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In Alaska, where roughly half of all students do not graduate from high school, teachers are working to address graduation rates by incorporating Native Alaskan traditions into the classroom.
The town of Dillingham, Alaska, has 2,000 residents, approximately half of whom are Alaska Native, particularly from the Yup’ik tradition. They maintain subsistence traditions, with many families bringing children to week-long moose hunting trips in the fall.
Ina Bouker, an Alaska Native who has taught in Dillingham for over 30 years, said it is important to respect those traditions as an educator. She has seen this firsthand: when Bouker was in school in a nearby village, students who spoke Yup’ik instead of English were slapped on the wrist.
It is helpful for teachers to have common cultural ground with students, but it is difficult to find Native teachers who were raised Yup’ik.
Many educators in Alaska have few cultural ties to the communities in which they teach. Most teachers—about 75 percent—are from out-of-state and tend to stay for shorter periods of time than those who are from Alaska, which is difficult on students.
“Some of our students start feeling like, well, why should I work hard for you? Why should I do that assignment? Because you are not going to be here anyway next year,” Bouker said.
Bouker began writing a curriculum for the statewide Future Educators of Alaska program in 2007; since then, the $5.5 million project has encouraged Alaska Native students to pursue education careers.
The effort is a good step toward increasing graduation rates, Ahniwake Rose, executive director of the National Indian Education Association, said.
“It’s time for us to really stand up and say, you know what, we’re going to take back the inherent right that we have to educate our own citizens,” she said. “We know that our students are going to do better when they have those faces and similar cultural experiences.”
Warm up questions
- Do you identify with a specific culture or are there family traditions that are special to you?
- How do teachers feel about students missing a whole week of school? Is it hard to catch up afterwards?
Critical thinking questions
- Teacher Ina Bouker described incidents where students were punished for speaking their Native language. How would you have felt in that situation?
- Why do you think it would be important for teachers in Dillingham to be aware or share the culture of their Alaska Native students?
- Do you think having more Alaska Native teachers will improve the dropout rate of their students? Why or why not?
- Bouker described one effect short term teachers have on their students, “Some of our students start feeling like, well, why should I work hard for you? Why should I do that assignment? Because you are not going to be here anyway next year.” As a student, does this sentiment resonate with you? How do you feel about teachers or principals who don’t stay very long?
