Responds to a paper that focused on the "domestication of the ivory tower" and that highlighted indigenous, field-based education associated with higher education institutions in Alaska. Shares two stories that illustrate what indigenous students often encounter in higher education, places of learning that frequently devalue or ignore…

Oil-industry-produced revenues, help finance Alaskan state and local governmental services including education. Capital losses incurred by the Exxon Corporation and by commerical fisheries as a consequence of the Exxon Valdez oil spill caused an economic recession, the result being diminished financing for a number of governmental programs and…

High teacher attrition in rural Alaska is abetted by stress induced by the culturally and environmentally differing milieus of the arctic and sub-arctic. Severe climatic conditions curtail traditional activities, and confined isolated settings place strain on personal relationships and heighten irritability, anxiety, and anger, often leading to…

Award-winning teachers from rural Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho discuss their innovative programs and the advantages of small-town life and small schools. Teachers, students, and community members know each other and participate in school activities, teachers have more flexibility and control over what they teach, bureaucracy is minimized, and…