Braindrain on the Navajo Reservation

This is a real interesting issue: Navajos urge their children to go to school to get an education and bring that education back to the reservation, but when the young Navajos graduate from college, it is very difficult to find employment on the Navajo reservation. There have been several letters to the Navajo Times editor from young Navajos about not being able to find jobs on the reservation. These Navajos criticize the Navajo system and find refuge in the bordertowns and cities that surround the reservation.

Foremost, most of the young writers who criticize the system on the Navajo reservation are only people with undergraduate degrees. In American society, it is very difficult to obtain meaningful employment with only an undergraduate degree. To get a good job, one needs some sort of graduate degree. I think these young writers need to obtain a graduate decree to improve their chances of finding any meaningful employment. That’s one reason people pursue their graduate degrees. If you look at the tribal government job listings, alot of meaningful jobs require professional degrees and licenses.

On the other hand, there is some truth to how the Navajo Nation holds its standards high while those who prescribe those same standards cannot meet such standards themselves. In particular, the Navajo government says that there must be standards for its tribal employees. Degrees and licenses are made conditions to employment on the Navajo Nation. However, why aren’t these same standards applied to these tribal employees who make these rules? In particular, why aren’t degrees and licenses required of the Navajo Nation Council Delegates? Or of the Navajo Nation President? Or of Navajo Nation Judges? Even Chapter Officials who lead at the local level?

The same holds true with standards in Navajo language and culture. Why aren’t tribal employees in high positions, such as the council delegates and tribal attorneys who advise them, required to have language and culture standards? That leads to my criticism of the young writers who are unable to attain a job on the Navajo reservation.

I think that those in power in the Navajo government do not want to relinquish their power to educated Navajos who cannot speak Navajo and have no understanding of their culture. For those who become educated in the Bilagana institutions with professional degrees and licenses, these people are still considered to be uneducated because they still need education in Navajo culture and language. I think that’s one thing that our People fear: For educated fools who don’t know their culture and language to lead them.

In addition to nepotism, high unemployment, etc., these might be some additional reasons it’s hard to get a job on the Navajo reservation for young Navajos wishing to bring back their expertise back to their People.

To reverse brain drain, get rid of roadblocks
Navajo Times
Letter to the Editor
Nov. 29, 2007

Upon reading the article, "World of whiz kids," by Chee Brossy (Nov. 8, 2007), my feelings of disappointment returned, certainly not about the article, but about the speech rendered by Vice President Shelly at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society conference.

At a very young age, I recall the same "mantra," if you will, by educators and leaders: "Get an education and come home to help your people." I'm disappointed by the message because from all directions of instruction the part that's been excluded is the part about how! Certainly there are generalities about how to bring the knowledge home, but a need for a more formalized method to bring home the wealth of knowledge that our Diné students and professionals possess is lacking.

The Navajo Nation has invested in the education of thousands of students (in 2003, 6,500), including those with no intention of returning home or to help the Diné people. A strategy is greatly needed to make this idealistic concept into reality.

Some statistics claim that only a third of our people live on the reservation, while two-thirds reside elsewhere. While the total Navajo population was estimated at around 225,000 members during the 1990 census, the percentage of persons over 18 years old with a bachelor's degree and four or more years of college was around 5.4 percent. This yields about 12,000 Navajos with postsecondary education degrees.

It's almost 20 years later and www.navajo.org boasts a population surpassing 250,000 members, so certainly there are far greater numbers of graduates now. Recognizing that this is a simplistic view, it clearly illustrates the wealth the Navajo people possess.

There is a large pool of individuals who have gained experience, knowledge and expertise in their field and who are available to help our Diné. I have had conversations with others who have experienced obstacles in returning to Dinétah.

Granted that some have no interest in returning, while others choose to stay off the reservation, there is an untapped resource of talent generated by the thousands of dollars of scholarship money invested.

A predicament encountered by many that are interested and have a desire to come home and help their people, is that there is no effective system to do so.

Some of the reasons I've heard are: No available jobs; nepotism wins out; transition back to Dinétah is difficult, both in terms of livelihood and also in terms of regaining or building acceptance of the locals you want to help; difficulty in accepting the "new" way of conducting business; and current leaders are resistant to change. And the list goes on.

While I believe that these are all valid and real justifications for losing interest and motivation to help the people, the root issue is the lack of a systematic approach to bring home the valuable knowledge and resource.

An essential starting point is the Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance Program's mission statement: "...This opportunity is provided as a privilege with the intent that recipients, upon graduation, will return to the Navajo Nation to apply their learning to benefit the continuing development of the Navajo Nation." A mission statement without policies and objectives to reach that mission is ineffective.

Maybe the case is that I, along with many others, have not searched in the right places to find the available resources. In which case, the issue is the lack of promotion and awareness of such a valuable resource.

Understanding that the largest employer is not the Navajo Nation government, there are a number of non-governmental entities that exist and work on the reservation. How about establishing relationships between the Navajo Nation scholarship funding and the upcoming two-, five- and 10-year labor projections and requirements for the Navajo Nation? Another indicator might include the types of jobs the Navajo Nation and other major employers anticipate in the long term. Still yet another possibility is a Web site that connects organizations with people that want to help the Navajo people.

As for me, I have set aside the impractical notion of "coming home" to help, rather, I am focusing my efforts to find ways to help, both on and off the reservation, without having to come home.

For the leaders that send the "Get an education and come home to help your people," leave out "come home" and offer ideas about how to help without having to come home.

And finally, I urge everyone to take an online survey (active for one month) at surveymonkey.com to assess the interest (or lack of interest) in returning to Dinétah, and also the availability of resources to support that goal.

I will send the results to the Navajo Times within a reasonable amount of time - and hope they publish it.

On a separate note: I searched the www.opvp.org Web site, Office of the President and Vice President, for insight into the plan for education and any progress towards that plan, but I did not find it (or for any other key issues for that matter).

Take the Utah and Arizona governors' Web sites as examples to follow in sharing the president's key objectives and developments.

Carma Nez
Salt Lake City, Utah
(Hometown: Aneth, Utah)