This is part of the ANKN Logo This is part of the ANKN Banner
This is part of the ANKN Logo This is part of the ANKN Banner Home Page About AKRSI Publications Academic Programs Curriculum Resources Calendar of Events Announcements Site Index This is part of the ANKN Banner
This is part of the ANKN Logo This is part of the ANKN Banner This is part of the ANKN Banner
This is part of the ANKN Logo This is part of the ANKN Banner This is part of the ANKN Banner
Native Pathways to Education
Alaska Native Cultural Resources
Indigenous Knowledge Systems
Indigenous Education Worldwide
 

ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION
1953 – 1973
A PROFESSIONAL MEMOIR

BY
TOM (THOMAS) R. HOPKINS
© 2008

AFTERWORD

During the time 1953 – 2008, we lived in more than a dozen different houses located in seven different towns or cities. Yet, somehow, I was able to move with us boxes of folders containing the record on which this memoir is based. In one apartment the basement was flooded twice and some documents became water stained. It was only when we got to Albuquerque and have lived in the same house since 1971 that I began to open and sort out the contents of the boxes, many of which were in very poor condition.

Obviously, paper records from 1953 or 1955, i.e., the White House Conference Report, were in various qualities of condition. By this I mean, clear readability, readability or not readable, etc. Those in clearly readable condition were scanned and turned into computer files and a few pages were typed-word processed. Anyone familiar with the scanning process knows that the transfer from a typed page to a computer file is not always perfect. And, from a spirit duplicated page to a computer file always requires close editing. I have edited and proofed the scanned documents several times, yet, I know that some blemishes will get through my efforts. Hopefully, the reader will overlook the blemishes and still find the Memoir informative.

I cannot complete the memoir without special mention of Vinita F. Hopkins, my wife of many decades. While her name is not on the authorship of this Memoir, her contributions were many and significant. For example, while not a full-time employee at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, she worked tirelessly with students in different capacities, including substitute Dormitory Aide. The Principal, Bill Jackson, grew to respect her intelligence and competence and more than once, asked me outright, “What does Vinita think of this?” When we were teachers at Barrow and when she was my Special Assistant at Shungnak, one might say we were both teachers but with different assignments. Interestingly enough she also served as a teacher of Tsimshian Children at the village of Hartley Bay, British Columbia and a Teacher at the Navajo Rock Point Community School in Arizona. She has her BA Degree in Anthropology from the University of Texas, Austin.

References

Alaska Northwest Publishing Company (1981 and 1982) Bits and pieces of Alaskan history, Anchorage, Vol. 1 1935 – 1959, 1981, 201 pp. and Vol. 2, 1060 – 1974, 209 pp.

Alton, Thomas L. (1998), Federal policy and Alaska Native languages since 1867. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Anderson, Dewey H. & Eells, Walter C. (1935) Alaska Natives, a survey of their sociological and educational status. Stanford University Press.

Anderson, Kenneth E., Collister, E. Gordon & Ladd, Carl E. (1953) The educational achievement of Indian children. Lawrence, KS: Haskell Institute Print Shop.

Andrews, Clarence L. (1945), Sitka, Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., pp. 101- 102

Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1886), History of Alaska, San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company, 3: 600

Barnhardt, Carol (1985), Historical status of elementary schools in rural Alaskan communities, 1967-1980, Fairbanks, AK: Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Alaska, 63 pp.

Bass, Willard P. (1971) An analysis of academic achievement of Indian high school students in federal and public schools," Albuquerque: Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory May 142 pp.

Beatty, Willard (1944) Editor, Education for action. Chilocco, Oklahoma: Chilocco Agricultural School Printing Department.

------------------ (1953) Editor, Education for cultural change, Chilocco, Oklahoma: Chilocco Agricultural School Printing Department.

Berry, Brewton (1969) The education of American Indians, a review of the literature, Albuquerque, NM: Research and Evaluation Report Series No. 33. 121 pp. Section II, “The Histories of American Indian Education.”

Churchill, Frank C. (1906) Condition of educational and school services and the management of the reindeer service in the district of Alaska, Washington, D. C.: U. S. Congress, Government Printing Office, No. 483.

Collier, John (1933) Indian administration – some policies, hopes and fears,” From National conference of social work, x. 667-676.

Cook, Katherine M. (1936) Public education in Alaska” Government printing Office, U.S. Department of Interior, Bulletin 12, p. 24

Coombs, L. Madison, Kron, Ralph E., Collister, Gordon E., Anderson, Kenneth E. (1958) The Indian Child Goes to School. Lawrence, Kansas: Haskell Press, 249 pp.

Cumming, John R. (1955) A survey of Alaskan teachers, Unpublished doctor’s dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.

Darnell, Frank (Editor) (1972) Education in the north, Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska, Arctic Institute of North America, 368 pp.

Dewey, John (1938) Experience and education, Lecture to Kappa Delta Phi Honor society in Education, West Lafayette, Indiana.

Greuning, Ernest (1954) The state of Alaska, New York: Random House, p.108

Hamilton, William (1931) From barbarism to civilization in 46 years, School Life, April 1931, pp. 143-145.

Highet, Gilbert (1950) The art of teaching, New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Hopkins, Thomas R. (1952) Is it a man’s job, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 34, No. 3, December 1952 p 116.

----------------- (1959) Educational provisions for the Alaskan Natives since 1867, Unpublished Masters Thesis, The University of Texas, Austin, Chapters I and III.

----------------- (1964) A scientific approach to second language teaching (including linguistic knowledge) and the approach outlined for use in the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs schools – A comparison of the two methods. USBIA Brigham City, Utah, 22 pp.

----------------- (1968), Language testing of North American Indians, Language Learning, Special Issue No. 3, “Problems in Foreign Language Testing, August, pp. 1 – 9.

----------------- (1970) Secondary education of Native North Americans, The Northian. Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer 1970) pp. 5-9.

----------------- (1971) Teaching English to American Indians, The English Record. New York State English Council, Studies in English to Speakers of Other Languages and Standard English to Speakers of Non-Standard Dialect. Rodolfo Jacobson Editor, Vol. XXI, No. 4 (April), pp. 24 – 31.

----------------- (1971) Navajo and Non-Navajo teachers, a comparison of characteristics, Unpublished Dissertation, The George Washington University, 153 pp.

----------------- (2003) Evaluating American Indian education, Fairbanks: University of Alaska, Alaska Native Knowledge Network.

Hopkins, Thomas R. and Hopkins, Vinita F. (2004) Teaching in the territorial Alaskan bush schools, 1953 – 1956. Albuquerque, NM: Research and Management Specialists, Inc. (Draft Edition), 22 pp.

Jackson, Sheldon (1886) Education in Alaska, U.S. Bureau of Education, Government Printing Office, pp. 45-52.

-------------------- (1903) What missionaries have done for Alaska,” Missionary Review, vol 26, pp. 497-504.

Kleinfeld, Judith S., McDiarmid, G. Williamson and Hagstrom, David (1985), Alaska’s small rural high schools. University of Alaska, Fairbanks: Institute of Social and Economic Research and Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, 149 pp. plus Appendices.

McLachlan, James (1970). American boarding schools: A historical study. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 381.

McNeill, Byrdie May (1940) Education of the Alaskan Natives Since 1867,” Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Meriam, Lewis (1928) The problems of Indian administration, Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Press, Chapter IX.

Nichols, Jeanette Paddock (1924) Alaska under rule of the United States, Cleveland, OH: The Arthur H. Clark Company, p. 81. P. 417.

Perry, Charles E. (1969) Report, conference on bilingual – bicultural education for Alaska Native youth, Juneau, AK, U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. Available from the Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Peterson, Shailer. (1948) How well are Indian children educated? Lawrence, KS: Haskell Institute Print Shop.

Ray, Charles K. (1962) Alaskan Native secondary school dropouts. Fairbanks: University of Alaska.

-------------------(1973) Alaskan Native education – An historical perspective,” U.S. Department of Interior, Indian Education Resources Center, a Report for the “ Alaska Native Needs Assessment In Education,” pp. 1-38.

Salisbury, Lee, (1971) College orientation program for Alaskan Natives, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska, Institute of Social, Economic and Government Research, 185 pp.

Starnes, Bobby Ann, (2006) Montana’s Indian education for all: Toward an education worthy of American ideals. Phi delta kappan, Vol.88, No. 3, 184-197.

Stewart, Robert Laird (1924) Sheldon Jackson, New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., Chapter I.

United States Bureau of Education (1887) Annual report of the commissioner of education, Government Printing Office, pp. xxxi-xxxii.

USBIA (1956) Evaluation Report, Mount Edgecumbe School, Juneau Area Office, Juneau, Alaska. Evaluation Conducted November 13-30, 1956, 64 pp.

_______ (1957) Area Personnel Directory, Juneau, pp. 1-22.

---------- (1957b) We teach in Alaska,” Juneau, Alaska: Juneau Area Office, Policy Statement

----------(1957c) Job Description, Standard Form 75, U.S. Civil Service Commission, “ Principal-Teacher,” Juneau, Alaska: Juneau Area Office.

---------- (1959) Mt. Edgecumbe teacher handbook, Mt. Edgecumbe School, Sitak, 106 pp.

---------- (1974) Alaska Native needs assessment in education, Juneau Area Office. Part I was the report and Part II was Dr. Charles K Ray’s An historical perceptive.

Whitehead, Alfred North (1929) The aims of education and other essays, The Free Press: New York, 1967, first published in 1929, 165 pp.

Go to University of AlaskaThe University of Alaska Fairbanks is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, educational institution, and provider is a part of the University of Alaska system. Learn more about UA's notice of nondiscrimination.

 


Alaska Native Knowledge Network
University of Alaska Fairbanks
PO Box 756730
Fairbanks  AK 99775-6730
Phone (907) 474.1902
Fax (907) 474.1957
Questions or comments?
Contact
ANKN
Last modified March 17, 2008