The odds were against any success at all. For two weeks this summer, a dozen Princeton teenagers tried teaching school near Nazlini, on the Navaho Four corners Reservation, about 100 miles from Gallup, New Mexico.
They had no training in teaching. They were given what some termed an "old fashioned Presbyterian Bible School" curriculum to follow. In researching the Navajo before they left Princeton, the most recent book they could find was published in 1957.
"We didn't know what were their needs," Abraham Menasche said on their return to Princeton.
Log Cabin School. The teenagers live and held school in a log cabin about 30 miles from the Presbyterian mission. Nearby was the tribal chapter house and a trading post. "For us it was very difficult ... it took us time to settle in and get used to each other," Barbara Sullivan said later. They were the first of the young peoples' groups sponsored by the Presbyterian Church to live on the reservation.
The work unit was organized by Youth Associates, 20 Nassau, and comprised Alissa Cawley, Barbara Sullivan, Abraham Menasche, John Panzer, Tom Ford, John Provinzano, George Dyson, Gifford Mardoni, Ellen Schattsneider, Rick Davis and Dave Turner, a member of Youth Associates' staff.
They enrolled their Navajo students by driving around the dirt back roads with an interpreter, stopping at every hogan to announce the school. "The hogans are dirty, filthy." said Tom Ford. "They were six or eight-sided huts with a door and a hole in the ceiling. There were one or two beds in them for as many as 14 people ..."
"No men between 20 and 40 came to our day school," Alissa Cawly added. "In the hogans we saw them all just lying around idle."
The young people recruited nearly 50 "students." Few spoke English. The Navajos ranged in age from toddler to the elderly. The younger women brought their infants.
There were few teenagers, the one age group the Princeton young people would best understand. "We were told that they were away in some kind of summer school in Denver," John Provinzano added.
Some mornings the little church would be filled with blue-jeaned Indian children, women in their long skirts and velveteen blouses, elderly men. Other days as few as 25 appeared.
A Smile Speaks. The language barrier troubled the Princeton young people more than any other problem, but oddly enough, it was this that put the school on its feet.
"They are so silent, so shy. You had to give so much of yourself in order to come across." Abraham says. "We felt that when they went home, they were full of what we had taught them -- but they would NEVER tell us!"
With every ingenuity they could think of, the Princeton teens developed a nearly nonverbal method of teaching, improvising the curriculum each day. "The geographies we brought were the most fascinating thing to them, especially the women don't speak English," said one of the youngsters.
Barbara left materials on the tables for them to use as they wished -- crayons, watercolors, clap. "The older people are very much interested in drawing the face, and if we had had a longer time, I think I could have developed that."
"We put on a couple of skits -- of Bible stories, and tried experimental drama."
"The children -- we tried to teach them by playing with them, singing with them. We had sports -- the Navajo is very athletic."
"Abraham helped teach some of the women basic math. A couple of the kids gave music lessons ..."
"Another thing we did was learn to sing "Jesus Loves Me" in Navajo from their hymnbook ... They were very proud of their Navajo minister."
"One of the women would bring her work with her -- beading and other things. It was fascinating."
"I was impressed at how much they walked. One old lady who had come 30 miles, taught us how to make fired bread -- with flour, water and baking soda. They eat that three times a day. Sometimes they have lamb stew ..."
The serenity. One boy said, "I felt I learned so much from them and from the people there. I'd like to go back -- the serenity, the beauty, the lack of competition -- I thought nothing like this could exist!"
During their two weeks on the reservation, the teens repaired the log church and constructed two concrete-foundation outhouses. "The best two-seaters on the reservation!"
Several went climbing in Bear Canyon. Abraham and Dave Turner, attended a meeting in the Indian's chapter house, gleaning from it the Navajos' hope that small industry can be attracted to the reservation to previous employment.
"The reservation is a world of its own," one girl said, "When their people return from the outside -- and a lot of their boys are serving in Vietnam -- they go through a cleansing ritual at a prayer meeting in the chapter house.
Indian Poverty. The Navajo live in extended family groups of up to 30 people, the Princeton teens reported. "The family is the most important thing to them. They have very young marriages."
Most of them are on welfare -- they have some crops, some cattle, but it's all subsistence life. There's no TV in the hogans, no electricity, no running water. They use public wells."
"Some of the civil rights legislation in education and welfare helps the Negro and hurts the Navajo -- because the Navajo is the ward of the Government. They should have a head start program on the reservation because they have to learn English."
"A lot of them live in the border towns -- which are between cultures. There is a lot of drinking in the border towns. One girl I talked to said she would not marry a Navajo because they drink too much and eat peyote."
A teenager, mindful of the smiling, silent Navajo students, said, "I think they are a happy people. There was interest in what we were doing. The adults especially are interested in getting the children exposed to get them ahead."
"I wouldn't say they are happy. They have accepted great hardship." said another.
All but one of the Princeton teens came home after two weeks. They have received letters from their "students" and plan to keep in touch. "We'd like to go back if we could be involved in some project that we thought was worthwhile."
The last to return was Ellen Schattsneider. "She was training a horse for a Navajo family."