[Reading-hall-of-fame] Alice Paul and Parent Education

[Thomas Sticht]

July 14, 2021

Alice Paul and Parent Education in Native American Early Childhood Education

Tom Sticht, International Consultant in Adult Education (Ret.)

On July 14, we  celebrate the birth and life of Dr. Alice S. (Narcho) Paul
(1930-2005), the first Native American from the Tohono O’odham Nation to
receive a Ph. D. from the University of Arizona, where she went on to work
as a professor of early childhood education for over three decades.

I first encountered Paul’s work when she presented a paper on early
childhood education programs (Head Start; Follow Through) for the 1988
Conference on The Intergenerational Transfer of Cognitive Skills (Paul,
1991a). As an adult educator I was especially interested in her paper in
which she referred to the importance of education for parents and noted
that “Over the years of intervention, both Head Start and Follow Through
have demonstrated that parents are their children’s first teachers” (p. 38).

Paul’s beliefs in the importance of parent’s education in the development
of children’s education was documented further in a paper for the Indian
Nations at Risk Task Force (Paul, 1991b). Here she argued, “Finally, it
seems that not only do preschools and public schools have to successfully
solicit parent involvement, but they must also offer the parents
educational and self-improvement opportunities…Many early education
literacy researchers are pointing to the critical factor of parent literacy
level in predicting the literacy success of the child as support for parent
literacy school programs….The Colville Tribes of Washington State have used
Title V funds to increase their parents literacy skill levels and also to
train the parents in specific strategies for helping their children with
schoolwork. This has helped them bring many of their students up to grade
level” (p. 5).

Following Alice Paul’s passing in 2005, the University of Arizona noted
that she, “… lived in two culturally defined worlds. In one, her parents
brought her up understanding Tohono O'odham practices, which included her
grandmother's knowledge of herbal remedies. In the other, she traveled
across the nation to educate parents and teachers with the mindset to
create a world full of possibilities for children. Paul noted, 'It's been
like walking a fence to live in two different worlds. I can understand the
view on one side as well as the other’. She interlinked both cultures in
her day to day life, her work and in her many published works such as,
'Cultural Aspects that Affect the Indian Student in Public Schools' written
in 1983 and 'Early Childhood Education in American Indian and Alaska Native
Communities' written in 1992.”

On May 5th, 2005 the United States Congressional Record published a
statement by the Hon. Rau L.M. Grijalva entitled HONORING DR. ALICE S. PAUL
in which he recounted many of Paul’s achievements: “Mr. Speaker, I rise
today in honor of Dr. Alice S. Paul, an exceptional citizen of my
community, our country, and the Tohono O’odham Nation. Dr. Paul’s life,
which unfortunately ended too soon on May 3, 2005, exemplifies the impact
of public education at a time when we need to speak about its power. Dr.
Alice Paul is a product of public education and leaves a legacy of its
worth. As a life-time educator, she extended the power of public education
far beyond her own experience. Her focus was early childhood education, and
she traveled widely helping communities improve their early childhood
educational systems. Her work had direct impact on the lives of young
children and their families throughout the United States, from rural Alaska
to urban New Jersey. After her retirement she even served as a consultant
to the Taiwanese educational system.”



The Women's Plaza of Honor publicly and permanently celebrates women who
have made significant contributions to the history of Arizona or whose
lives have otherwise enriched the lives of othersBeyond  her many
achievements at the University of Arizona and with the Follow Through
program , Paul devoted herself to Native American education and helped
create the Tohono O'odham Community College, and served on the board of
Trustees for the College, she supported the National Museum of the American
Indian (NMAI) in Washington D.C. and served on the board of the Arizona
State Museum concerning Indigenous cultural matters. She also worked on
Tohono O'odham Nation committee on the Association of the Education of
Young Children, which went on to honor her contributions.



The Winter 2020 edition of the University of Arizona Alumni Association
news has an article Katy Smith (2020) entitled “Inspiration that Persists:
The Enduring Legacy of Alice Paul the first Tohono O’odham member to earn U
Arizona Doctoral degree. Karen Francis-Begay, the university’s assistant
vice provost of Native American initiatives discusses the impact that Paul
had on her and others from Native American background and said, “Once you
have the degree, many more opportunities and doors open. Then this
lightbulb sort of goes off, and you think, ‘That’s what people like Alice
Paul and others have done for me.’ So I’m going to continue that.” May we
all!

References

Paul, A. (1991a). Two decades of early childhood intervention. In: T.
Sticht, M. Beeler, & B. McDonald (Eds.). The Intergenerational Transfer of
Cognitive Abilities: Volume 1: Programs, Policy, and Research Issues.
Norwood, New Jersey, Ablex Publishing Corporation. (pp. 32-40)

Paul, A. (1991b). Childhood Education in American Indian and Alaska Native
Communities. Paper for Indian Nations at Risk Task force. U. S. Department
of Education, Washington, DC.

(Available online using a Google search)

Smith, K. (2020, Winter). Inspiration that Persists: The Enduring Legacy of
Alice Paul the first Tohono O’odham member to earn U Arizona Doctoral
degree. https://arizonaalumni.com/article/inspiration-persists



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