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October 10, 2009

State education chief supports cultural learning

Mary Catherine Martin:

Cultural and academic education shouldn't be separate and unequal, Alaska Commissioner of Education Larry LeDoux said on Wednesday.

"We can prepare kids to engage in any career they have a dream for and still be conversant in their language and their culture," he said.

LeDoux was speaking as part of an education panel at the 97th annual Grand Camp Convention of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. It's a convention in which education needs for the Native population features prominently: The theme is "Wooch.éen; Gu dángahl: Yes We Can! Cultural Unity through Education and Communication."

ANB President Brad Fluetsch also mentioned the gap between cultural and academic education, giving the example of harvesting a seal.

"To us, it's cultural education, but to the university, it's biology credits," he said.

LeDoux said the department is planning cultural training for new teachers, though it does not yet have funding. Seventy percent of Alaska teachers come from out of state, he said.
One thing for which the department does have funding is hiring a director of rural education, which LeDoux said will happen "any day now."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 10, 2009 1:01 AM
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