Elementary School
Ninety-four percent of
Native adults in the Alaska Inupiat Settlement Region completed elementary
school.
The availability of elementary school education has changed within the lifetimes
of the region's oldest
residents. Thirty percent of those 65 an older had less than an elementary
school education, as did
seven percent of those 55 to 64 years old in 2003. A woman in her 40's, for
example, talked about her
mother's education, "Her parents had to make a choice. After 8th grade, my
mother had to go to
Chemara or some other boarding school. Her parents chose to keep their children
home for the traditional lifestyle."
Evidence of the choice between formal schooling and traditional education is the fact that one-in-three Native adults between 55 and 64 learned more than 15 of the skills asked about in the interview compared with one-in-five of Native adults 25 to 44. A woman in her 30's recalled, "My grandparents were not comfortable teaching us (traditional) things. My grandmother only taught me if I forced her to - like seal. I took the initiative. With her, teasing was an Iņupiat teaching method. I didn't know that her laughing was a way of teaching to do better. I got really mad at her for teaching others and not teaching me. I didn't have the heart to ask her."
grouped values of tradl educ index * age of respondent Crosstabulation
% within age of respondent
|
age of respondent |
Total |
||||||||
|
16,17 |
18-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
65 and older |
|||
|
grouped values of tradl educ index |
1-7 |
32.6% |
20.3% |
19.5% |
16.4% |
18.1% |
16.3% |
13.7% |
18.1% |
|
8-11 |
42.2% |
41.1% |
31.8% |
23.3% |
15.8% |
21.4% |
30.9% |
27.7% |
|
|
12-15 |
21.5% |
26.5% |
29.1% |
42.3% |
35.3% |
29.0% |
31.8% |
33.1% |
|
|
16-20 |
3.7% |
12.1% |
19.7% |
18.0% |
30.9% |
33.3% |
23.7% |
21.1% |
|
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|
Sixty percent of the father's and 65 percent of the mother's of people 65 years old in 2003 had less than an elementary school education. Regarding her mother's education, a woman in her 60's said, "She was raised in the Teller mission home." Another woman in her 60's said about her mother and aunt, "[They] didn't attend school, but a guy taught them math. Mom and my aunt would come home laughing, but learned math in a month long course. They could not understand the instructor. I remember their laughter. We have so much humor in our language which is being lost unfortunately; it can't be translated into English. The very deepest humor; you can't explain the humor thoroughly with the English language."
A woman in her 70's reported about her mother, "There was no school when she was you. They just learned how to sew from their parents." A man in his 70's said about his mother, "What she learned was from the ministers who read to them from the bible and memorized words for the English choir."
Highest level of training or schooling R completed * age of respondent Crosstabulation
% within age of respondent
|
age of respondent |
Total |
||||||||||||||||
|
16,17 |
18-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
65 and older |
|||||||||||
|
Highest level of training or schooling R completed |
Advanced traditional training |
2.8% |
1.4% |
.4% |
|||||||||||||
|
Less than elementary school |
.4% |
7.0% |
30.3% |
4.7% |
|||||||||||||
|
Elementary school |
95.9% |
40.3% |
10.9% |
11.3% |
7.9% |
32.8% |
46.4% |
25.1% |
|||||||||
|
High school |
4.1% |
49.0% |
62.5% |
53.7% |
61.7% |
14.8% |
18.5% |
45.8% |
|||||||||
|
Vocation training,comm coll,assoc degree |
10.3% |
24.3% |
32.7% |
25.1% |
36.1% |
3.4% |
21.5% |
||||||||||
|
College BA |
.4% |
2.1% |
2.2% |
4.5% |
4.4% |
2.1% |
|||||||||||
|
University MA |
.2% |
.1% |
.4% |
2.2% |
.3% |
||||||||||||
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|||||||||
Highest level of training or schooling father completed * age of respondent Crosstabulation
% within age of respondent
|
age of respondent |
Total |
||||||||||||||||
|
16,17 |
18-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
65 and older |
|||||||||||
|
Highest level of training or schooling father completed |
Advanced traditional training |
.9% |
2.7% |
2.9% |
.7% |
||||||||||||
|
Less than elementary school |
5.0% |
35.3% |
48.3% |
49.7% |
60.3% |
30.5% |
|||||||||||
|
Elementary school |
6.5% |
16.8% |
26.9% |
36.0% |
45.6% |
36.9% |
29.8% |
31.8% |
|||||||||
|
High school |
73.8% |
61.7% |
49.4% |
18.4% |
5.1% |
3.1% |
2.7% |
26.1% |
|||||||||
|
Vocation training,comm coll,assoc degree |
8.4% |
8.8% |
12.5% |
4.3% |
1.5% |
1.2% |
5.0% |
||||||||||
|
College BA |
11.4% |
6.1% |
5.1% |
5.5% |
.7% |
.9% |
3.8% |
||||||||||
|
University MA |
.6% |
.6% |
.3% |
||||||||||||||
|
University PhD, MD |
4.4% |
.6% |
1.9% |
.9% |
|||||||||||||
|
Other |
2.2% |
3.6% |
2.3% |
.9% |
|||||||||||||
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|||||||||
Of these, 28 percent attended at least part of their elementary school outside their home community and 11 received all of their elementary school outside their home community.
Attending elementary school away from one's home community was more likely to be stressful: 42 percent receiving all their elementary school away from home found it stressful compared to 15 percent of those attending elementary school in their home town.
Elementary school stressful or not stressful * Go to elementary school outside community Crosstabulation
% within Go to elementary school outside community
|
Go to elementary school outside community |
Total |
||||||||
|
Yes-all |
No-part |
No |
|||||||
|
Elementary school stressful or not stressful |
Stressful |
42.2% |
37.4% |
14.7% |
21.6% |
||||
|
Not stressful |
57.8% |
62.6% |
85.3% |
78.4% |
|||||
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|||||
The reasons for experiencing stress in elementary school vary widely.
Overall, the most commonly
reported stressors were: the school environment, being singled out as different,
punishment for
speaking Inupiaq, getting picked on, conflict between school and culture, and
being away from
home.
| Percent of Cases | |
| school environment | 14 |
| singled out as different | 13 |
| punished for speaking Inupiaq | 13 |
| got picked on | 12 |
| conflict between school, own culture | 11 |
| being away from home | 10 |
| school work was hard | 8 |
| didn't understand school work | 8 |
| big change to go to this school | 8 |
| bad, mean teachers | 6 |
| school work | 5 |
| conflicts with others | 5 |
| teachers | 4 |
| wanted to learn traditional ways | 3 |
| singled out as Native | 3 |
| shy | 3 |
| other family members got picked on | 2 |
| alcoholic parent or parents | 2 |
| good teachers | 1 |
| family problems | 1 |
| culture | 1 |
| other | 1 |
| family responsibilities | 1 |
| school work not challenging | 1 |
We looked at whether it appears that different stresses come from attending
school away from
the community. Two types of answers were more common for those attending
elementary school
away from the community: comments that the school environment was very different
from what
they were used to, and the related comment that it was a big chance to go to
school away from home.
A man in his 50's said, [It was stressful] "Because I wanted to be out with my dad. He made a contract with the teacher to check me out of school to learn traditional ways."
A women in her 30's reported, "When I went to school in Anchorage it was stressful. When I went to school here it was not stressful. I was behind in reading, academic was stressful; socially was stressful because there was one family that I had to see everyday at the bus stop and they were very racist. Finally I had to beat her up and the principal suspended her even though I beat her up and then she stopped. I took it for years and finally I blew up."
Attending elementary school at home had its own stressors. A man in his 50's said, "[We were] told we could not speak our language. We were hit and punished for speaking our language. We were taught reward and punishment rather than our traditional honor and shame in learning things. [There was a] big difference in the way our grandmother taught us and the way our teachers taught us. We were taught to be Americans. We read about cows and trains, but didn't know what they were." Another man in his 50's said, "This was a conscious effort to punish students who used Iņupiaq language and a conscious effort to separate students from parents. We had a black board in a class of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. If one child spoke Iņupiaq, the teacher would put on the wall a bull's eye and all the students would be forced to stare at the center for 30 minutes to 2 hours. It made us want to get back at the teachers. Then the BIA left and the teachers went away so we never got back at them."
The effect on Native language speaking ability was dramatic. While 91 percent of Native adults in the Inupiat settlement region learned their Native language as a child, the percent dropped rapidly among those 55 to 64 (87%), 45-54 (83%), 35-44 (55%), 25-34 (45%), and 18-24 (38%).
learned Native language as a child * age of respondent Crosstabulation
% within age of respondent
|
age of respondent |
Total |
||||||||
|
16,17 |
18-24 |
25-34 |
35-44 |
45-54 |
55-64 |
65 and older |
|||
|
learned Native language as a child |
yes |
28.9% |
37.9% |
44.8% |
54.6% |
82.7% |
86.9% |
91.1% |
62.0% |
|
no |
71.1% |
62.1% |
55.2% |
45.4% |
17.3% |
13.1% |
8.9% |
38.0% |
|
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|
And a women in her 50's said, "I was the oldest daughter so I cared for my younger siblings. At an early age I took care of them. There were 14 children." Another recalled, "When I was very young my father died and mom remarried. Two sober people turned into alcoholics. I blocked it out. I don't remember 2nd to 4th grade teachers, just bits and pieces."
stress*b29 Crosstabulation
|
Go to elementary school outside community |
Total |
|||||||||||||||
|
Yes-all |
No-part |
No |
||||||||||||||
|
type of stress in elem sch |
conflicts with other |
Count |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
2.8% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
singled out as Nativ |
Count |
0 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
5.6% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
singled out as diffe |
Count |
3 |
3 |
7 |
13 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
13.0% |
8.3% |
7.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
got picked on |
Count |
1 |
4 |
11 |
16 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
11.1% |
11.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
other family members |
Count |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
2.8% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
teachers |
Count |
0 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
8.3% |
3.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
bad, mean teachers |
Count |
1 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
2.8% |
5.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
good teachers |
Count |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
.0% |
1.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
school work |
Count |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
2.8% |
3.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
didn't understand sc |
Count |
2 |
2 |
7 |
11 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
8.7% |
5.6% |
7.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
school work was hard |
Count |
1 |
2 |
10 |
13 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
5.6% |
10.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
school work not chal |
Count |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
.0% |
1.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
family problems |
Count |
1 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
.0% |
3.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
alcoholic parent or |
Count |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
2.8% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
family responsibilit |
Count |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
.0% |
1.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
culture |
Count |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
.0% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
punished for speakin |
Count |
1 |
2 |
13 |
16 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
5.6% |
13.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
conflict between sch |
Count |
1 |
3 |
8 |
12 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
8.3% |
8.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
school environment |
Count |
4 |
3 |
5 |
12 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
17.4% |
8.3% |
5.1% |
|||||||||||||
|
big change to go to |
Count |
4 |
4 |
3 |
11 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
17.4% |
11.1% |
3.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
being away from home |
Count |
1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
4.3% |
5.6% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
shy |
Count |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
.0% |
3.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
wanted to learn trad |
Count |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
2.8% |
2.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
other |
Count |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|||||||||||
|
% within b29 |
.0% |
.0% |
1.0% |
|||||||||||||
|
Total |
Count |
23 |
36 |
99 |
158 |
|||||||||||
Percentages and totals are based on responses.
a Group
Finally, we looked for any evidence that stress encountered in elementary
school affects people well-being
today, keeping in mind that we have only a crude measure of stress and that we
can expect
many factors to affect living conditions. We found no relationship between
reported stress in elementary
school and their satisfaction with life as a whole or thelikelihood of being
seriously depressed
today (see below).
satisfaction with life as a whole recoded * Elementary school stressful or not stressful Crosstabulation
% within Elementary school stressful or not stressful
|
Elementary school stressful or not stressful |
Total |
|||
|
Stressful |
Not stressful |
|||
|
satisfaction with life as a whole recoded |
very dissatisfied |
.8% |
.8% |
.8% |
|
somewhat dissatisfied |
4.2% |
2.7% |
3.0% |
|
|
neither satisfied nor dissatisfied |
3.4% |
9.3% |
8.1% |
|
|
somewhat satisfied |
33.9% |
33.7% |
33.7% |
|
|
very satisfied |
57.6% |
53.5% |
54.3% |
|
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|
grouped and inverted values of depress scale * Elementary school stressful or not stressful Crosstabulation
% within Elementary school stressful or not stressful
|
Elementary school stressful or not stressful |
Total |
|||
|
Stressful |
Not stressful |
|||
|
grouped and inverted values of depress scale |
most likely depressed |
7.9% |
7.8% |
7.8% |
|
least likely depressed |
92.1% |
92.2% |
92.2% |
|
|
Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
|