This article was written to explain reasons why it is necessary to Alaska Native students to be taught based off of their own culture. The authors point is that education in Alaskan Native Villages need a curriculum that teaches to the culture of its students. He points out that Alaska is making efforts to change the curriculum in order to achieve this, which is great. I think that it is sad that there are cultures, like the Sami and Maori that were treated so poorly when it came to getting an education and learning about their own culture.
When I was in high school I got to visit Napaskiak, an Alaska Native village along the Kuskokwim river. It was amazing to see the different way of life and culture that was included in their days. I spent five full days attending their school and shadowing in each of the grade levels. The school was very small, kindergarten through twelfth grade were in the same small building. Students from kindergarten to high school were only taught in their yupik. Many of their teachers were Native and from the village. In high school students took many classes online and they had teachers that were not Native and were not from the village. I could definitely tell that there was a difference in the teaching styles and because of this I greatly agree with the authors point in this article. The culture of the Alaska Natives should definitely be preserved in the school curriculum. I do believe this will be a hard task but it is possible.
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