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Show 1 Reservation News - - - I S About The $ UINTAH-OURAY INDIAN RESERVATION Indian Bureau Announces Need For Teachers In Its Education Program Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Af-fairs, Glenn L. Emmons, emphasized em-phasized today the existing need for teachers to carry out the Bureau's education program. The critical shortage of teachers in the nation has adversely af fected this program to furnish educational opportunities for the 127,000 Indian children in this country and Alaska. For some time to come, Mr. Emmons indicated, a great need for teachers will exist on the Navajo Reservation of Arizona, New Mexico' and Utah where the Bureau is operating and expanding ex-panding school facilities for Navajo children. This need is one of continuing importance; for, of the 20,000 school age Indian children who are not enrolled in any school, 14,000 of them are in this Navajo area. ar-ea. The program of teacher recruitment re-cruitment ' organized by the Indian In-dian Bureau's area offices with the aid of the United States Civil Civ-il Service Commission examinations exam-inations has not yet reached its goal of filling each position with fully qualified and interested teachers. Mr. Emmons declared: "We are seeking teachers who ' are interested in the problems of the Indian and who wish to help ' these underpriviledged people gain the education necessary neces-sary for their advancement. Our teaching opportunities with the Bureau offer an unusual leadership opportunity for the teacher who wishes to combine rural teaching experience, professional pro-fessional skill, and resourcefulness resourceful-ness to provide practical learning learn-ing experience for alert and grateful young people so they may face the future with confidence. con-fidence. The work is hard, but stimulating for the teacher who undertakes this challenging assignment. as-signment. This job is also desirable de-sirable for there are many opportunities op-portunities for advancement; and transfers between locations are often possible for those who wish a change. "Our program operates to a very large extent in a rugged but picturesque county of high plateaus, deserts, and timbered mountains Often attended . by somewhat rigorous living conditions. con-ditions. Any environmental hardships is offset by the opportunity oppor-tunity to travel and to learn about a colorful part of our American culture. One of v the other things which we consider an asset is that most of our i school locations are in areas of healthful climates. This is particularly par-ticularly true on some of the southwestern reservations where the high altitude and dry air make the country an invigorating invigorat-ing place in which to live." The Commissioner also explained ex-plained that teachers in this field are more than teachers in the usual sense; they are often called upon to be leaders in the community in which they are serving, to guide adults as well as children. Under the educational educa-tional leadership of the teacher, the Bureau schools have become community centers for the social and economic needs of many tribes. Here a) teacher often finds himself teaching new skills to' adults who' come to watch their children learn. The education program of the Bureau, which is carried on in 17 Western and Southern states and in Alaska, consists of the operation of day schools, boarding board-ing schools both on and off the reservation, and trailer school units. These schools have been established to provide educational educa-tional opportunities for Indian children who are not yet within reach of public schools and to bring standard teaching procedures proced-ures into these backward areas. The schools vary in staff from over 100 members to the single teachers who operate the Navajo trailer schools for those Navajos who are nomadic. Those interested in this pro- gram may obtain further information infor-mation on the Bureau's education educa-tion program at the Uintah-Ouray Uintah-Ouray Indian Reservation at Ft. Duchesne. |