Blog #3: The Future of Alaska Native Education

Paul Berg did a great job describing culture oppression of Natives Sami in Norway and the Maori in New Zealand; how government finally stood up to protect it from being destroyed. The article was interesting to read for general information but I think that the author is more concerned with non-natives “middle class” getting “big money” in rural Alaska and how the Western education inhibits local culture. There is no such a thing, I think. In the schools is rural Alaska most of the kids are bilingual. Everyone has the right to be educated. There is no such a thing as “Western Education System”. The laws in physics and chemistry are global, and the students in Europe are solving the same equations in the Math class. The culture is very important and it depends on how everyone wants to keep it. There are a lot of opportunities for local students to go to college to continue education; some of them prefer to be trained on job. Local students always benefited communities because they know most of the concerns. And for a teacher it is a hard job to relocate to rural Alaska and teach there. I’m proud of those people. They bring education with cultural sensitivity. There are more and more classes connected with local communities programs, lots of programs are running to keep culture in its place with people. Everyone should work together for students to benefit from education and become professionals, caring parents, valuable community members, and responsible citizens.