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Third World News
Monday, January 25, 1971
DEGANAWIDAH-QUETZACOATL BRIEF PROPOSAL
[[Tribal image]]

INTRODUCTION
In the United States today there are approximately 7 to 8 million persons of predominately Native American descent of whom about 1 million are "Indians" descended from tribes native to the United States area and balance are "Mexican-Americans or Chicanos descended from tribes native to regions south of the present international boundary or from tribes native to the Southwest (Arizona). 

The Indian and Chicano peoples possess a great deal in common, aside from their common racial origin. First, they both possess cultural traditions of wh t might be called a "folk" nature. Second, they both possess cultures and values quite different from the dominant society. Third, they both have little desire to "assimilate" and instead seek to retain their unique identities, languages, etc. Fourth, they both suffer from an extreme degree of neglect and discrimination, being literally at the bottom of all indexes relative to education, employment, income, life expectancy, etc. Fifth, they both have been denied higher educational opportunities and, in sharp contrast to the Black community, do not possess their own universities and do not receive federal support in any way comparable to that received by Black colleges and universities.

For these and other reasons large numbers of Chicanos and Indians have considered the wisdom of initiating higher education programs designed to meet the needs of their people. This proposal for the Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl University is a direct outgrowth of that concern. 

BACKGROUND

The Native Tradition
Higher education (that is to say, learning beyond the levels normally available for the majority of          has been available to American native peoples for many centuries. The ancient Mexicans possessed the calmecac, an advance college or university for the education of religious and secular leaders. The Mayas and Incas possessed centers for advanced leadership training, and each and every native tribe operated more or less informal systems of specialized education. Those individuals who demonstrated special aptitudes and who desired special knowledge were able to attach themselves to teachers who possessed expertise in religion, medicine, philosophy, and other subjects requiring specialization. 

Higher education of this latter kind was well-developed among North Americans before the arrival of the first Europeans. Many Indian people, especially in the Southwest, devoted substantial portions of their lives to the acquisition of advanced knowledge while everywhere the leisure hours of men included frequent attendance at folk "seminars" where the young were able to learn from the discussions and lectures of the old. This type of higher education was distinguished by the fact that it arose from folk-group needs, was ultimately focused up n practical considerations (e.g., learning better how to provide for the well-being of the people), and was carried on within a system free from coercion or from bureaucratic rigidity.  

EUROPEAN INVASION
The coming of the European served gradually to destroy American Indian "folk universities", although the process was a slow and gradual one and is not complete today. "Folk higher education" continues to survive but in relatively isolated areas and it receives neither recognition nor encouragement from white-controlled agencies of government. 

The coming of the European served gradually to destroy American Indian "folk universities", although the process was a slow and gradual one and is not complete today. "Folk higher education" continues to survive but in relatively isolated areas and it receives neither recognition not encouragement from white-controlled agencies of government.

The European invaders took no more than an early and brief interest in native -oriented higher education. In the 1520's certain of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico encouraged the development of Santa Cruz del Tlatelolco, and Aztec-oriented university gradually taken over and operate by scholars of Aztec language and ancestry.

"The Indians at Tlatelolco learnt Latin and theology and they made such rapid p ogress that within ten years their teachers were able to turn the college over to the Indian alumni. There was a period when pure-blooded Indians were to be found teaching Latin to the sons of
Spaniards...and Indian education bore fruit in a number of books, recording the traditions of the Indian races, which were written by persons of Indian descent...(But) the Indians [at Tlatelolco] learnt so rapidly and with such intelligence, it was stated, that only the devil could be responsible.

Tlatelolco college was apparently quite successful, in that the Indian scholars showed remarkable ability at mastering the curriculum offered, rose rapidl9y to the level of teachers, and contributed greatly to the accumulation of knowledge about ancient Mexican history and society. Unfortunately, the college was suppressed after a few decades because it stood as a contradiction to the exploitative goals of Spanish imperialism (and because doctrinare European priests were made uneasy by the presence of newly-converted Indians learned in theology and able to dispute the ffine [[fine]] point of Christian doctrine). (See Henry B. Parkes, A History of Mexico, p. 92 and C.H. Haring, The Spanish Empire in America, pp. 226-7).

In the area of the United States the European invaders took no interest in native-oriented education, focusing instead solely upon the destruction of native culture. Early educational programs for Indian students, such as those at Harvard, William and Mary, and Dartmouth Colleges wee aimed entirely at the Europeanization of the natives and had no connection whatsoever with American folk educational traditions. In Virginia, for example, the scientist, Robert Boyle, endowed a "college" (at William and Mary College) for Indian pupils, which school was formally chartered n 1972. Instruction commenced about a decade earlier, being essentially the continuation of a very elementary grammar school program initiated at Fort Christianna in 1714 under the leadership of Rev. Charles Griffin. The curricula included "the simple rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the catechism and the principles of Christian religion." (Hugh Jones, The Present State of Virginia, ed. by Richard L. Morton. pp. 5-61).

In 1724 it was noted that:
Some [Indians] indeed, after seeming conversion have apostatized and returned to their own ways, chiefly because they can live with less labour, and more pleasure and plenty, as Indians, than they can with us; but this might easily be remedied by making a plentiful provision for them, especially at the College [of William and Mary], by sending some to sea, and putting others out to trades, and not letting them idle away their time, nor return to their towns so soon, before they be perfect in the understanding and approbation of our customs and religion, and have seen some more of the world, and e handsomely provided for; for then if they returned, they might do good to themselves and others (Jones, pp. 61-62).

On the other hand, the same author, (Hugh Jones), noted that the Indians "thought it hard, that we should desire them to change their manners and customs since they did not desire to turn us into Indians; however, they permitted their children to be brought up in our way; and when they were able to judge for themselves, they were to live as the English, or as the Indians, according to their liking (Jones, p. 59).

It is significant to note that few, if any, southern Indians chose voluntarily to live "as the English" during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. On the other hand, many conquered seaboard Indians and Indian slave wee fully exposed to intensive acculturative influences without being able to attain the success envisioned by Jones. Their 100,000 mixed-blood descendants living in the eastern seaboard states today speak eloquently to the failure of intensive acculturation as a device for upward mobility or "success" in a  post-conquest society which is essentially recist [[racist]]and caste-conscious. Jones was able to note that the ordinary or "vile" white people of Virginia "esteem and use the Indians as dogs" but he, like Col. Richard Pratt in the nineteenth century, was unable to  perceive the implications for education posed by a largely anti-Indian society.

Jones admitted that: hitherto but little good has been done [by the educational program],  though abundance of money has been laid out, and a great many endeavors have been used...
The young Indians, procured from the tributary or foreign nations with much difficulty, were formerly boarded and lodged in town; where abundance of them used to die...Those of them that have escaped well, and been taught to read and write, have for the most part returned to their home, some with and some without baptism, where they follow their own savage customs and heathenish rites. A few of them have lived as servants among the English, or loitered and idled away their laziness and mischief...now they are...taught to become worse than better by falling into the worst practices of vile nominal Christians, which they add to their own Indian manners and notions (Jones, 1724, pp. 60, 113-115).

In ca. 1770 another observer noted that the Indian graduates of William and Mary did not become "missionaries." Instead I was "common for them to elope several hundred miles to their native country, and there to resume their skins and savage way of life, making no further use of their learning...(Catesby, 1771, in Jones, p.12).

'COLONIALIST' APPROACH TO INDIAN EDUCATION

This early Virginia experiment, although not strictly "higher" education, is significant because the philosophy which it represents has almost always dominated Indian education in the United States, whether of college or pre-college level. The same naïve, not to say chauvinistic, approach is currently exemplified by numerous government programs ranging from "relocation" and "crash" vocational training to ordinary formal instruction in colleges and institutes. 

It is significant that Tlatelolco, organized as a true college controlled jointly by scholars and students and oriented towards the indigenous culture, was successful in producing native scholars, while the various Anglo-American experiments of the Virginia type, structured in an anti-Indian manner and antagonistic towards the native heritage, failed to produce anything comparable. And yet ultimately Tlatelolco also failed, probably because few colonial-imperialist systems can, in fact, tolerate the successful education of conquered populations. The Virginians who controlled William and Mary were desirous of producing Christian artisans, mechanics, and missionaries who could serve the needs of English society, even as the Spanish ultimately wanted artisans but not scholars. It is doubtful that the English colonial ruling class desired Indians educated sufficiently well to be able to challenge the irrational assumption of English colonial society. Certain it is that the educate black man, David Walker, was not well received when he rationally challenged the Anglo-American slave system in the 1820's and, of course, we all know what happened to the efforts of the educated Cherokees in the 1820's and 1830's.

Those concerned with native higher education today must honestly ask themselves if they are really desirous of equipping Indians with the means to challenge contemporary United States native policy or if they only seek to train Indians who are technically capable of implementing goals set by the dominant society.

The "Colonialist" approach has continued to dominate whatever educational programs offered to Indians by non-Indians whether these programs have been operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, by missionary groups or by state institutions. It would appear that Anglo-americans, through three centuries, have but slightly altered their philosophical position as regards Indian education, with the following beliefs being consistently adhered to: 1) the white man is wise than the Indian and therefore has the right (or obligation) to make key decisions about the Indian's own future; 2) the Indian must be trained for participation primarily within white society; 3) Indians must not receive sophisticated training in a setting which might expose them to ideas which would threaten the status quo in Indian policy; 4) Indians must not control any educational institutions, or if they possess nominal control, actual  power must reside in non-Indian hands; and 5) native language and cultures must not be taught, or if they are taught, they must be taught by non-Indians in a curricula planned by non-Indians or in specialized anthropology courses designed to serve the often narrow purposes of "science" or of white middle-class students.

CHEROKEE AND CHOCTAW EXPERIMENTS

The one significant exception to the above occurred between the 1820's and 1880's when the Cherokee Republic, the Choctaw Republic and several other southern peoples established and operated their own national school systems and academies. Judging from the data available, these school systems were quite successful, producing able leaders and more significantly, contributing directly to the socio-economic advancement of the communities served. Tragically, these native-controlled school systems were destroyed by the United States government primarily because they were inconsistent with the goals of Anglo-American economic and cultural imperialism. There is considerable evidence that the educational level of the Indian groups; concerned rapidly declined after their schools came under alien control and that eastern Oklahoma Indians are today less well educated than they were a century ago.

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TEST OF SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL SYSTEM

The ultimate test of a successful school system or educational institution is not the measurement of the progress of individual students along some arbitrary conceived curricular party, but rather how the communities served by that system or institution have enhanced their own lives, individually and collectively, because of the presence of that educational system. The Cherokee and Choctaw schools were successful in hat they arose from the felt needs of the Indian people themselves, attempted to meet those needs, and served as integral parts of the Indian society and culture. Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and their ilk are not parts of the Indian society and culture, but are rather foreign extra-cultural institutions controlled by powerful outsiders. Such a situation would correspond to schools for Anglo-Americans being controlled by the largely staffed by Chinese, East Indians, or some other quite culturally distinct population.

DECLINE OF NATIVE FOLK EDUCATION

Due to the sustained efforts of white government functionaries and missionaries, native American folk processes of higher education were either forcibly suppressed or discredited in most areas. The "old people," instead of being thought of as depositories of wisdom, came gradually to be perceived as embarrassing relics of "heathenism," and Indian leadership, generally, came to be thought of, even by Indians, as not possessing the ability to transmit any knowledge to the younger generation of more than mundane significance.

In brief, younger Indians were indoctrinated with a viewpoint which is one of the characteristics of colonialism. They were made to internalize white negative attitudes towards the native heritage and were taught to disrespect their elders and kinsmen. Such colonialized Indians thereafter allowed informal patterns of education to disappear, and thereby became almost completely the captives of the formal educational system controlled by the conquerors. More seriously still, they came to accept the white man's view of themselves and their people as being persons not competent for managing their own affairs, especially in the area of education. Under such conditions it is not surprising that Native Americans have, until recently, offered only passive resistance to alien educational programs and have not been able to create new educational institutions of their own.

MODERN POST-SECONDARY PROGRAMS

For these and other reasons, American Indians north of Mexico have never possessed a formal college or university of their own, although several Cherokee and Choctaw-controlled academies might have eventually evolved in that direction if it had not been for the federal seizure of those schools in the 1890's (Navajo Community College is a recent exception.) The post-secondary institutions which were created for Indians in subsequent years (Bacone College, Pembroke (North Caroline) State Teachers College, Haskell Institute, and the American Indian Arts and Crafts Institute at Santa Fe) have in no instance been planned by, controlled by, or operated by Indians (although Indians have been employed in recent decades as faculty members). Except in the arts and crafts field, and that rather recently, these predominantly or wholly Indian schools have always been oriented towards the non-Indian world and, in addition, have often been only a step beyond the Indian boarding high school in the quality of their programs.

NEED FOR AN INDIAN UNIVERSITY

Many Indians, in the Dartmouth fashion, have attended non-Indian colleges and universities and the numbers so matriculating are currently increasing due to various scholarship programs. One might ask, then, if a need still exists for Indian-oriented and Indian-controlled higher education facilities. The answer, in this writer's opinion, is yes, for the following reasons:

1. The "drop-out" rate for Indians attending non-Indian colleges is quite high although really accurate figures are difficult to obtain.

2. Many tribal groups do not possess any individuals who are college graduates or, in still more instances, any college graduates who are currently participating in the ongoing development of the tribal community.

3. The more tribally-oriented individual (those most likely to return to their people) are the least likely to attend or to benefit from an existing college. (The figures for Indians currently matriculating in college must be analyzed to distinguish culturally non-Indian persons of Indian descent from those who are truly Indians in terms of both descent and participation in the life of an Indian community. Only the latter can be considered as "tribal" persons within the meaning of this paper.)

4. It is quite obvious that the existing non-Indian colleges are not providing adult-level educational programs immediately needed by tribal people.

5. The quality of life in Indian communities clearly indicated that existing educational programs are inadequate.

6. The non-existence of a major Indian-controlled educational institution seriously weakens the ability of Tribal Americans to control the direction of their own self-development. Conversely, the ability of non-Indian professional elites to influence the course of Indian development is decreased.

7. Similarly, large quantities of money, federal and otherwise, which should be going to Indians are instead going to non-Indian universities which, until these monies were available, seldom showed any special interest in Indian people. Well-financed programs in teacher-training for Indian schools, Indian education research, Indian community development, etc., are currently building up the facilities and facilities of non-Indian institutions (or white-controlled private corporations). An American Indian university would not only guarantee that "over-head" and profit benefit Indian people but that Indians obtain a fair share of the employment stimulated by such funds. (This is not to say that all Indian-related projects should always be funded through an Indian-controlled institution but that at least a substantial proportion of such activities should be so administered.)

8. Many of the non-Indian universities especially active in seeking federal funds for Indian programs and in seeking to attract Indian scholarship students are extremely non-responsive to Indian influences. They operate their programs without Indian policy boards, their campuses are lacking in signs of visible respect for the native heritage, and their curricula (in history and anthropology, for example) are not oriented towards the native student. One almost gains the impression that several such schools have found the "Indian business" profitable in financial and/or political terms but that they have no real interest in, or understanding of native aspirations. Still further, it would appear that inter-disciplinary rivalries are apparently more significant in determining the structure and content of Indian programs that are the objective conditions of the Indian community, at least in some instances.

Most significant of all is the plain fact that no non-Indian institution can facilitate the self-realization and self-determination of American Indian peoples. The possession of one's own educational institution is vital to the development and survival of a people. The Jewish community has survived, and maintained a high level of education according to many Jews, primarily because of its "yeshivas" (theological universities) and other schools. Black Americans would be infinitely poorer without Howard University and many other fine Negro-controlled universities (which, incidentally, made it possible for  black scholars to obtain employment and to develop research in such fields as Negro history). Scandinavian-Americans, Irish-Americans and other European groups have established colleges of their own while Asian-Americans have been able to use universities in China and Japan (in addition to Chinese-language and Japanese-language schools in the United States). And, of course, the dominant Anglo-American (English-speaking white) has many universities, public and private, under his control.

Most Native Americans of tribal affiliation wish to preserve their identity both as "Indians" and as members of a specific tribe. In the long run this probably cannot be done without tribally-controlled schools and an intertribal university. The experience of other nationalities and groups throughout the world would seem to prove that a people must possess a cultural, educational and intellectual center of its own in order to survive and advance. If Tribal Americans are to preserve their identity, and intertribal, native-controlled university would seem to be a necessity.

A Native American university would, however, do much more than merely "preserve" tribes. It could be the means of educating large numbers of Indians in an environment suitable for the development of self-confidence, both individual and collective. The present policy of sending Indian young people  off to alien Anglo-dominated colleges often serves to lower self-esteem, produce failures, and create personal identity confusion. And, in addition, those Indian students who "make the grade" are neither psychologically nor technically capable of leading their people forward. Often they choose to make a living among non-Indian or, if they do return home, they are sometimes alienated enough from their own people as to be poor leaders or no leaders at all.

What is essentially needed today is one or more post-high school institutions thoroughly oriented towards tribal needs. Above all, it should attempt to train large numbers of Indians, both old and young, for leadership within the context of the tribal community. In this manner the entire fold group can be led forward as a unit rather than periodically having its most promising young people drawn off into Anglo-American society.