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Taken to Extremes: Education in the Far North

This book examines the history of education of indigenous peoples in circumpolar countries of the Western world and contemporary issues in schooling there. It offers perspectives on school and society in villages spread across the Arctic and Subarctic regions of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. More commonalities than differences are found, and regardless of the region, four historical periods of educational development are identified: (1) introduction of missionary and government schools soon after Western contact, which emulated the values of the majority society of that day, and Native passivity towards their establishment; (2) appearance of dissatisfaction with the education system among a few Native groups; (3) assertive Native rejection of inappropriate school systems, supported by newly established Native political organizations and academicians and polarized around the goals of either cultural replacement or cultural continuity; and (4) attainment of various political provisions that accommodate Native self-determination. Common contemporary issues include the organizational structure of schools, the location of school governance, culturally relevant curriculum, language of instruction, teacher preparation and development, and student achievement. The book contends that the lessons learned in the Far North have relevance for minority populations in all multicultural societies. Their conclusions relate to the school as a social system, relative size and power in the school-community relationship, dimensions of integration, community-level phenomena, balance between systems, schooling as a socialization process, the macro and micro phenomena of school, and education as cultural process and identity formation. (Contains 133 references and an index.) (TD)

• Author/Creator: Darnell, Frank, Hoem, Anton
• Author's address: Scandinavian University Press North America, 875 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 84, Cambridge, MA 02139. Fax: 617-354-6875 ($39.90).
• Date Published: 00-00
• Notes: Search the catalog at the library of the University of Colorado at Boulder. English ISBN: 82-00-22588-7 Funding: Oslo Univ. (Norway). Inst. of Educational Research. Document (RIE) 010 Books; 060 Historical Materials; 143 Reports--Research EDRS: Document Not Available from EDRS.
• Year: 1996

This resource is cataloged under:

• Subject: Alaska Natives
• Subject: American Indian Education
• Subject: Canada Natives
• Subject: Colonialism
• Subject: Culture Conflict
• Subject: Educational History
• Subject: Eskimos
• Subject: Federal Indian Relationship
• Subject: Foreign Countries
• Subject: Geographic Isolation
• Subject: Indigenous Populations
• Subject: Native Language Instruction
• Subject: Politics of Education
• Subject: Role of Education
• Subject: Rural Education
• Subject: School Community Relationship
• Subject: Self Determination
• Subject: Tribally Controlled Education
• Subject: Tribal Sovereignty
• Subject: Trust Responsibility (Government)

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