REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS 
 
INDIAN PARTICIPATION 
That the Indians themselves should be consulted regarding these 
and other plans for education of their children is axiomatic. We 
welcome signs of initiative on the part of Indians to work them- 
selves free from dependence and take an interest in their own edu- 
cational affairs. In the case of one tribe, the Choctaw, the Indian 
Office recently arranged a special plan of consultation in connection 
with the plans for education of the Indian children. Under the law 
we spend for them some $55,000 annually of tribal funds for school- 
ing. The principal chief of the tribe, Ben Dwight, has drawn up the 
plan whereby, in order to secure the education of Choctaw children, 
particularly orphans, in public schools rather than in institutions, 
children are to be placed in the families of other Indians. His plan 
contains some things that are difficult, of course, but the important 
point is that the Choctaw, through him (for Mr. Dwight is acting 
as the result of a decision formally reached at a meeting of the tribe),

are not only determined to have their people part of the main current 
of American life instead of being isolated from it but are plunging 
in to do their own experimenting, as good citizens should, rather than 
wait for the Federal Government or the State government to act. 
An important aim of the Federal Government's program of Federal- 
State cooperation is to turn over to the State as many able Indian 
citizens as possible. 
K]                          THE EXISTING SCHOOLS 
The task of improving existing Indian schools, regardless of their 
ultimate disposition, has vigorously gone forward during the past 
year. Particularly significant have been additions and changes in 
personnel made possible by increased appropriations and the rais- 
ing of standards. Mention has already been made of the appoint- 
ment of heads of some of the most important schools. The quali- 
fications set up for these positions included university training 
on a graduate basis in the field of educational administration, to- 
gether with adequate experience in the same field. Equally signifi- 
cant are the changed requirements for educational positions else- 
where in the service. In the belief that the elementary teacher's 
position was of unsurpassed importance to the program, the require- 
inents were again raised, this time to a minimum of three years of 
training above the high-school level, with special preparation for 
teaching children of the primary or intermediate state. Two-year 
normal graduates can no longer enter teaching positions in our 
service. In taking this step we are joining with the increasing num- 
ber of communities that insist upon having teachers of young chil- 
dren as highly qualified as those teaching older children. Nearly all 
our new entrants are graduates of 4-year teachers' colleges or liberal- 
arts colleges furnishing teacher preparation. The entrance salary for 
elementary teachers was increased and of the 614 elementary teachers 
already in the service, 163, or 27 per cent, met the new requirements 
before they went into effect. Of this number 50 have a baccalaureate 
degree. 
 
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