THE PLACE OF ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE
AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM

John H. Chilcott

In elementary school classrooms across the nation on any morning during
the course of a school year, shrill sounds of imitation Indian war cries and

the beat of throbbing drums echo down the corridors. Thousands upon thousands

of children have "experienced" Indian culture through participation in learning
activities such as plays, building teepis, and collecting arrowheads.  In term
of nationwide totals, the time spent by public school children studying the

American Indian is prodigious. One young adult acquaintance of mine claims to
have built four teepis during the course of his public school education. As

anthropologists I don't believe we would object to this time being spent on the
American Indian, but we may object to the manner in Which the American Indian
is studied.' The purpose of this paper is to examine briefly the manner in

which anthropological topics are presented in our public schools and suggest
some alternatives which might result in the better utilization of this time.

Not all areas of ahtihropology are treated as glibly as is the American
Indian. Physical anthropology at the present time is included in many general

science courses taken during the Junior High School years. This course includes
treatment of fossil man and race characteristics. The texts are accurate and

the teachers, when informed on these topics, do an excellent job of presentation.
Unfortunately the presentation of fossil man is not well received in some com-
munities.

Social studies teachers (from junior high school on) are beginning to

move away from a purely historical and geographical approach toward an approach
in which the total culture is given considerationo  The well-trained social

studies teacher today includes customs, values, soCial structure, mterial cul-
ture and even, in some cases, folk lore when she covers the #history" of a

country. In many cases these teachers have taken a course in anthropology and
utilize anthropological concepts in their teaching. A limitation here appears
to be the unavailability of an introductory anthropology course rather than
the reluctance of a prospectiVe teacher to include such a course as part of
her general background.

Unfortunately many of our public school teachers, especially at the
elementary level do not have the proper training and orientation to teach

about indigenous peoples. Television and the movies are not alone at fault in
developing the accepted stereotype of an American Indian as a Plains Indian.

The public school teacher has contributed to this also. At a curriculum work-

shop in Oregon a few years ago, one unit of learning which was proudly presented
to the group included among other things the following topics: a description of
a Hopi village, a description of how the Northwest Coast Indians build their

plank houses, and an account of ofocean shoreline wave erosion.  To an untrained

teacher, combining a v-ariety of cultures without respect for cul tural differences
is perfectly legi~timate. Her main objective in doing this is not to develop a

68

sense of cultural relativity but to stimulate her students' interests. As long
as they are interested it makes little difference what happens to the culture.
Consequently the children end up studying a hodge-podge of cultures and a con-
glomeration of various culture traits from a variety of cultures.  To confuse
the situation further, teachers have a tendency to concentrate on exotic cul-
tures instead of representative cultures.

One concept which anthropologists attempt to get across to their students
is that a culture trait sihould not be examined out of context from the total

culture. Fortunately they haven't visited a school classroom lately. Public

school teachers have an effusive-fondness for material culture, so much so that
they hardly mention the non-material culture. Furthermore, they are also very
fond of clothing (their womanly instinct). They examine clothing from a wide

variety of cultures not to explain why clothing differs from culture to culture
but to point out the uniqueness of the clothing.

Before the teacher introduces the child to a foreign culture she should
have some general objectives concerning what she wishes to accomplish through
this presentation. If the teacher realized that her purpose in introducing
foreign cultures was to develop a sense of cultural relativity or tolerance,

her presentation might be better organized. If she knew that she was attempting
to illustrate the complexity of human behavior, she would select cultures which
best illustrate this point.

I suggest the following as one approach to the study of culture: the
child would be introduced to a different culture each year, starting in the

fourth grade. Each culture would be covered intensively, not several cultures
sketchily. At the fourth grade level the culture would be representative of

hunters and gatherers. In the fifth grade the culture would be representative
of herdsmen and the sixth grade culture studied would be representative of

agriculturalists. The selection of specific cultures for presentation during
the latter years of the elementary school would be based upon features of land
use and types of staple food product.

During the child's first year in junior high school (7th grade) he

would be introduced to two literate societies. The eighth graders' attention
would be given to the ancient Western civilizations. The civilizations would
be studied in,terms of change. For example, the student would study the cul-
ture of Homeric Greece and then shift to the culture of the Golden Age. The

teacher would tie in changes which had taken place by comparing the two cultures,
indicating the degree of development along with the degree and sources of

acculturation. In this manner the student would follow the growth of Western
civilization. He would, in effect, develop a "diffusion chart" indicating the
spread of Western culture.

When the student reached his third year in high school he would have

an excellent foundation for studying Western civilization in the modern world
and the integration of Western cultures. In his final year of high school he
would make an intensive study of current American value systems. American

culture would be examined in terms of acculturation, diffusion and invention.

The influence of the American Indian cultures studied in the elementary school
would become more apparent.

69

In essence what I suggest here is the substitution of an anthropological
approach for an historical approach to the development of mane It may surprise
you to leam that the anthropological approach is more in accord with modern

pedagogical theory than is the purely historical approach.   Professional educators
have urged teachers for a number of years to integrate- related subject fields

such as literature and history. Anthropology, more than any of the other social
sciences, integrates the diverse topics in the study of man.

You may wish to argue with the curricular pattem suggested above but

you cannot argue that the current practices employed in presenting*anthropologi-
cal topics in our public schools need considerable revi'sion. The center of any
revision would have to be the teacher. Fortunately schools of education are

becoming aware of the contribution which anthropologists can make to the field
of education. Two well known schools Harvard and Stanford, have employed

anthropologists as part of their regular teaching staff. We need a course which
bridges the gap between anthropology and the classroom teacher. Such a course

should include both anthropological content and procedures of presentation. It
should dispel common misconceptions such as geographic determinism or that

primitive people are less intelligent.  It must emphasize the need to study the
whole culture, not only the material culture. It should indicate how children
can study a foreign culture without deculturating themselves or, at the other

extreme, becoming highly ethnocentric. Perhaps the most important contribution
which such a course could make is in assisting teachers to teach about change.
It has been stated that more change has occurred during the present generation
than in all previous history. If this is true then we. should be educating our
children to accept and live with change.

Aside from the general curriculum there are specialized curricula

toward which anthropologists could contribute.  One such curriculum is in the

area of foreign languages.  I am amazed at the small contribution which liaguists
have made to foreign language teaching. The simple fact that verbal language

precedes written language would indicate that the child's first contact with a
foreign language should be on the oral not written basisO

Current proposals for the inclusion of anthropology in the public school
curriculum do not follow my theory. A review of the literature on the topic
discloses that anthropology is suggested as a separate subject in the high

school curriculum. There are several accounts of the success of such a course.
The current lack of success of similar courses such as sociology, economics,

and psychology in the high school curriculum argues against this approach. I

feel the separate course approach is too late and too artificial. Children need
to be introduced properly to foreign cultures at an earlier age and in a more
natural fashion.

The time has arrived for anthropologists to suggest means and topics
which can be properly developed as part of the curricular patterns of our

American public schools. The time has already been allocated; the method and
content need revision.

70