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
Native Education
Issues
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Native Education Panel,
and we have several panelists. And if you'd give us your name,
we'll
get started, and welcome.
MS. JACKSON: My name is Angela Jackson
from Gulkana. Good morning. I am very honored to speak to you
on behalf of my people from
the Ahtna Region. I was born and raised in Gulkana, Alaska. I
attended Gulkana Elementary --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Angela,
I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you, and it's rude, and
I understand; but I've had people wave
in the back that they can't hear. Maybe if you could switch to
that mike, it might be helpful, and --
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: The
other -- one microphone -- upper mike.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON:
I'm sorry, Angela. If you're more comfortable,
start over if you'd like.
(TESTIMONY OF ANGELA JACKSON ATTACHED
AS EXHIBIT #2)
(Applause)
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Next, we'd like to welcome
Rose Isaac.
MS. ISAAC: Good morning. My name is Rose Isaac;
I'm from Tanacross. I also would like to say that I am a member
of
the Interior Education
Council has 13 members, six of them are from the Tanana Chiefs
area, rather the whole Tanana Chiefs Region, six from the Policy
Advisory Council from the University of Alaska Regional Centers
on a statewide level. We also have one elder and one student.
I am honored to be here to give my testimony. Our
ancestors, through us and through our children, have given us
a tribal way
of life, a tribal way of living, and a tribal way of thinking,
which we must and we will continue to teach to all our children.
As people from Western culture introduce to, or impose upon,
Alaska’s tribal people a systems of their ways, Alaska
Natives have had to learn the social, economic, political, and
technical skills of the non-Native forum as well. Increasingly,
competitive job markets; new and useful technologies; and the
political, social, and spiritual challenges tribal people face
today, require us to learn more skills for our survival than
ever before.
Because of the sacred importance of our ancestry,
and because of the circumstances of our history, each Native
student must
learn the lessons and skills of two worlds and two cultures;
but are our educational systems teaching us what we need to know
to survive as a tribal people in a multi-cultural society? Are
our educational systems using appropriate methods of instruction,
which are sensitive to how we learn; methods which allow each
Native student to access their individual potential? And are
our educational systems motivating Native students toward standards
of excellence? Academic centers which produce Native graduates,
whose skills allow them to compete on equal footing with their
non-Native peers?
These are serious questions which call to task
the institutions and individuals of the educational system, who
hold substantial
power; and through their actions, significantly influence the
quality of education for Native students. School districts, school
boards, the presidents of post-- secondary institutions, Board
of Regents, and a State Legislature all make decisions which
directly affect what our children will be taught, how they are
taught, and what educational standards will be acceptable.
The
Alaskan pre-conference participants of the White House Conference
on Indian Education strongly voiced recommendations which recognize
the fact that no singular institution or a singular individual
can be expected to adequately provide the range to services needed
to effectively educate and prepare Native students for the realities
of today's society. Only through a close partnership between
our educational institutions and Native parents, families, tribes,
and Native organizations can the real educating our Native students
be accomplished. The recommendations of the pre-conference participants
called for the doors of our educational institutions to open
widely and allow for Native participation at every level of the
educational process.
Local school districts exercise substantial
influence relative to move every aspect of our children's education.
The number
one priority relative to school district personnel issues continues
to be the need to incorporate qualified Native people into the
staff in the public school at every job level-In Alaska, the
Governor's Commissions of Children and Youth in 1988 reported
that, and I quote:
"Native children make up a significant proportion
of many Native bodies throughout the state; but few, if any,
Native teachers, counselors, or staff are hired to provide
role and cultural models."
We need more Alaska Native and American
Indian teachers. Many Natives do not possess the degrees or certification
requirements
that these positions require; but they offer the cultural understanding
vital for Native young people to succeed in school, and for non-Natives
to understand Native cultures.
In 1988, one of the most frequent
recommendations heard by the Governor's Interim Commission on
Children and Youth from Native
youth was the need for more Native teachers, counselors, and
other role models. There are many teachers who simply do not
fit, are not committed to Native values, and through their own
individual emphasis, knowingly or unknowingly, demean Native
students.
Most teachers alienate themselves from the village
and Native community and do little more than collect a sizable
income. This is not acceptable, it is not cost-effective, and
it is not education, and it has a devastating affect on our
Native children.
All incoming district personnel should be carefully
screened, and only the best should be recruited to serve in our
school.
School districts should utilize local Native advisory boards
to determine what special qualities in teachers, superintendents,
principals, and staff are valued by parents and students.
Recruitment
efforts should extend nationally to hire educationally -- institutions
which have a focus on cross-cultural training
of educators. Local Native advisory boards should be actively
involved in each viewing and selection of the district staff
that will teach our children.
The pre-conference participant
recommend that all districts re-exam curricula to promote and
incorporate relevancy for Alaska Native
students. Basic academic skills must be presented within the
environmental and cultural realities of the student. Materials
and text must reflect the realities of the Native student's life
around him or her. The school environment must reflect and validate
the importance of the Native cultures to motivate students to
learn. What is learned must have a high correlation to practical
application of the community and world in which they -- we live.
Likewise, school districts are asked by the pre-conference
participants to seriously consider the immediate and expanded
inclusion of
Native elders as invaluable resource persons and partners in
the development of curriculum materials for Native students,
and their active involvement in implementing the appropriate
aspects of the curriculum in a classroom, along with school teachers.
Many of our elders will no longer be with us after the next 25
years. When they leave, a large portion of our language and cultures
will leave with them. Elders have always played a central roll
in educating Native children. What they know, and what they have
to teach, belongs in our children's classrooms.
Another recommendation
strongly made was that the school districts support the mandate
for Native studies and Native languages to
be taught right in our schools. It is imperative that all schools
in Alaska integrate Native values, skills development, and languages
in all subject areas taught. Cultural values and ideas, as well
as a need (indiscernible) of thoughts expressing our languages
cannot be reserved for isolated special presentation, or as an
add-on class. They must be integrated into the curriculum of
every course -- math, reading, writing, history, geography, science
-- every text course; and they must be taught at all pre-schools,
elementary, and secondary levels, using developmentally appropriate
practices.
Our teachers and our schools must be geared towards
and focus their attention and efforts on our (indiscernible)
students.
Schools must incorporate mechanisms and provide appropriate staffing
to focus their efforts throughout the school day on the needs
of our (indiscernible) population of students. Schools must-no
longer re-victimize our Native students, whose home situations
are less than functional, by presenting them with inappropriate
curriculums and environments that do not acknowledge their special
learning needs or respect-their Native values, and expect them
to learn. Many of our Native children (indiscernible) come to
the classroom from dysfunctional environments, with intense psychological
impact, which many times must be addressed, in order that learning
can take place. School districts must develop close partnership
with state and tribal agencies, which must provide health and
social services, along with tribal courts, which exercise their
jurisdiction on child welfare matters under the Indian Child
Welfare Act.
Our state educational system must be fundamentally
restructured to ensure that all students can meet higher standards.
Our schools
must on results, not just on procedures. There must be powerful
incentives for teacher performance and improvement, and real
consequences for persistent teacher failure. Gifted, creative,
and sensitive teachers must be recruited; and more teachers who
reflect our cultural richness must be trained and utilized. Our
parents need to have access to training, which allows them to
become active partners with the teachers and our schools. For
many Native parents who were separated from their families to
attend BIA schools, or for the parents of our children today
who grew up in dysfunctional families themselves, this access
to training is imperative, if they are to fulfill
their role in the educational partnership. Teachers and school
district staff must work in close partnership with state and
trial social service agencies to assist parents to become effective
partners their children's education.
School districts should
seriously consider utilizing partners from the social service
agencies to teach parenting skills as
part of their health curriculum, so we can prepare our Native
students -- our future parents. The schools must, keep their
doors open for public access by expanding community school services
for parents to use math and reading labs. Schools must change
negative attitudes towards parents about not being involved in
the education of their children We need to educate parents about
rights and responsibilities, and establish policies locally,
so parents can feel and are active partners in education. School
boards must set aside their political agendas, must educate themselves
to the dynamics of youth address, and must have the courage to
accept and support the fundamental changes in our schools that
are desperately needed, for student address could come to our
classrooms with a need to learn.
To prepare school boards for
this complex task, funding must be made available by Department
of Education for school board
training appropriate for Native villages and urban areas. School
board members should be a role model for students by being alcohol
and drug free, because students and parents need to see school
board members, teachers, administrators, counselors, and any
other staff as positive role models.
The University of Alaska
system plays a major role in the education of Alaska Native children.
The UA system educates our teachers
and provides educational systems with research on Alaska-related
issues. Alaska Native students seeking higher-education degrees
attend the UA system.
For these reasons, conference participants
discussed the following needs and recommendations: retention
of med (ph.) students in
the AU system must be a priority. It is only by completing graduation
requirements that many of our young people will be able to return
to their Native communities to fill positions requiring higher
degrees. Plans must continue to increase counseling services
and academic support services for Native students in the UA system-Support
for mentorship programs involving Native leaders in the private
sector was also expressed. Relevant university programs, which
focus on strengthening Native cultures; for example, Native languages
and history courses are needed, as well as courses to help teachers
work effectively with Native children relative to social issues,
such as child abuse, neglect, and suicide prevention. The universities
need courses that prepare teachers for multi-cultural Alaska
Native learning styles, and cross-cultural communication. Graduate
research programs need to focus on issues which will benefit
Native people. The conference participants also suggested the
creation of tribal colleges within the state of Alaska.
The UA
system must have high standards and expectations for Native students
and must emphasize quality academic preparation.
Native students
must be encouraged to reach high goals; that is, to become lawyers,
statesmen, authors, professors, anything;
and receive instruction and academic counseling that prepares
them for graduate and post-graduate candidacy. The Board of Regents
and president of the university system should work in close partnership
with regional profit and nonprofit Native organizations to assure
that their institution will provide relevant training and student
support services for Alaska's future Native leaders.
I realize
I'm going overtime.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: May -- if you would,
Rose, I'd appreciate it if you might summarize, and then we'd
like to hear from Reva
as well. Thank you.
MS. ISAAC: Okay. I'll summarize the rest.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Please.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: We will receive your paper,
however, if you wish, gladly; because I think you have some very
good stuff in there that we want to have in full.
MS. ISAAC: Finally, the Statelegislature has an
all-encompassing responsibility to ensure that any services that
they propose,
and any statutes they development, will coordinate with, and
provide effective linkage to, the state' s educational institutions.
All State programs and services must be part of the education
partnership: health and social services, public safety programs,
economic development projects, and State policies which encourage
tribal empowerment and local control all increase the feeling
of ownership and participation, which is needed to develop effective
partnerships.
These legislators need to hear and respond to the
needs of Native people. They must hold accessible hearings on
issues that affect
Native people in rural areas, so legislators will be educated
about rural issues. When appointing individuals to conventions
and boards, they must appoint Native people to speak for themselves
and for our own needs. Adequate funding for school districts
must be provided to ensure quality education is provided in every
part of the state. The State Legislature should mandate Native
studies and Native languages in our schools. Recently, Representative
Georgianna Lincoln had introduced House Bill 352, which, unfortunately,
died in the Senate Finance Committee. Hopefully, she or another
legislator will reintroduce a similar bill.
Our language needs
to be caught in our schools. (Speaking in Native language.) Tell
me, exactly what did I tell you? What
did I say? You don't know. I have to sit here and give my testimony
to you in your language. Why should I do that? Why does any of
us have to do that? Why did I have to come clear to Fairbanks
to testify? Why didn't you come to my hometown? Why didn't you
come to Tok? Why don't you go to Glennallen? Pick a regional
central location and go there. Don't give me this excuse of no
funding. You were appointed there to listen to me, and my people,
and our needs. I challenge you to go out there to the villages.
We are very, very much alive; and by God, we are interested in
what is happening.
I will not finish the rest of my -- I do have
some questions for you. What -- who appointed you, and after
you hear our testimony,
where are you going to go with it? Are you going to put it in
the big book? What did you do with the book?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Oh, it's over there.
MS. ISAAC: The Governor had formed a task
force committee, and they came up with this big, gigantic book.
I'm not sure -- other
than people are reading it, and looking at their research --
I'm not sure what's going to happen now. What are we going to
do
about the educational system that is existing in Alaska today?
There is such a high dropout rate. There's such a high suicide
rate, especially in our villages. What can we do to put a stop
to this? Where are we going to go from here? Are you just going
to listen to me, my testimony and other people, write your little
whatever, and then what? What's going to happen five years from
now? Ten years from now? In 1989, according to this research
we have, had such a low, low scores in our schools. The people
in those areas, the regional board, need to open their eyes and
wake up to the fact of what is happening to our children in our
schools. Don't look at the schools. Don't look at the teachers
-- I mean, don't look at the students and say:
"The student can't learn."
The student
can learn. I know that. So what is happening here? Whose fault
is it? I'm willing to sit here and point my finger,
not only to the teachers, but to the regional boards as well.
The regional boards did not put themselves there. They were elected
there. So are the advisor school boards.
In Tanacross, I sat
on that advisor's school board. And there again, our IOWA basic
test scores were low. I said:
"Okay, we’re going to do something
about this. Goal number one, there's going to be changes made
in the school. Maybe it will not be happy change for some
people, but it's going to be made."
The next thing that our advisors'
school board did was mess with Village Council and request of
their help. If a student was missing
school for so many days,
we want to know why; and if it's beyond our hands, then we refer it back to the
tribal council, and requested that they meet and talk with the parent. The test
results is going up a little bit. It'll take time for us to see a satisfactory
change. But this are the stuff that we need to do. The things that we are there
for as advisor school boards, as a regional school board member, as parents,
as a community person, clear up to the level of the University of Alaska Board
of Regents. We need to open our eyes and look at what is happening. Why is our
students failing? Is this a student? No, I don't think it's a student. Any child
can learn if there's a right, motivated person there; a right teacher; a teacher
who cares. And you don't have that. We'll still be where we are today 20 years
from now, and everybody's talking about the year 2,000:
"We need to have our language taught in the schools
by the year 2,000."
Forget the year 2,000. What about right now?
Why not this year? Why not this September? You need to listen
to the people. I didn't come up here, talking
about Rose Isaac, and what I think I see is wrong, and what I think I want
to see changed.
I've talked to 50, 75 people by telephone, in person, before I came here today.
I'm talking for all of them, and my people are saying, requesting, demanding
that our language be taught in our schools. And don't give me the story about:
"Oh, people from Tanana speak a different
dialect from people in Northway, or
Tetlin, or Tanacross."
I know that. But we also have our own individual
speakers. Each and every one of our own villages have some person in that
village can speak that language
fluently. So that is another excuse I will not listen to. Another thing
I will
not listen to is lack of funding.
I realize I've went quite a bit over
my time, and I appreciate it; but I will leave you with one final
challenge. I'd like to extend an invitation
to you
to visit the villages, pick a central location; come to Tok. I can make
arrangements
for people as far away as Copper River to come. Or, if you choose, Glennallen.
I'm sure people from my area will go to Glennallen. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you, Rose.
(Applause)
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: We next would like to hear
from Reva Shircel, who is with the Tanana Chiefs Education Department.
Reva, and
we welcome you
as well.
MS. SHIRCEL: Thank you. I appreciate -- is it
on? Is this a good.
UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: That one's on. If you
want to (indiscernible).
MS. SHIRCEL: I appreciate the opportunity
to be here this morning -- or this afternoon, with the members
of the Alaska Natives
Commission at your
Fairbanks
hearings.
I would like to take the opportunity to share with you just a few of our
concerns about some of the issues we face here within the Interior of Alaska.
I think
you will find that some of our concerns about education may be similar
to the concerns of other tribes and other places within Alaska and throughout
the
country.
It is time for us who are involved in the educational
system in Alaska to change the system and to make it relevant
for Alaska
Native students.
Alaska
Natives
and Native American people have always focused on living in harmony and
finding bounds within their environment. In many ways, we have been masters
at adaptation.
The Alaska Native people have been adapting to the Western European education
system for a long time now. As a people, where has this system gotten us?
The Alaska suicide rate is twice the average; and, among Natives, it is
twice that.
Among Native males aged 20 to 24, it is 13 times that. Two-thirds of Native
suicides involve alcohol. Many Native families are dysfunctional because
of racism, alcohol,
and drug abuse, incarceration, and conflicts between traditional cultures
and new ways.
It is estimated that the university loses 60 percent
of the Native students between the freshman and sophomore year.
They
are poorly prepared academically.
Our high
school dropout rates, especially in the urban areas, sometimes reaches
above the 60 percent level. According to the hearings of the White House
Conference
on Indian Education, Indian National at Risk, and the Quality Education
for Minorities Project, hearings that TCC has testified at in the past,
education
has been described
as being a bittersweet experience for Natives and American Indians. It
is helpful to deal with the new times, but it also drives a wedge between
the
traditional
and the new. The Alaska Natives have had to live in two worlds, two cultures.
When this educational system was introduced to us years ago, our students
subsequently had to also learn to live in two cultures, two ways of life.
New ideas, new
technologies, a faster way of life of the one culture have conflicted with
the values and traditions
of the Native culture. We have tried our best to adapt in our individual
ways, the best of each culture. In spite of the fact that many of today's
Alaska
Natives must adapt their skills to the demands of the job market, we recognize
that we
must also have a solid knowledge of our language and culture, in order
to survive as a proud people.
In the interest of time, and since Rose did
such an outstanding job of testifying on behalf of the type of
curriculum that we need, the course
development,
and the staff orientation, I will overlook my portions of my report on
that.
The bottom line on education is: Do Alaska schools
prepare Native students for life? And, again, according to the
1988 report of
the Governor' s Commission
on Children and Youth, preparing youth for life is everyone's business;
but schools
have a special role. A Native elder observed hat the best survival kit
a person has is their mind. All community resources help create this survival
kit, especially
the schools. Young people's health and ability to stay healthy affect how
well they learn in and out of school. As young people grow, the degree
to
which
they have mastered life skills, such as knowing how to make friends and
resist peer
pressure, the difference between normal blues and serious depression, ways
of being naturally high, or how to resolve conflicts with parents and others
can
determine whether they become casualties or take advantage of their opportunities.
Educating the whole child means that life skills are as basic as language,
as math. Parenting skill classes are now taught in some of Alaska's 55
school districts,
and curriculum that integrates skills for living within a critical thinking
approach is not available anywhere. Yet it is clear that the ability to
make good life
decisions and future plans, resist peer pressure, learn new skills for
adapting to changing job markets, and understand the demand and qualities
of successful
parenting are among the most important new basics in our children's education.
They are the basics of the future, no less important than the traditional
three Rs. As Native people, we need to stem the tide of the overwhelming
statistics.
Teachers and counseling staff, working in conjunction with elders and other
local natural helping networks, are needed to both assist students and
their parents,
and to teach the children in their classrooms the skills necessary to break
the multi-generational effects of many of the problems which, in the end,
will affect
the students’ abilities to learn.
In closing, let me leave you with
one thought. I do not believe that there is a single Native student in
any school in this state who has failed or
is failing.
They're our children; they are in our care. For many reasons, the educational
system in Alaska is failing. It is failing in its responsibilities to
teach and educate. It is our responsibility as parents, as educators,
and as
community members to work together to make the changes necessary to educate
and prepare
our children for life and for the future of Alaska. Here in Alaska, as
elsewhere throughout the country, we must take the responsibility for
the welfare of
our
children. We must work together to change the educational system.
To
focus on the statement that Alaska Native or American Indian
children are failing is once again victimizing our children who
may already be
the victims
of an inadequate and insensitive educational system. Our children aren't
failing. It is our schools that are failing; and it is us as parents,
educators, community
members, and Native leaders who mast make the changes for an education
system that would be relevant today for our children who will be the
leaders of
tomorrow. Thank you very much for listening.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank
you, ladies.
(Applause)
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Let me just say I think
that was very insightful. It's some very serious and challenging
questions;
some very welcome thoughts
on
what needs to be done. I'll reserve my questions. Beverly, is the chairman
of the
Educational Panel; and I think what both Ed and I should do is defer
to her, 'cause she is the individual Commission member who is going to
be
chairing
the Education Panel, so ....
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Before you ask any questions,
I want to just find out is there anybody else in the audience
who wanted to be heard on this
Education
Panel before we go on?
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: [Poldine Carlo] in the back.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Should we --
MS. [CARLO]:
I am [Poldine Carlo]. I went to school --
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: [Poldine],
you're welcome to have a seat here if you'd like.
MS. [CARLO]:
That's okay. I went to school -- (interrupted to move to a microphone.)
My name is [Poldine Carlo]. I was born and raised
at Nulato;
that's on the
Yukon River. I went to school at a Catholic school; and talking about
Indian language,
I always hear people saying:
"I got beat up,"
or
"I got slapped, because I spoke my language in school,"
and the BIA and
the missionaries are always feeling blamed for that. I was not once slapped
in school; but I can remember out when I was going
to school,
because
when you go to school, you are going to school to learn English, arithmetic,
your writing, and reading. Therefore, you are not expected to talk
your Indian language while you are going to school, because you
already know
your language.
When I got married, I had eight children. I can speak my language real
well. never taught my kids my language. I don't know why that was.
I never
gave
it a thought. It would have been terrible if my grandmother was living,
because my grandmother couldn't speak English, and my kids couldn't
speak the Native language. There
would have
been no communication, but I'm not blaming this on anyone but myself.
It is my responsibility
to see to it that my kids speak my language. I don't expect anyone
to teach my kids the Indian language. It is up to the parents to see
to
it that
their kids,
if they can speak the language, to teach their kids. I have a friend
here in town that had about 16 children. All her kids speak her language.
Even
her
little three-year-old grandchildren could speak to her, so that proves
that you don't
have to turn to anyone to teach your kids your language. It's your
own fault if your kids don't speak your language. That's all I have
to say.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Thank you very much, [Poldine].
(Applause)
MR. MADROS: Good afternoon, panel. My name is Patrick
Madros. I serve on the Yukon/Taku School District Regional
Board.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Spell your last name for me,
will you please?
MR. MADROS: M-A-D-R-O-S.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Thank
you, sir.
MR. MADROS: I’ll be testifying twice today.
This is my -- you asked for an open invitation to education,
and I
feel I've been on the board nine years,
and I'm well versed in this field, and if I just sit there and not
say something, I think that it would be not right for me to say
something. First of all, you
got to realize the value of the education has to be taught in the home.
The value of education has to be a value this is taught in the
home; and I repeat that
because we so busily beat up on the regional school boards; we beat
up on everybody else that's involved with education; but if the
values that make things happen
are not being taught from the parents; and if you look at what's happening
with the Native language, for instance, I always say it has to
be taught in the home.
And you ask yourself where all these regional
school members come from. They're elected to that position by
the people that
are in the community.
They're
not, people that come from all over, or different people that are involved
with
-- coming in from the -- appointed by the Governor, or whatever. They're
elected on the
communities that serve on these boards; and if you look at where education
has
come from in the last 20 years when (indiscernible) incorporated, you
only had about, five people who had a college degree. I was a young
man then. I had to go to the college -- I mean, go to the dictionary
to find out what a corporate shareholder was. I didn't know what a
shareholder was.
But our education system has taken, in the last 30 years, to take 500
years to catch up to where we're going. And right now I know of over
a hundred
people that have degrees right now that -- whereas, their grandparents
or their parents
don' t have college degrees. In education, in mining, and social services,
the
LPs that are co -- registered nurses, I mean, that are coming out.
We have a lot of people that are succeeding. You're not hearing about
these
people.
We're
hearing
about the one or the few that fall through the cracks; and when you
turn a society over in a 30-year -- in one lifespan, you're going to
have
people that
fall through
the cracks.
And economically, we were used to a subsistence
lifestyle; and economically, all of a sudden we're in a cash-flow
entity.
I remember the days when
there was only one barge in the spring, one barge in the fall, and
maybe one
plane in a
month that came to Kaltag. I remember when the first generator in 1955
was pulled up the banks in Kaltag, and that was the first electricity
we ever
had. The only
outside communication we had with society at that time was the State
radio that worked on 3201 or 3211.
We've come to now where my kids
expect running water and sewer in the house, have a television
there, have a telephone. To them, that's things
that
were there when they were born, so that's not a privilege like I look
at it. To
them, that's
necessary. In order to keep these things, we got to have an economy
that's going to sustain it. We don't have the economy out there, because
the
State agencies
we fight with: Department of Fish, and all the other ones.
So, when
you sit down there and you start beating up on Department --
on education, it's not only responsibility on the educational
board,
it's
the responsibility
of the parents. The bottom line of the failing of the education system
is on the parents because we let it happen. And until we realize that
that' s where
all our failure is, from values of the home, and values as parents
to
teach education, we're never going to change our society.
But at the
same time, too, we have to look at the positives that have happened
in 30 years. Where have we come from? We have people that
are running organizations,
such as Mr. Thomas; and all the other people that have the knowledge
to do it, where 30 years.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Madros.
(Applause)
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Beverly?
COMMISSIONER BOYKO:
Beverly, you have any questions of the panel members?
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Yes, I do have some questions. First, I'd like to address
this question to Angela Jackson regarding your
education
and
your abilit
-- you stressed the fact that you needed more Native teachers, and
that you had
a hard
time with the diversity with the non-Native and the Native; and I'd
like to know, how would it be better if you were to have Native teachers,
and maybe
what would
you like to do to change that? How would it affect you now if you were
able to be educated with a Native teacher and to have, in other words,
what I'm
trying
to direct a question at is you had a problem working and going to school
with the non-Native kids, and you didn't feel well at it. What can
be
done to make
those changes?
MS. JACKSON: I would feel more comfortable if there
were more Athabascan taught. Just like beading classes and things
like that in elementary
school. And when
you have a Native teacher, when you're learning from a Native teacher,
it seemed like to me you could relate more; and plus you look at them
as a role
model,
and you want to be that way, and you want to graduate, and you want
to go to college. I think it's important that we have Native teachers
in
our schools.
I've only seen -- right now we only have one Native teacher in our
whole school
district; and I keep hearing that all the time. We don't have anybody
in our whole school district. We had one Native person on our school
board;
and out
of those two, that was all the Native people in our whole school district.
I think it would be good to have more Native people in our school district,
so
we could look at them as role models.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Can I jump
in here with a quick question?
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Yes, you may.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: Have you experienced a problem that those people from
your area who are able to break through the system
and get a higher
education,
won't
come back and teach there? They go into the cities, and they go Outside?
Can you -- if we can teach, if we can educate and foster the careers
of Native people to become teachers, will they go back to the villages
and
teach there?
And, if
not, is there something we can do to encourage them to do it?
MS. JACKSON:
Well, myself, I'm going toward a business degree, and I really
want to help my people; and I'm coming back to them, because
that's
the
way I feel
about it. And I think if the Native leaders in our community spoke
to the kids going to school and telling them that we need them to come
back,
maybe
they
will. But I know that I am, because I want to.
COMMISSIONER MASEK:
Well, I guess I should say in this respect then, with your --
what you told us today is that you had a problem, you
felt uncomfortable
working with the non-Natives, or being with the non-Native; and I feel,
through my own experience, that I think you have to take the challenge
and try to
work
at certain goals; and especially if you're going to be wanting to go
back and help, that all the experience you get will be really good
for you,
and so that's
all the questions I have for you.
MS. JACKSON: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER MASEK: And,
Rose, I have a question for you. You were speaking a lot about
the Native values; and I'd like to
know exactly
what Native
values you want to emphasize on in the education part of the schools,
and how will
it
help?
MS. ISAAC: What do you mean, the Native values
--
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Yes.
MS. ISAAC: -- in the educational
system?
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Yes, in the educational system,
and how will it help the Native students to --
MS. ISAAC: I think
most of our Native people, just like the question you asked Angela
over here, I dealt with that when I first went to
Tok's high
school.
The feeling of not being accepted, and knowing that in the Native value,
we accept
all individuals, regardless of who or what they are, and gives each
and every one of us -- we have our own self-esteem. If you don't have
self-esteem,
then ou will not succeed or accomplish anything you set out to do.
You must
have
self-esteem. One of the most valuable values that I've learned about
my culture is self-esteem,
self-worth. Are we losing that today? Sometimes I wonder if that is
why there is such a high rate of suicide, because we really need to
have
self-esteem. Self-esteem, I have no way of explaining what self-esteem
is in my language.
However, it's
there. We respect each other. We don't ever look down on anyone, whether
because they're poor, or for whatever reason. We respect everyone.
We were taught to
respect everyone. And I think if we put that into our school system
-- I'm
not sure how that can be done, because, there again, it must come from
the home.
Your parents are -- you are what you are because of how you were taught.
What did your parents beach you? And if you're if the parents could
just teach everyone to respect everyone, I don't think we'd even
have prejudice in our schools. Does that answer
your
question?
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Yes, it does, thank you. And
I have a question for you, Reva. I'd like to know what dc you
want to
find in the balance
and
the system?
You
were talking about finding ways to -- what your concerns were in regards
to balancing the system. What kind of ideas, or what type of topics
did you want
to address
to this Commission?
MS. SHIRCEL: Well, I think right now we have a
lot of the young people in a great deal of quandary right now;
and there's a lot of them are
totally out
of balance.
We have been living with the knowledge that some of our kids have started
drinking at the age of eight; and by the time they're 16 and 17, they're
just totally,
totally out of whack. And I've taken care of a couple of young people
like that, so I'm real familiar with kids that are just totally out
of balance;
and it's
a painful thing for me to observe. And I see that, or hear stories
on a daily
basis on kids who are wanting something more than they're getting right
now.
And it's a hope that I have that the kids will
start to be able to learn academics subjects; learn their English,
their math,
so that
they're
masters at it, and
that there would be somebody there to counsel them if they have personal
problems; that there would be someone available to tudor them in order
that they would
become more adept at learning their academic subjects; and there should
be someone there to tell them exactly where they came from, what their
history
is, and someone
to talk to them, so that -- on a daily basis -- about their future
goals.
I think, when you have a person that finds the
value within themselves, that person has to be pretty knowledgeable
about
things that they have
to be knowledgeable
about. In this case, school work. For example, if you graduate from
high school, you should have earned that diploma; and as far as them
finding
out what their
roots are, they should be taught their language; they should be given
their cultural aspects of their life. It's their right. And I think
that they
would probably
feel a lot more in balance if all these things came together; and if
we all made a coordinated effort to ensure that happens for every child.
COMMISSIONER MASEK: Okay. Thank you, Reva. I'd
like to make one closing comment in regard to Pat and Pauline's
statement about
the education
should begin
at home; and I think this is a really a number-one factor in starting
the child
off is at home and should begin at an early age, and teach them responsibility
somehow. And this is one of the most important things, that it starts
out, it's a beginning, and it has to go in the right direction.
This
is my closing comment, and I sure appreciate hearing that.
Thank you.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: Let me also just make an
observation. I think that education, of course, is probably the
cornerstone, without
a doubt,
of
society; and particularly
in our state, a young state, emerging state. We see, from listening
to the panelists in their years of experience in this, I've gleaned
several
things.
Number one,
it's very obvious we need more Native teachers. In some sectors of
the state, I think we’re making some improvement. Maybe not
enough, but there is some improvements being made. Young Native students
are
graduating, and when given
the opportunity, are returning to their school districts to become
role models and teachers, and helping the economy. The problem I
think we've had in the past
is we've tried to recruit teachers from the Lower 48, and then aculturate
(ph.) them to what it means to live in a village, and sometimes we're
successful, and
sometimes we're not so successful, 'cause it is a marked transition
from Chicago to Tuntutuliak; and if that teacher is comfortable and
happy there, you may have
a decent result, until they decide to go back to where they're more
accustomed. So getting Native teachers, or local teachers, I think
is a very appropriate
goal.
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: I was thinking, Morrie, in
ways perhaps of creating additional incentives. There will be
people like Angela
who are idealistic
and will
do this out of their own desire; but there are economic incentives.
You can, for
instance,
give people student loans with a commitment that part of it' or
all of it, will be forgiven if they go back to their home base,
instead
of going someplace
else.
So I was thinking in terms of those kind of recommendations, because
it seems quite clear from what we've heard here that there's two
underlying themes.
One, Native students feel like they're a excluded
minority in our school systems, because their culture is being
ignored; their language
is
not being taught,
and even discouraged; and I agree that you have to teach it in
the home, but you
can’t have a confrontation between the home and the school.
If you speak in your own Native language at home, you should be
able to use it in the school;
because, otherwise, the children are going to have a conflict.
They're going to say:
"Well, why -- what is it -- what's wrong
with my Native language which I hear at home, if I'm not allowed,
or not encouraged to use it in the school?"
I think that both
have to concentrate on that. And that's important.
And more Native
teachers and counselors are needed. And there has to be -- obviously,
in these rural school districts, the
monetary
situation
is
such
that there isn't
always enough money to go around, and so you have to create incentives
to people to go back there. In addition to their original idealism,
which may
be there
in many cases, it also must be made attractive to them economically
to do that. And one of the way to do it is to maybe underwrite
all or part
of their
education
in turn for their commitment to go back.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON:
Just a final observation, when we talk about education, we need
to also focus on our urban communities,
because
we have many
Native students. Some say Anchorage and Fairbanks are our largest
Native villages,
and we see,
as Reva pointed out, some very alarming statistics. Well over
50 to 60 percent of the students in these public institutions
in the
public
area
-- in the
larger urban areas are dropping out of school. That's just unacceptable,
and cannot
be tolerated as public policy; and we need to look through and
figure out what the causes are -- and I'm sure there are many
-- but that
we just
cannot accept
those numbers; and any society can't accept that great of dropout
of students from their institutions.
And then, finally, I do
serve on the Board of Regents. We've put a lot of time into trying
to get more students -- Native
students
--
collectively
through
the system. Sometimes we stumble. Sometimes we're our own worst
enemies; and, many
times, we are successful. So, I wanted to comment that there
is a great push,
I think, by many that are trying to increase those numbers and
increase those statistics; but we have a long way to go.
It's
now 1:08, and it's supposed to be --
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: 12 o'clock
(laughing).
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: -- 11:40. What I think we'll
do, if it's okay with the Commission is maybe take a 15-minute
at-ease; and
I feel
like Marie Antoinette, in that old classic --
COMMISSIONER BOYKO:
Let them eat cake?
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: -- we're going to sneak
away and eat cake, and the poor audience is going to sit here
and say:
"All you plutocrats are eating while we're
starving. "
But Ed can share his sandwich, and --
COMMISSIONER BOYKO: I'll share my sandwich with anyone who wants.
COMMISSIONER THOMPSON: We all will. (Off record at 1:08 p.m.)
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. Out of respect for
an Elder, I did correct the spelling of Poldine Carlo.
