ALASKA NATIVES COMMISSION
JOINT FEDERAL-STATE COMMISSION
ON
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS AFFECTING
ALASKA NATIVES
4000 Old Seward Highway, Suite 100
Anchorage,
Alaska 99503
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Witness List | Exhibit
List
| PDF Version
Deposition Exhibit #2 - Angela
Jackson
Alaska Natives Commission Hearing
Fairbanks, Alaska
July 18, 1992
Good Morning! I'm very honored to have the opportunity
to speak to you on behalf of my people from the Ahtna Region.
I was born
and raised in Gulkana, Alaska. I attended Gakona Elementary
School and graduated from Glennallen High School. I entered my
freshman
year at Glenallen along with approximately 16 Native students.
When I graduated there were only four of us. In my testimony
I hope to give you a few ideas which may help the future education
of the Ahtna Native students.
The Copper River School District
serves most of the villages in the Ahtna Region. Throughout
my elementary and high school
education, our district has only hired two Native teachers
out of a total of 6 elementary and 3 high schools. As a student,
the only teachers I had were non-Native. I feel very strongly
that Native students would succeed in school if we had Native
teachers to be our role models.
During my school years, I
had a very hard time with Native pride. During the first few
years of elementary school I
remember having
a beading class taught by one of our Native elders. I enjoyed
this beading class because it not only helped the Native
students but also gave the other non-Native students an
understanding of part of our culture. Other than the beading
class held
for
only a couple years I saw no other aspects of my Native
culture. The teachers were White. Everything we faced was completely
of the Western culture.
In order for the Athabascans to
survive as a distinct culture, we need to regain the language
in my generation. The schools
in my district are minority Native. I understand there
is a Native Language bill which would implement Native
language
classes in
majority Native schools. Native language classes are
very important
to know if a culture is going to survive. I would like
to see the Native languages implemented in all elementary
and
high
schools. The language is just as important to us for
survival as it is
for others.
I have grown up in my region with the non-Natives
knowing little about my culture. I strongly believe that most
of the teachers
knew nothing of my culture. I was taught by teachers
whom most were recruited from the Lower 48. I would
have felt
more comfortable
in school if not only the students knew more of my
culture but also the teachers. The district needs to educate
all the new
teachers of the history of the region including knowledge
of the local Athabascans. I would have also liked to
learn more
of the history of the region in school and more of
the diverse cultures in Alaska.
My parents are foster parents
and the Native girl who is living with us is attending elementary
school. I
also have
a younger
brother who is a freshman and a sister who is a senior
in high school. This year our-village received a
grant to hire
a tutor
for all the students in the village. Since the tutor
has been hired we have seen a lot of improvement
in all their
grades.
I am very proud of all of them. I believe tutors
in every village would help the Native students as it
did for
our village.
I would have been more encouraged as
a Native student to graduate if the schools in the Copper River
School
District
made an
effort to hire Native teachers, implemented in
their curriculum the
Athabascan language in both the elementary and
high school, hire tutors in every village for the Native
students,
and require more to be taught of the region's history
including
the local
Athabascans to the students and teachers of the
district.
Once again I am very honored to have been chosen
to speak to you. I hope this will help the future
Native
students
to succeed
in their education. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Angela Jackson
Gulkana, Alaska
This document was ocr scanned. We have made every attempt to
keep the online document the same as the original, including
the recorder's original misspellings or typos.
