Excerpt:
"The more time one spends in rural Alaska, especially among Native peoples, the more one realizes that a rich and detailed heritage exists. Unfortunately, much of this heritage is being lost or forgotten in the inrush of the twentieth century. Oral traditions do not have the medium of print to sustain them; their fragile existence depends upon memory and the passing on of traditions by word of mouth. As the people who remember these 'old times' themselves grow old and die, and as schools and other imposed institutions alter value systems and change lifestyles, what is remembered dwindles rapidly. The only way that oral history can be preserved is through the medium of speech. Since indigenous methods are no longer practiced, it is necessary to seek out these people who remember and interview them in order to preserve their knowledge for the future."

» Culturally-Based Curriculum Resources