Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. I
by
Todd Bergman
New Stuyahok
In the real world, "ideal"
situations never occur. Even in the scientific laboratory it is
impossible to create "ideal" conditions; there is always
variability and, in turn, error.
Therefore, the following
description of an ideal school has to be viewed as a purely
philosophical account of what may be possible. What may be
successful can only be assessed within reality. It is only with
these precautions that I would attempt to portray the "ideal."
In this paper, I will
conceptualize an ideal educational system for Native communities
in rural Alaska. I will discuss the ideal political and
administrative environment and present the relevant community and
school background. In addition, I will address the design of an
adequate school facility and describe an appropriate structure and
organization for the educational system. Curriculum content and
sequence will be approached by content area, and relationships
among various components will be established. Particular attention
will be paid to self-determination of rural people, the
educational environment, and to an appropriate notion of
development and cultural realities.
The political realities of rural
Alaska have been dominated by the Western culture for the past
century. Federal and state authority have tucked a blanket of
power over the indigenous people of Alaska. Requirements for the
funding of rural educational projects have been tailored to
Western culture and have demonstrated little, if any, regard for
indigenous cultures. Federal and state requirements have laid the
ground rules for appropriate facilities, structure, organization,
curriculum, and special projects. Under these shadows of dominant
authority, the provision of local control of rural education has
become questionable.
If ideal conditions were to
develop in rural Alaskan education, local authority would have to
be incorporated into the power structure now in effect. Federal
and state authority would need to recognize the traditional tribal
structures as legitimate ruling bodies capable of governing
community and regional affairs as they have successfully
demonstrated for many centuries.
The tribal council would be the
governing context within which all decisions regarding the
community would be made. Since the organization of this council is
more attuned to indigenous forms of decision making, it could be
expected that the decision-making process would become more
productive. The tribal council would also govern decisions
concerning the school. In rural villages, the community includes
all people and facilities. Therefore, the school cannot exist as a
separate technological entity that seeks to remain detached from
community processes. Decisions affecting the school affect the
community and vice versa.
It would be up to the village
council to decide how the school needs to be structured and
organized. Outside educational agencies-state or federal-would
serve as resources to the community. Administrators would operate
under the village council and act as organizers, facilitators,
implementors, evaluators, resource people, and mediators between
the community and outside forces. Teachers, Native and non-Native,
would operate within the village to facilitate the students'
learning experiences within the daily life of the
community.
Within this new political context
of education, a new administrative style would have to develop.
Administrators would need to be skilled in dealing with the larger
bureaucratic forces, yet committed to the cultural needs of the
rural community. The role of the administrator would have to
become more that of an organizer and less that of a leader. The
conventional administrator/leader seeks to establish his or her
authority to gain the power to rule the educational institutions.
The new administrator would need to develop ways of helping others
to use their power. This means that he or she would have to
develop strategies for utilizing power and control to meet the
educational goals of the community. This administrator would be a
true representative of the governing tribal council. In this way,
the traditional push-and-tug between local administration and
school board could develop into a more cooperative, goal-oriented
environment.
I believe that any effort to
conceptualize an ideal school for indigenous communities in rural
Alaska needs to consider such radical changes within the political
and social context of the school. Many Native corporations and the
Alaska Federation of Natives have been struggling to bring about
such changes. Some of these attempts have been successful, while
others have not. Most of these efforts to establish alternative
forms of education have not been supported by the Western
educational system. In many instances, Native people have had to
recognize that if they wanted educational institutions that were
more sensitive to their needs they would have to establish these
institutions through their own efforts.
One of the major steps in
developing an ideal school system for rural Alaskan communities
would require that traditional Western practices of organizing an
educational environment be abandoned. School needs to be an idea
and not a place! Conventional time needs to be of little
importance. The traditional Western notions of classrooms,
periods, and separate subject matter need to be critically
examined. Whereas some subject matter may fit into an hour block
of time, other subject matter may not be suited to such
constraints.
In the ideal rural educational
environment the notion of curriculum needs to assume a new
meaning. Curriculum needs to be reconceptualized to include not
only learning experiences associated with school, but all learning
experiences in a person's life. Elements of formal, nonformal, and
informal learning must be complementary and not conflicting.
Currently, most of the curriculum content in rural Alaskan schools
conflicts with the indigenous people's hopes for education. Native
students who earn degrees awarded by the dominant culture find
themselves caught in the conflict between two cultures. Therefore,
it is essential that the teaching of traditional academic and
vocational concepts be integrated with the teaching of other
survival skills present in the community.
Another important subject matter
component would have to be bilingual instruction at all grade
levels. Assuming that Native children enter the school speaking
primarily their Native tongue, English would have to be taught as
a second language from grade three on. During the first two years
of schooling the child's Native language would be utilized
exclusively. In grades one and two, writing skills in the Native
language and formal learning skills would be emphasized. In the
third grade, English would be introduced as an academic subject
and as a survival skill. This notion of English as a survival
skill focuses on the English language as a necessary tool for
communicating with and understanding concepts of the dominant
culture. An example would be the vocational area of graphic arts.
The majority of the terminology associated with graphic arts is
only relevant in the English language. Native language does not
address many of the the elements within graphic arts since this
area was traditionally not a part of the Native culture. In this
sense learning would become truly bicultural.
Within this framework, the concept
of teacher would have to be expanded to include parents, elders,
community members, guests, and, most important, the students
themselves, in addition to professional teachers. Peer teaching
would be a key component of the entire system. As students would
become older (high school age), they could be peer teaching not
only one another but also primary students, thus serving as role
models for the younger children.
Formal learning areas associated
with the contracted teachers and with peer teachers would include
mathematics, Eng]ish as a second language, social/political
science, general science, and computers, which would be integrated
at all levels, and in vocational subject areas.
Nonformal learning areas
associated with parents, elders, community members, guests, and
peer teachers would include Native language (oral and written),
Native religion, Native arts, subsistence skills (ranging from
hunting, fishing, and trapping to trap construction, food
preservation, and cooking), and other traditional Native skills,
such as boat and sled construction, dance, storytelling, and all
other cultural activities that are essential to the maintenance
and development of the local-indigenous culture.
Informal learning would complement
and connect all formal and nonformal learning activities. If all
people within a community were supporting the educational system,
then informal learning would naturally function to integrate all
components of the learning process. Informal learning activities
in which students would engage with members of their own culture
as well as with members of other cultures would reinforce both the
indigenous cultural elements and formal curriculum
content.
Since the major goal of this
educational system would be to maintain the local indigenous
culture, formal learning would have to be creatively adapted to
the local environment. Alaska River and Sea Week was developed
with this goal. Formal curriculum content would have to be
presented as one way of organizing and conceptualizing the
environment. It would have to be emphasized that the Western
cultural perspective can only function to complement the
indigenous world view, thus contributing to a broader basis for
conceptualizing the environment. In this way, formal subject
matter could be adapted to support the goals of cultural
preservation and economic survival.
Finally, it may be necessary to
address the design of an appropriate school facility. The
education environment in rural Alaska is the entire community.
Therefore, if may be questionable whether separate school
facilities must be provided. Whether or not a school building is
necessary would depend on the extent to which the educational
program of the community needs to be centralized. If a separate
physical plant is to be constructed, the architecture of such a
facility would have to be governed by environmental
considerations. In addition, an appropriate school facility would
have to include features that make it a suitable meeting place for
community events.
Let's try and capture in a
nutshell the concept of an ideal school for rural Alaskan
communities. Traditional Western control is abandoned and a new
form of tribal government controls the local educational
organization. Administrators serve as organizers and facilitators
and as political mediators between the community and outside
forces. The teaching staff includes all who are capable of sharing
a learning experience. Appropriate school facilities are provided
if necessary. However, in general, the environment becomes the
school, while the community and the land becomes the classroom.
Cultural learning takes place in a nonformal and informal context.
Academic and vocational skills are learned in a formal context,
but they are applied as survival skills and adapted to the local
environment whenever possible. Students operate in a
biculturalbilingual environment. Language is used in ways that are
relevant to the context of learning. Usually, formal learning is
associated with the English language, and nonformal learning takes
place in the Native language.
This ideal educational system will
provide opportunities for all members of the community to
participate in the educational process. One of the major
objectives of this system will be to support the
self-determination and self-empowerment of local communities. In
the beginning, the new educational system will have to pick up
where the previous system has failed. In the process, Native power
will be strengthened and Native control of education will be
established.
A functional bicultural education
system should provide Native people with the skills necessary for
making choices and not leave people in a situation over which they
feel little control-a situation of being caught in the middle of
two cultures. Conflict is inevitable; learning how to acquire the
skills to cope with conflict is the means to survival.
