True Story 1.15
Anglo teachers’ explanations for Navajo pupils’ silence
The setting for this story
Ben, a doctoral candidate, focused his dissertation project on exploring a characteristic of Navajo pupils that often frustrates their Anglo teachers: adapting to their pupils’ frequent silences, even when asked a question to which many know the answer. Ben’s explanation follows.
A story of misaligned minds17
I’ve now interviewed a dozen Anglo teachers of Navajo pupils who work in both public schools and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools. As one teacher put it, if you ask a simple question and they’re all silent, you think, “They’re not getting any of this! What am I gonna do with these kids?” Five explanations have surfaced for Navajo pupils’ silence. Here they are in the teachers’ own words:
- Most of the students are visual, not verbal, learners. That’s how they’ve been taught, by watching others do things. Their whole big thing is keeping their eyes peeled, watching – like, for coyotes.
- Some pupils know the answer to some of their teachers’ questions. But they can’t be bothered to answer. They use silence as a ploy to appear dumb so they won’t have to expend much energy.
- They’re like, “If you impress me, I’ll do something. But if I’m not impressed, I’m just going to sit here. If I remain silent, sooner or later you’ll quit bugging me.”
- They need extra time to interpret into Navajo, to think in Navajo, and then to convert answers back into English. So it’s going to take longer. We need to give them more time.
- It goes beyond reticence and shyness. They don’t value education like we do, so they have little reason to be responsive. After all, “D” grades are enough to get them a diploma.
Ben’s question
Do one or more of these explanations accurately explain why Navajo pupils tend to remain silent?
Critique of story 1.15
Of the Anglo teachers’ explanations, the one that probably is a factor some of the time is Number 4: They need extra time. Given that Anglo teachers typically believe that lessons must be quick-paced, researchers say that pupils learning a second language really do need more time to internally interpret between languages, just as you and I would.
What does research have to say about the other four explanations?
Number 1: They are visual learners. Yes, Navajo youngsters do learn how to do things largely by watching parents and other adults. That identifies one way Navajo children learn. It says nothing about their learning in other ways. Note that when Navajo children watch adults, they’re virtually always trying to master manual or social skills, which are very different from the concepts their teachers are quizzing them about. Also note that the children must attend evening campfires featuring elders who talk at great length about their society’s traditions and values. Children are expected to absorb and apply this spoken information in their lives, but they’re never quizzed about its content.
Number 2: They can’t be bothered to answer. Some pupils do know the answers. The reason they don’t reveal this is that one of the Navajo’s social mores is to never do anything that appears to set one above, or apart from, peers. Answering would set that pupil apart.
Number 3: They are not impressed. This might apply in isolated cases.
Number 5: They don’t value education. Yes, “D” grades will get students a diploma if they remain in school. But many students doubt a diploma will get them anything worthwhile, based on their personal awareness of what became of recent diploma-holders.
Research has revealed that proper behavior for young Navajos in the presence of an adult who is speaking to them is to be nonverbally attentive by remaining silent but fully alert. Anglo teachers’ Q&A method expects behavior that is 180° different, creating ambiguity, i.e., uncertainty about one’s expected role or response. For Navajos of any age, proper behavior in the face of ambiguity is to remain silent.
For thought
Imagine yourself as a Navajo child during her first year of school. Your classroom is unlike any familiar place. Your teacher is not Navajo and speaks only English. You’re familiar with adults’ giving you information, but you’ve never been given information in this way! Why is my teacher asking us questions to which she knows the answers? This doesn’t feel right. If I were to respond to a Navajo elder the way my teacher wants me to respond, I’d be severely reprimanded.
Related stories
Stories 4.14, 7.09, and 10.12 similarly relate Native students’ “passive” behavior in Anglo classrooms. Consider also Story 1.11, about formal meetings between Navajo and Anglo adults.
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Endnotes:
17 Plank, 4–5, 9–10, 12.
Full citations are available at misalignedminds.info/References.