Answer:
Despite the fact that he was both excited and terrified to leave with his uncle in the wagon, Ned was overjoyed to be leaving the tribe. His parents will be proud because they know he has the capability to understand and utilize the white ways, and that will allow him to speak to them and aid them in their daily lives.
Quote:
"I turned to look up at my uncle's kind face. […] I was frightened by the thought of being away from home for the first time in my life, but I was also trying to find courage. My uncle seemed to know that.
"Little Boy," he said, "Sister's first son, listen to me. You are not going to school for yourself. You are doing this for your family. To learn the ways of the bilagáanaa, the white people is a good thing. Our Navajo language is sacred and beautiful. Yet all the laws of the United States, those laws that we now have to live by, are in English."