number of American
Indian students completing their university education
is increasing.
Most of these students are aware that
one of their people's greatest needs is that of being
represented in the higher professional positions.
These
students discover that attempts to successfully co-exist
in two cultures results in frustration at a supremely
high level; they need constant encouragement, friendly
concerned advisement, someone on campus who understands
"where they're coming from", and a safe place when needed.
Eventually, many of these educated Indians will return to
their people, prepared to lead with understanding and
compassion, with the ability to apply proper procedures
to assist in communication and cooperation between
cultures.
Since the coming of the nonindian, each new generation of Indians has had to confront the difficulties
of cultural conflict.
This struggle, plus the increase
in educational requirements and the surge in Indian population growth may soon be presenting this nation with
another "Indian Problem".
There are young American Indians who can no longer
46
47
turn back and are not motivated to go forward.
They
would find it psychologically and physically impossible
to completely live the "Indian Way" in isolation from
the dominant society.
Both the country's melting pot
assimilation theory and stress on material success have
affected them, though they may not know it.
Many Indian youth are not motivated to go forward,
for that would necessitate having to communicate and
function effectively with the larger society, while at
the same time retaining a secure self-image as an Indian,
knowledgeable and respectful of one's traditions.
Some
of the Indian youth find it difficult to accept the importance of an education; to adapt to nonindian ways
seems a betrayal of who they are.
Some parents, strong
in traditional ways, exert pressure by cautioning the
youth to get their education, but to remain as "noninvolved" as possible.
Such parents are fearful that their
children will absorb the white man's ways along with his
education.
The average American Indian dropout rate at college
level is one half of the Indian enrollment.
The American
Indian dropout rate at CSUN has dropped from 95% or
higher in 1972 to an average of 20-25% the last few years.
The improved ratio at CSUN could be attributed to the
campus presence of an Indian Advisor/Counselor, to an
48
Indian student organization, to Indian peer relationships,
to the provision of a special space for the Indian
students, to the formation in 1976 of an Indian Studies
Minor Program, and/or other sources of campus friendship
and personal support.
This paper is an effort to deter-
mine what degree of beneficial effect these factors have
had on the retention of Indian students on one college
campus.
Chapter 5
DESIGN OF THE STUDY
In early April, 1981, a questionnaire was mailed to
38 Indian students who are either presently attending
California State University, Northridge,
(CSUN), or
who have graduated from CSUN within the last seven years.
The sampling was considered broad enough to cause the
results to be fairly indicative of the average CSUN
Indian student's opinions.
However, those contacted were
known to be interested enough to either keep in contact
with the Indian counselor, or at least had requested to
remain on the Indian student organization's mailing list.
Some students who had left CSUN had preferred not to keep
in contact, and therefore were unavailable for the
questionnaire.
The questionnaire required basic information on age,
sex, year in school, major, and tribe.
Twenty-five state-
ments were composed with five possible responses:
Strongly Agree,
(2) Agree,
and (5) Strongly Disagree.
(3) Don't Know,
(1)
(4)Disagree,
Individuals were asked to
place the number of their response at the end of each
statement.
Topics covered were as follows:
Indian studies (2 questions)
Indian and nonindian recruiters (3 questions)
49
50
Indian and nonindian counselors (2 questions)
Indian and nonindian instructors (4 questions)
Indian and nonindian values
(4 questions)
General campus/administration
Student discouragement
(2 questions)
(2 questions)
Indian and nonindian peer acceptance
A special space
(4 questions)
(2 questions)
Some of the questions overlapped into two or more
areas, but the main objective was to see that all areas
were covered.
After the questionnaires were mailed, it
was discovered that question #9 contained a typing omission which could affect possible answers to that question.
The question should have read: "There should be a fulltime INDIAN person at CSUN to recruit and aid students
in their initial orientation to CSUN.
In the question-
naire, the word INDIAN was omitted.
Both positive and negative statements were made about
each subject, soas to attempt to reduce the possible bias
of Indian students answering a questionnaire about Indians
and nonindians.
The questions were appropriate for both
past and present CSUN Indian students, since during these
past seven years, the situation at CSUN has not changed
to any great degree, as the following information will
explain:
1.
There has been no commitment
on the part of the
51
University to hire an Indian recruiter.
Through the in-
sistance of the Indian student and counselor, an Indian
recruiter was salaried through the Los Angeles Indian
Center for a one-year contract.
This temporary position
has not been effective in recruiting Indian students because of the lack of continuity.
2.
The same person has been Indian Advisor/Counselor
for these seven years, but is also a fulltime EOP counselor for all students.
3.
An Indian campus organization, first called
United Native Americans (UNA), and now called the American
Indian Student Association (AISA). has functioned throughout these seven years.
4.
The Indian Studies Minor was formed in 1976 with
the participation of several departments and several concerned dedicated nonindian instructors.
In 1980, a one-
year CETA position, Assistant Coordinator of the Indian
Studies Monor, was filled by an Indian.
Again, this
salary was funded through the Los Angeles Indian Center.
Still, no commitment from this university.
5.
Indian students lost their meeting/office space
three times during thses seven years, and now have lost
space in
th~
counselorrs office area, because of the much
smaller office that counselor was moved into this Spring
semester, 1981.
52
A comment was placed after the twenty-fifth question,
asking students to express their thoughts about importance
or unimportance of having Indian counselors/faculty/recruiters at the University level.
Chapter 6
RESULTS OF THE STUDY
38 questionnaires were sent to, to Indian underqraduates at CSUN, and Indian graduates from CSUN. Twelve
undergraduates and twelve graduates responded.
Both groups were consistant in their feelings about
the advantages of having Indian personnel on campus.
92%
thought it extremely important for the Indian student to
have an Indian Advisor/Counselor; 83% believed that the
Indian Studies Minor should have more Indian instructors;
92% decided that an Indian recruiter is needed if there
are to be more Indian students on campus, and 96% believe
there is a vital need on this campus for Indian counselors
and/or faculty to act as role models for Indian students.
The preference for Indian personnel was strongly
indicated; indeed, reactions to statements about nonindian
personnel only served to further establish this.
66%
agreed that most of the nonindians on campus do not
really understand an Indian student; 66% also stated that
many CSUN instructors make no effort to be aware of or
understand Indian values, while 55% disagreed with this
statement that most nonindian instructors on campus
appreciate the different cultural values of Indians.
Despite these strong reactions to nonindian personnel,
53
54
83% thought it a better learning experience to have a
mixture of Indian and nonindian instructors. The graduates, as a group, were more pro-Indian personnel, and
more critical of nonindian personnel, than the undergraduates.
96% of those surveyed and responding did not want
the Indian Studies Minor to be dropped, disagreeing with
the statement that students don't need to learn about
Indians.
100% of these Indian undergraduates and graduates
were convinced that Indian students need a "special
space" on campus to lessen their feeling of alienation.
However, the respondents disagreed about the purposes of an Indian student organization, but an overwhelming majority (88%) agreed about the need for one.
- The results of CSUN undergraduates and graduates
being surveyed show a solidarity of opinions and views,
re-establishing the author's convictions about what may
help Indians to succeed in higher education.
Chapter 7
CONCLUSIONS
Historically, Indians were excluded from equal participation in the American educational system.
Since the
1960's, however, there has been a gradual increase in the
number of Indians attending institutions of higher education, but also a corresponding increase in the number of
dropouts.
There exists a growing number of educators in
America who contend that the problems of Indian students
on white-dominated campuses are very different from the
traditional problems of college students.
Education should provide for the actual needs, not
the conjectured needs of those being educated.
This
paper is an effort to examine certain aspects of cultureconflict affecting the American Indian student in higher
education, and a study of possible ways to begin to
alleviate the situation through the development of Indian
support systems and Indian personnel on campus.
In order to get a primary source of information, and
not limit this paper to research, the author considered
the validity of a survey-questionnaire.
CSUN Indian
graduates and undergraduates that responded, clearly
demonstrated their beliefs in the necessity for Indian
personnel, Indian Studies, Indian student organizations,
55
56
and a ••special space"
( a sort of land base)
for Indian
students.
The results of this questionnaire agree with the
research, and are in accord with the beliefs of Indian
leaders and educators who are both aware and knowledgeable.
The Indian students know what they need to succeed in
the White man's educational world at the college level.
An institution, such as CSUN, has an obligation to consider these needs, and to act.
LIST OF REFERENCES
Books
Adams, Evelyn C. American Indian Education, Government
Schools and Economic Progress. New York: Arno Press
and New York Times, 1971.
Armstrong, Virginia Irving. compiler.
I Have Spoken,
American History Through the Voices of the Indians.
New York: Pocket Books, 1971.
Atkinson, Donald R., G. Morten and G. W. Sue. Counseling
American Minorities. Dubuque, Iowa: w. C. Brown Co.,
1979.
Bodley, John H. Victims of Progress. Menlo Park, California: Cumming Publish1ng Company, Inc., 1975.
Bryde, John F. The Indian Student, A Study of Scholastic
Failure and Personal1ty Conflict. University of
South Dakota: Dakota Press, 1970.
Cahn, Edgar S. and David W. Hearne. Our Brother's Keeper:
The Indian in White America. Washington: New Community Press, 1969.
California Indian Education. Report of The First AllIndian Statewide Conference oh California Indian
Education. Modesto, California: Ad Hoc Committee on
California Indian Education, 1967.
Coombs, L. Hadison. The Educational Disadvantage of the
Indian American Student. Las Cruces, New Mexico:
New Mexico State Un1versity, 1970.
Costo, Rupert, and Jeannette Henry.
Indian Treaties:
Two Centuries of Dishonor. American Ind1an Reader,
Current Affairs: Indian Historian Press, Inc., 1977.
Deloria, Vine. Custer Died For Your Sins.
Macmillan Company, 1969 .
New York: The
. We Talk, You Listen, New Tribes, New Turf. New
The Macm1llan Company, 1970.
----~Y~o-r~k:
57
58
Behind The Trail of Broken Treaties.
Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1974.
New York:
Farmer, Georqe L. Education: The Dilemma of the Indian
American: School of Education, University of Southern
California, 1969.
Gearning, Frederick 0. Priests and Warriors: Social
Structures for Cherokee Pol1t1cs 1n the 18th Century.
Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropological Association, 1962.
Fuchs, Estelle and Robert J. Havighurst.
To Live on This
Earth- American Indian Education. Garden City, New
York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1972.
Havighurst, Robert J.
The National Study of American
Indian Education. University of Chicago under contract
w1th the United States Office of Education, 1970.
Josephy, Alvin M. Jr.
The Indian Heritage of America.
New York: Knopf Publish1ng Co., 1968.
Nieves, Luis.
College Achievement Through Self-Help:
A Planning and Guidance Manual for Minor1ty Students.
Educational Testing Service, 1978.
Qoyawayma, Polingaysi (Elizabeth Q. White), as told to
Vada F. Carlson. No Turning Back. Albuquerque:
University of Ne\'1 Mexico Press, 1964.
Ryberg, Robert F. and M. V. Belok. Exploration in The
History and Sociology of American Ind1an Educat1on.
Monograph Series.
32 Shivaji Marg, Meerut: Piush
Printers, 1973.
Samovar, Larry A. and Richard E. Porter.
Intercultural
Communication: A Reader. Belmont, California:
Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1976.
Steiner, Stan. The New Indians.
Row, Publishers,
Nevl
York: Harper and
Sue, Derald Wing. Asian-Americans: Psychological Perspectives.
Palo Alto, California: Science and Behavior Books, 1973.
59
Szasz, Margaret. Education and The American Indian, The
Road to Self-Determination Since 1928. Albuquerque,
Washburn, Wilcomb E. The Indian in America. New American Nation Series, New York: Harper and Row, 1975.
Wax, Rosalie. The Warrior Dropouts, Native Americans
Today. New York: Harper and Row, 1972
Government Reports and Pamphlets
"American Indians." Final Report PC (2) - IF. United
States Bureau of the Census, Census of Population:
1970. Washington, D.C., 1973.
"1980 Census Population Totals." Commerce News, Bureau
of the Census, Washington, D.C., 1981.
Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on Indian Education of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare."
United States Senate, Ninetieth Congress, First and
Second Sessions, on the Study of the Education of
Indian Children. Washington, D.C., 1969.
"Higher Education Evaluation: Student Characteristics
and Opinions." Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Indian
Education Resources Center. Research and Evaluation
Report Series No. 20-A. Washington, D.C., June, 1973.
"Indian Affairs Newsletter." Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Washington, D.C., February 25, 1981.
"School Enrollment Report." P.C. (2)-SA. United States
Bureau of the Census, Census of Population: 1960.
Washington, D.C., 1964.
"Social Characteristics." Table 3. United States Bureau
of the Census, Census of Population:l960. Washington,
D.C., 1960.
"The Bureau of Indian Affairs Should Do More to Help Educate Indian Students." United States General AccountOffice. HRD-77-155. Washington, D.C., November,l977.
"Through Education: Self Determination, A Bicentennial
Goal for American Indians." The Second Annual Report
to the Congress of the United States. National Advisory Council on Indian Education. Washington, 1975.
60
United States Commission on Civil Rights Reports. Washington , D. C. , 19 61.
"We, The First Americans." United States Department of
Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Washington, D.C.,l973.
Papers And Lectures
Beuf, Ann H.
"The Horne of ~\Those Brave? Problems Confronting Native Americans in Education." Paper presented
at the annual conference of the National Association
for Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors.
Philadelphia, April, 1975.
Chavers, Dean. "The Indian College Student in California:
1967-1972, Enrollment and Support." Paper presented
at California State College-Hayv..-ard.. Hayward, California, 1972.
"The Revolution in Indian Education." Paper
presented to the Seventh Annual Symposium on the
American Indian." Northeastern Oklahoma State University. Oklahoma, April, 1979.
Edington, Everett D.
"A Communication System for the
American Indian in Higher Education." Paper presented
at the UCLA EPDA Short Term Summer Institute. Many
Farms, Arizona, July, 1971.
Gunsky. (California State Department of Education).
"Intergroup Relations in Higher Education." Paper
presented at UCLA Conference. California, February,
1979.
Hilger, s. I.
"Culture and Human Behavior." Paper presented at the Institute on Indian Life and Culture.
Madison, Wisconsin, 1967.
Ickes, Shirley :r-1oe.
"The American Indian in Perspective."
Research paper for undergraduate course\vork .CSUN, 1979.
La Frornboise, Dauphinais, Rowe.
"A Survey of Indian
Students' Perceptions of the Counseling Experience."
Paper presented at the American Educational Research
Association, Annual Meeting. Canada, March, 1978.
61
La Pointe, Clare and Grace A. Rabideau.
"Self-concept and
the American Indian." Graduate Research Project.
CSUN, 1973.
Lujan, Philip D. and Dave Dobkins.
"Communicative Reticence: Native Americans in the College Classroom."
Paper presented at the Convention of the Speech
Communication Association. Minneapolis, Minnesota,
November, 1978.
McDonald, Arthur.
"Value Conflict as a Course for Dropouts." Paper presented at the Native American Teacher
Corps Conference. Denver, Colorado, April, 1973.
Otis, Morgan.
"Indian Education A Cultural Dilemma~'
Lecture-paper by Director of Native American Studies,
Sacramento State College, 1974.
Rabideau, Grace A.
"Culture Awareness in Counseling the
Native American Indian." Paper presented at the
National Psychologists' Convention. San Diego,
April, 1975.
Rinnander, Elizabeth A.
"The BIA Higher Education Program in Southern California." Paper submitted for
Contemporary American Indian Issues Series, July,l980.
"Tribalism and the Modern Society." Unsigned editorial in
the NCAI Sentinel. National Congress of American
Indians. Spring, 1966.
Zitzow, Daryl and George Estes.
"The Heritage Consistency Continuum in Counseling Native American Students
in Higher Education." Research Paper presented at
UCLA Conference. March, 1980.
PERIODICALS
Adams, David.
"A Case Study: Self-Determination and
Indian Education." Journal of AMerican Indian Education. Vol. 13.2: 21-27, 1974.
Ayres, Mary Ellen.
"Counseling the American Indian."
Occupational Outlook Quarterly. United States Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Spring, 1977.
62
Charles, C. M.
"A Tutorinq-Counseling Program for Indian
Students in College." Journal of American Indian
Education. Vol. 1.3: 10-12, May, 1962.
Clark, Richard 0.
"Higher Education Programs for American
Indians." Journal of American Indiah Education. Vol.
12.1: 16-20, October, 1974.
Croft, Carolyn.
"The First American- Last in Education."
Journal of American Indian Education. Vol. 16.2: 1519, January, 1977.
"The Jl.merican Indian:An Overview."
Faherty, Robert L.
Current History. Vol. 67, No.400:241-244, December,
1974.
Hall, Edward T.
"How Cultures Collide."
Today. 67-74,97, July, 1976.
Psychology
"Social Work with Native
Lewis, Ronald G. and M. K. Ho.
Americans." Social Work. Vol. 20. 5: 379-382,
September, 1975.
l\1cGrath, G.D., Robert Roessel, Bruce .Heador, G. C. Helmstadter and John Barnes.
"Higher Education of Southwestern Indians." Journal of American Indian Education. Vol. 4.2: 19
Spang, Alonzo.
"Counseling the Indian." Journal of American Indian Education. Vol. 5.1: 10-15, October, 1965.
"Special Report on the First Americans."
Vol. 75. No. 6. October 22, 1975.
Current Events.
Wax, J. L., Wax, R.H. and Dumont, R. V.
"Formal Education
in American Indian Community." Supplement to Social
Problems. Vol. 11. No. 4. Spring, 1964.
Youngman, Geralding and Margaret Sadongei.
"Counseling
the American Indian Child." Vol. 8, No. 4:273-277,
Elementary School Guidance and Counseling. May, 1974.
APPENDIXES
(COPY OF QUESTIONNAIRE QUESTIONS)
1.
Here at CSUN, I feel (felt) accepted by my nonindian
peers.
2.
Indian students need no special space on campus for
getting together - They need to mix completely with
the general campus population.
3.
It is detrimental for Indian students to stay to
themselves within an Indian student organization.
4.
At the University level, to have an Indian Advisor/
Counselor is extremely important for an Indian student.
5.
Indian students should concentrate on learning and living by the values of the dominant society, rather than
their own.
6.
It is a better learning experience to have a mixture
of Indian and nonindian instructors.
7.
There are(were) not enough Indian cultural activities
on campus to make me feel part of the University
community.
8.
The University administration shows (showed) sensitivity to the needs of the American Indian student.
9.
There should be a full-time person at CSUN to recruit
and aid students in their intiial orientation to CSUN.
10. The Indian Studies Minor would attract more students
(Indians and nonindians) if there were more Indian
instructors.
11. An Indian Advisor/Counselor is (was) no more helpful
than a nonindian Advisor/Counselor.
12. At times I feel (felt) depressed and ready to drop
out of the University.
13. Most of the nonindians on campus do (did) not really
understand an Indian student.
14. The AISA (UNA) at CSillJ is a student organization to
provide Indian students with peer group support and
encouragement.
63
64
15.
Many CSUN Instructors make (made) no effort to be
aware of or understand Indian values.
16.
Indian students should be aware of the dominant
society's values, but keep their own to live by.
17.
An Indian recruiter is not needed because there are
enough Indian students recruited through the efforts
of Black and Chicano recruiters at CSUN.
18.
Most nonindian instructors on campus appreciate the
different cultural values of Indians.
19.
There is a vital need on this campus for Indian
counselors/faculty to act as role models for Indian
students.
20.
At times, I doubt (doubted) that I would ever finish
school.
21.
I feel (felt) at ease with most nonindian students
at CSUN.
22.
Indian students need a space, a special place, to be
"Indian", in order to lessen their feeling of alienation on campus.
23.
More Indians would be interested in corning to college,
but have no contact with recruiters, and don't know
how to go about it.
24.
The Indian Studies Minor should be dropped from CSUN;
students don't need to learn about Indians.
25.
Here at CSUN, I feel (felt) a-cepted by my Indian
peers.
Comment: Please express your thoughts about the importance
or unimportance of having Indian Counselors/faculty/recruiters at the university level.
65
RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAIRE - UNDERGRADUATES
Q.
#1
Answers
#3
#2
( 1)
#4
#5
1.
( 3) 25%
( 5) 42%
2.
0
0
0
( 3) 25%
(9)
3.
(2) 20%
(1) 10%
( 3) 30%
(1) 10%
( 3) 30%
4.
(7) 58%
(3) 25%
0
0
( 2) 17%
5.
0
(1/2) 4%
0
(6.5)54%
6.
( 5) 42%
(4)
0
(2) 17%
(1)
7.
0
( 6) 50%
(2) 17%
( 1)
( 6) 50%
33%
8%
( 3) 25%
( 1)
8%
0
( 4)
33%
8.
(1)
9.
(7) 58%
( 3) 25%
10.
(7) 58%
( 3)
11.
(1)
12.
( 3) 25%
13.
(3)
14.
8%
25%
(1)
0
(1)
8%
8%
8%
( 2) 17%
75%
(5)42%
0
(2)
17%
0
(1)
8%
( 4)
33%
( 5) 42%
( 6) 50%
{1)
8%
(2)
17%
0
25%
(5)
42%
{1)
8%
( 3) 25%
0
(5)
42%
( 6)
50%
0
(1)
8%
0
15.
( 4)
33%
( 4)
33%
( 3) 25%
(1)
8%
0
16.
(1)
9%
( 8)
73%
0
(1)
9%
17.
( 1)
8%
0
0
( 1)
8% (10) 83%
0
( 7) 58%
(1)
8%
18.
0
(1)
9%
(4)
(9)
75%
( 2) 17%
(1)
8%
0
0
20.
(1)
8%
(10) 83%
(1)
8%
0
0
21.
( 3) 27%
( 6) 55%
22.
( 6) 50%
(5)
42%
(1)
8%
0
0
23.
( 7) 58%
(4)
33%
(1)
8%
0
0
24.
0
0
(12)100%
0
0
25.
( 6)
0
50%
( 5)
(1)
0
42%
(1)
8%
9%
oneNO answ.
33%
19.
0
one answ.
twice
8%
( 2) 17%
0
8%
twoNO answ.
(1)
9%
oneno answ.
RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAIRE - GRADUATES
Q.
#1
1i:1fjwer1:
#2
1.
(3) 25%
( 6) 50%
2.
0
0
3.
0
4.
( 9)
75%
0
5.
6.
(5)
(3)
0
7.
8.
(1)
8%
9.
(9)
82%
8%
(1)
( 3) 25%
8%
8%
(2) 17%
(5) 42%
( 4) 33%
0
0
( 6) 50%
(1)
8%
(1)
(4)
33%
11.
( 1)
9%
12.
(3)
13.
(5)
14.
(4) 33%
(6) 50%
15.
( 4) 33%
16.
25%
(4)
33%
(1)
8%
( 3) 25%
( 3) 25%
0
0
0
( 2) 17%
0
0
( 2) 18%
(3)
25% (3) 25%
0
8%
( 7) 58%
( 3)
( 7) 58%
0
(1)
10.
42%
0
0
(8) 67%
8%
#5
(2) 17%
(5)
0
42%
(1)
25%
( 1)
#4
0
( 2) 18%
27%
( 4) 36%
0
42%
( 3)
(1)
9%
oneno answ.
oneno answ.
9% oneno answ.
(7) 64%
( 3) 27%
(1)
0
(1)
0
0
(2) 17%
( 4) 33%
(2) 17%
( 2) 17%
0
( 6) 50%
( 4) 33%
( 2) 17%
0
0
17.
0
0
18.
0
(2) 17%
19.
(7) 58%
( 5)
42%
20.
(3)
25%
(5)
42%
(1)
8%
(1)
21.
( 1)
8%
( 6) 50%
(1)
8%
( 4) 33%
0
22.
(6) 55%
(5)
0
0
0
23.
(6) 50%
(2) 17%
(4) 33%
0
0
24.
( 1)
0
0
( 2) 17%
(9) 75%
25.
( 6) 50%
( 4) 33%
(2) 17%
0
0
8%
25%
(3)
25%
8%
( 1)
8%
(2) 17%
(3)
25%
(1)
45%
0
0
8%
(10) 83%
(5)
42%
0
8%
(2) 17%
one
no answ.
67
68
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0"1
When I graduated from CSUN with a B.A., I decided not to continue there for my
Master's Degree because of the Jack of Indian professors and-counselors that could
advise of the need for educated Native Americans in various fields (although it appears
this ''need'' exists only in the teaching field). Out of 5 professors teaching courses
in Indian studies, only ]'was memorable i.n that he routinely asked who was Indian in his
classes, and never once judged Indians from the white man's viewpoint (he is no longer at
CSUN). Another professor would joke in class about 11 drunken reservation lndians. 11 He never
knew that I or anyone else in his classes was Indian (he is still at CSUN teaching Anthro
classes). In the Spanish Dept., a teacher made the s~atement that the North American Indians
never had technology higher than 11 making beads. 11 After class, I demanded she retract that
statement (she did the following week) and suggested that she spend time reading about our
people before discussing them in public (she admitted her information was from books written
30 years ago.)
Although an Indian Coordinator of the Indian Studies Minor would be preferable,·
I see 1 ittle hope for change unless an Indian Faculty teaching these subjects also prevails.
An Indian Coordinator probably would not have any rights over choosing who and who was not
sensitive enough·to teach these subjects under the present system of all-white professors.
Personally I am not opposed to white instructors ·IF ones can be found or existing ones
11
screened 11 as to their view9. Indian Studies classes might even be monitored (without the
instructors• knowledge); in this way, it might eliminate the humiliation suffered as a
result of ignorant and biased remarks made by white teachers, as well as the frustration
of an Indian student who realizes that 11 the system 11 does not allow taking up for one's
rights.
.
'
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