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Uqaġupta naalaġniuruksraurusi: When we talk, you listenThe Alaska Dispatch article, “Parents charged with crimes after kids repeatedly miss school,” from Aug. 30, 2011, describes the issue of student truancy in schools in some Western Alaska Native communities and the possible legal ramifications for parents, but it does not address the more important question of whether the current schools have a legitimate place in Alaska Native communities, let alone an unquestionable moral authority that parents should bow to. Instead, the article privileges the socially, culturally, and politically biased views of the state, and misses an important opportunity to interrogate the historical and contemporary nature of American schooling for Alaska Native peoples, and the colonial perspectives and attitudes that have contributed to its evolution to the present day. By failing to raise the question of “what is or should be the purpose of schooling for Alaska Native peoples?” talk of truancy in the article takes place within a historical and political vacuum, and we as readers are expected to take for granted that schools have and continue to play a benevolent role in Alaska Native communities. Parents should support schools and ensure that our children attend simply because we are told to. We are expected to unquestioningly support teachers and what is taught even though we are almost never asked what we think should be taught and how. This is problematic because as Alaska Native peoples, we have arguably lost more than we have gained from American education, despite the good (though often misguided) intentions of many teachers, administrators, and school board members. Schooling is never a politically neutral act, but carries with it the political views and attitudes of those making decisions about what our children ought to learn, how they learn, and for what purposes. The balance of power always tips in favor of teachers and schools when parents are not consulted about what they believe should be prioritized in their child’s learning, and this creates distrust and apathy toward schooling. Trust matters, education researchers tell us, because it is foundational to the healthy functioning of schools in communities, to parent support, and to the academic success of students. Alaska Native peoples have lacked real control over our own schooling for the entire 100-year period of government-run schooling in Alaska Native communities. Throughout this time, primarily non-Native educators from the Lower 48 have staffed schools and English has been the exclusive language of instruction. Except in rare cases, curricula and pedagogy are imported from the Lower 48 and used in culturally and ethnically homogenous Alaska Native classrooms. Stephen C. Dinero, an academic, has written (December 2004: “The politics of education provision in rural Native Alaska: the case of Yukon Village”) about his conversations with non-Native educators who do not view themselves as part of a systemic problem in Native education, but rather as a solution. Communities must work harder to welcome and accommodate new teachers, these educators say, while at the same time community members express deep frustration that what has stature, value, and relevance in our communities is not included in the education system. For many parents, there is little reason to invest in an education system that has done little to reconcile historical wrongs through the empowerment of indigenous communities to be culturally, politically, and economically self-determining. Hem, hem----please note, we honkies are in a damned if we do and damned if we don't situation. If we don't provide Alaska Natives with the same or better educational opportunities as we provide our own kids, we are accused of discrimination. If we bow to thinking like this and let Natives come up with whatever program they think is appropriate for their children, we have no across the board standards and again, get blamed if those local programs fail the kids. It's always our fault. We give too much latitude or we give too little, and always, no matter what, it's our fault each and every time "our" school program doesn't work out for everyone and fails to meet all the needs and goals of every "group" within the society. We could give billions of dollars for teachers who teach Geometry in Tlingit, and it wouldn't change a thing. Young Alaska Natives would still be up against two worlds, trying to figure out where and how they fit in, and how they want to live. And something else would still be the same: Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cal Tech, and Michigan State all have standards. If you want to have a shot at the brass ring in the modern world, you have to meet or beat the standards of top schools. You have to work hard to gain an education and skills that are valuable to other people here and around the world. Otherwise, you can sit on an ice berg and eat muk-tuk, and nobody will harass you or care, so long as you don't come back and tell us about how we didn't give you equal rights and opportunities, how your village didn't have Advanced Placement access, how your local curriculum failed to prepare young Natives, etc., etc., People like this writer are dreamers, idealists, who always want something else and blame whatever is. The more practical person is bound to come up with a little Native wisdom of their own and say Qwitcherbitchin. Make use of the opportunities you have, and if you want more or different, work with the system to fine-tune things. That's what other parents and teachers all over the world have to do, and here's your chance, too. A fabulous voice that ties modern Alaska Native behavior to the history of education in the territory and state- exactly how every state service and its result should be viewed.Modern Alaskan figures are usually ignorant of the historical context in which their decisions are received. A hundred years of non-Native governance has left its mark on the client community. Powerful argument for change in the schools that teach children in regions of Alaska where, if they stay, they will not encounter many others in the mainstream culture, but will need to be able to thrive as well as survive. Repeating the mistakes made in the past will not ensure a future for these children. Listening to what their parents want and working in partnership with them to educate their children will. The school's basic mission is to teach Reading, Writing and Math. It is determined by years of research that skills aquired in those 3 important areas will give any student anywhere in the world a better opportunity for a successful life. As a Native people, we need to quite crying about what was done in the past and move on. Schools have rules, the same rules children have to follow as adults in any society anywhere in the world. It's not about a special race of people, it's about fitting in with everybody not like us. |
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