True Story 1.06
Alternative explanations for
a Navajo student’s long absence
The setting for this story
Lynn was an Anglo teacher at a public school in the U.S. Southwest. In this story, she voices her frustration with the parents of Jack, a seventh grader from a nearby Navajo reservation.
A story of misaligned minds7
Jack has been absent from school all week. Actually, it’s been more than a week! He’s a reasonably good student when he’s here, and he’s a nice kid. But get this: He’s been absent from his home, too. His parents don’t seem all that concerned. Why are they so permissive? They don’t even try to control their children!
Lynn’s question
What’s the deal with Jack’s parents? He’s been away from home and there’s no sign they care!
Critique of story 1.06
Just like in this book’s other seventy-six stories, this story’s characters are behaving according to the values, norms, and social expectations of their home societies.
Consider Lynn. Her questions and concerns are those that virtually every other American teacher in the same situation would be expressing. Among our culture’s strongest expectations is that parents will be responsible for their children’s care, and for their actions, until each child reaches age 18 (at least). This isn’t only a cultural norm; it’s enshrined in our laws as well.
How about Jack? He lives with his parents and extended family on a Navajo reservation. There, the traditional norms and values of the Navajos supply life’s guiding principles.
A bedrock Navajo cultural value is individual autonomy, a.k.a. ethic of noninterference: No person may speak for or direct the actions of another. So as soon as a young child appears to be comprehending daily events, their wishes begin to be respected by parents and other adults as much as possible. After just a few years, that child’s autonomy is virtually unrestricted.
Navajo parents are not responsible for their children’s actions. Parent–child relationships are egalitarian. Jack’s parents probably care that he has not come home, but Jack is responsible for Jack. If they want Jack to return home, they’ll need to find him, then persuade him to return.
For thought
Are you wondering what happened to Jack? He had gone to a nearby town to see Rambo II with friends and decided to remain there. His parents eventually went looking for him. Upon finding him, they reminded him that the crops were ready to be planted, the sheep needed to be sheared, and a religious event had to be planned. His extended family needed him. Jack was persuaded. He returned home with his parents, but not until they’d all gone shopping.
Related stories
Stories 1.11, 1.15, 1.18, 4.10, 4.14, and 7.09 also concern Native American groups, usually Navajos in the U.S. Southwest. Several other stories describe mental misalignments involving indigenous groups in Alaska, Hawaii, and British Columbia.
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Endnotes:
7 Deyhle & LeCompte, 158–62.
All full citations are available at misalignedminds.info/References.