Issues Our Students Face

As we were doing some research, preparing to speak about what we will be doing up in Alaska we ran across several great resources that we thought you might enjoy.

First, you might be wondering just who the Alaska Natives are, and where they are found. This map shows where each tribe is generally located throughout Alaska and the languages they speak.

Alaska Christian College works primarily with the Aleut, Yupik and Inupiaq Eskimo people, and the Athabascan Native Americans. The fact that there are so many different Native groups with their own cultures and languages makes the job of educating and ministering to these students very challenging.


Neglected Responsibilities: America's Failure to Support Native Alaskan Students is a great article that outlines the challenges with the Native Alaskan elementary, middle and high schools (often these are all one school.)

Alaska Native Education Study: A Statewide Study of Alaska Native Values and Opinions Regarding Education in Alaska is a longer article that goes into more depth about some of the challenges and issues facing the Alaska Native educational system.

These two articles discuss the problem of suicide among the young Natives in Alaska.
Study: Young Alaska Native men at high risk for suicide
Alaska Native Suicide Rate More than Twice that of Non-Natives

The Changing Economic Status of Alaska Natives is a really interesting article that examines the gap in economic status between Alaska Natives and other Alaskans.