What Is School For? Dilemmas of Secondary Education in Bush Alaska

• Main Author: Hamilton, Lawrence C.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository 1998
• Subjects: Arctic; Norway; Skibotn; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholars.unh.edu/faculty_pubs/988; https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1989&context=faculty_pubs

The remote towns and villages of bush Alaska confront dilemmas in the design of secondary education. Systems based on a single statewide boarding school, or alternatively on small schools in each individual community, have both been tried. Debates about these two approaches reflect a more basic question: What is the purpose of secondary education? Should it (A) prepare students to become functional members of their home communities, or (B) prepare them to compete for education and jobs elsewhere? This question has implications for all aspects of educational design, and indeed for the future of rural villages themselves. A paper presented at the Arctic Social Science Ph.D. Network Seminar, Skibotn, Norway, August 1998.