Neglected Responsibilities: America's Failure to Support Native Alaskan Students

While short-term action is needed to address the problems faced by Native Alaskan youth, it is also important to ensure that Native communities have a say in education policy for the future. In addition to encouraging direct participation on the local level, Congress and the Department of Education should create spaces on federal education commissions and advisory bodies for Native representatives to share their perspectives and ensure that their communities’ needs are met. They should also establish special regional advisory bodies to address the unique needs of rural areas. This would not need to be an expensive endeavor; nonprofit organizations and local governments as well as the State of Alaska are quite used to meeting and making important decisions via teleconference, and the same thing could be done here. Such steps will ensure that Native Alaskans are not only empowered to be a part of the education of their community’s children, but also given the opportunity to have a say in the education of future generations.

Works Cited

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Works Consulted

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Carter, Stephen Ruben. Cheechako Teacher: Narratives of First-Year Teachers in Rural Alaska. Diss. U of Alaska Fairbanks, 2006. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2007. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. ProQuest. Web. 24 Apr. 2009

Freed, Craig D., and Mary Samson. “Native Alaskan Dropouts in Western Alaska: Systemic Failure in Native Alaskan Schools.” Journal of American Indian Education 43.2 (2004) 33-45. WilsonWeb. Web. 24 Apr 2009.

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1.) Based on data from the US Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics.

2.) Alaskan vernacular for the continental United States.

3.) Special entities created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.