Ankn.uaf.Edu-The Guidance Project and the Reluctant Seniors

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The Guidance Project and the Reluctant Seniors

The Guidance Project and the Reluctant Seniors

Teaching Cases in Cross -Cultural Education

No. 7

Cross-Cultural Counseling:The Guidance Project and the Reluctant SeniorsArthur W. Allen, IIIEdited by Judith Kleinfe ldCenter f or Cross- Cultural StudiesCollege o f Rural AlaskaUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks

Cross-Cultural Counseling: The Guidance Project and the Reluctant Seniors 1990 Judith Kleinfeld

Mr. Allen is an Alaskan rural teacher and has prepared this case on the basis of his experience indif f erent rural communities. The village and students described are compos ites. In one o r twocases, where a prominent f igure might be recognized, his or her permission f or inclusion in thiscase has been given.

Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Allen, Arthur W. IIICross-cultural counseling: The guidance project and the reluctant seniors .

(Teaching cases; no.7)

1. Student counselors-Alaska-Case studies. 2. Vocat ional guidance Case studies. 3. Personnelservice in education-Alaska-Case studies. I. University o f Alaska Fairbanks. Center f or Cross-Cultural Studies. II. Title. III. Series: Teaching cases in cross-cultural educat ion; no. 7.

LB 1620.5.A45 1990ISBN 1- 877962-15-5

Contents

Int roduct ion ..........................................................................................................i

List of Characters .............................................................................................vii

The Guidance Project .......................................................................................1

Fred Young and His Backgro und....................................................................3

The Yup'ik Community o f Tutuluq ..................................................................4

Fred Young as Site Guidance Counselor.....................................................6

The Itinerant Counselo r f rom Mountain and Valley School Dist rict ......16
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Las t Year's Seniors.........................................................................................17

The District In-Service Meeting on Guidance............................................20

The Third Guidance Session .......................................................................25

Staf f Meet ing....................................................................................................27

January Arrives and the Guidance Project Begins...................................31

The Next Week................................................................................................35

Deadlines Approaching ................................................................................36

Epilogue: The Graduating Seniors .............................................................41

Discussion Ques tions.....................................................................................43

Supplementary Materials

Note 1: Rural Students and the Transition to Adulthood..............49

Note 2: College Entrance Rates in Alaskaby Ethnicity and Gender........................................................ 55

Note 3: Participation of Inupiat Men and Womenin t he Wage Econo my............................................................56

Note 4: Counseling Programs in Small Rural High Schools .....66

Note 5: Broaden Students' Experience with Travel Programs ..69

Note 6: University Programs that Ass ist Rural High SchoolStudents Make the Transition to College ..........................76

Introduction

Cross-Cultural Counseling: The Guidance Project and the Reluctant Seniors describes a rural Alaskahigh school teacher's earnest and intense ef f ort s t o mot ivate his nine Yup'ik seniors to plan f ortheir futures af ter high schoo l. The teacher, Fred Young, wants his s tudents t o go on to college orvocational school. He takes on the difficult position of "site guidance counselor," adding theadditional responsibilities o f this ro le -- whatever these might be to the already heavy teaching loadof a small high schoo l teacher.

What is t he proper role o f a school guidance counselor in a small Yup'ik community? Fred Youngworries whether he is pushing his students too much, whether his aspirations f or t hem, indeed hisvery emphasis on planning f or t he future, conf lict with Yup'ik values and ways o f lif e. Some of thevillage elders, he has heard, tell his s tudents in the Yup'ik language that "school is f or nothing."What is the village high school supposed to be preparing students f or- the Yup'ik community or theworld outside the village? How can the school prepare students f or co llege and careers and at thesame time help to maintain the Yup'ik culture?

The case describes Fred's efforts to develop a guidance program, how he pins his hopes on aspecial two-week guidance project, the results o f this pro ject, and what f inally happens to his Yup'ikseniors in the year af ter high schoo l.

Cross-Cultural Counselingis not simply a narrative, one teacher's sto ry. Nor is it an ethnographic
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case study, a rich and careful description of a cultural set ting.

This s to ry is a "teaching case." It is a description o f troubling and problematic events written to helpprospective teachers think through the complex and ambiguous situat ions which arise in ruralteaching. Teaching cases have long been a cornerstone of professional preparation in schools ofbusiness and law. Only recently has the f ield of education begun to explore their value in thepreparat ion of teachers (Doyle, 1886; Shulman, 1987; McCarthy, 1987). In the teaching case,interpretat ions are lef t open and loo se ends are not tied up. The teaching case demandsspeculation f rom inadequate knowledge. The purpose o f the case is not to establish "truth" butrather to prepare students for "wise action" (Christensen, 1987). Professional practice demands

wise action even where the truth neither is nor can be known.

Purposes of Teaching Cases

A teaching case presents a pro f essional pro blem or dilemma and asks s tudent s to interpret thesituation and decide upon a st rategy fo r handling it. The case asks t he student to f igure out "whatis really going on here?" "what went wrong?" and "what should be done?"

Such cases pro vide vicarious experience, the opportunity to ref lect upon common and complexdilemmas before actually encountering them. Teachers, like many other professionals, work insituat ions of great complexity, ambiguity, and disorder, where it is no t clear what goals are desirableor where desirable goals conf lict (Schon, 1983). In Cross-Cultural Counseling, as an example, thegoal of increasing Yup'ik students ' enrollment in college may conf lict with the goal o f maintaining avital Yup'ik village community. Does the academically able young woman who chooses to stay homeand baby-s it her sister's f our children aft er high school represent a success or a f ailure of theschoo l counseling program? What is the village high schoo l supposed to be preparing Yup'ikstudents for?

Such dilemmas are at the heart of cross- cultural teaching. Deciding how to approach them requiresfar more than scientif ic generalizations or t he pedagogical knowledge gained f rom methodscourses. These dilemmas involve ethical issues, po licy questions , interpersonal sensitivities, andpolitical acumen, not only knowledge about alternative guidance techniques. Teaching cases areintended to show prospective teachers that such ethical and policy quest ions are inextricablyinterwoven in what may seem to be the o rdinary and mundane activities of schoo l lif e. Teachingcases give students practice in figuring out just what the problems are-what lawyers refer to as

"issue spott ing"-and how to f rame these problems in f ruitf ul ways.

Rural communities, even within the same cultural region, are dif f erent f rom each other andcommunities are changing in unpredictable ways. Dif f erent generations and dif f erent f amilies withinthe same community do not have the same belief s, expectations , values, and styles o fcommunication. Teachers can expect no rules or recipes. They must learn how to learn f rom thespecific situation.

A major purpose of teaching cases is t o develop student s' sensitivity to the s ituation- to theambiguities and multiple realities o f concrete experience. We want s tudents to f eel morecomfortable with uncertainty. We want them to think about other people's interpretations of asituation. We want to enlarge their repertoire of potential strategies for accomplishing educationalpurposes. We want them to be better able to anticipate the ramifications and risks of the actions

they may choose.

Teaching cases not only help to develop cognitive capacities- judgment and insight. The cases alsoof f er emot ional preparation f or dealing with an unjust and uncertain world. Young teachers t ypicallyexpect a just and orderly world, a world in which good teaching is always rewarded and goodteachers do no t bear the legacy of a past t hey did not create. Why should a generous and hard-working teacher like Fred Young, f or example, face such hos tility f rom a Yup'ik student like Myrnaover what seems to be a question of whether or not he promised her a free so f t drink f or at tendinga guidance meeting? The cases help prospective teachers become aware that their expectat ionsfor a just world are not entirely reasonable and that people like themselves can become caught incircumstances not of their own making.

Representativeness of Cases and the Author's Point of View


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Cross-Cultural Counselingis based on the author's experience as a teacher and site counselor invillage high schoo ls. Names and identifying details have been changed to protect conf identiality.The case is a composite which draws upon his experiences in several villages.

In preparing such cases, we have wrestled with the vexing issue of point of view. The author tellsthe sto ry f rom the perspective of a teacher, and this story would be very diff erent if to ld from adif f erent perspective, the view of a student or community member. While the author tries todescribe community perspectives, he is well aware that his viewpoint is limited. We all live within ourown skins.

Students should discuss directly the limitations of the author's perspective and how the situationmight look to others in the sto ry. They should keep in mind that they too will have a limited view ofevent., the view of the teacher-and that they to o will have to make decisions based upon a limitedperspective and inadequate knowledge.

Studying and Teaching a Case

Teaching cases such as this one are intended to develop students' abilities to 1) spot issues andf rame problems in an ambiguous and complex teaching situat ion, 2) interpret the s ituation f romdif f erent perspectives, 3) identify dif f erent possibilities f or action, and 4) consider the risks andramifications o f dif f erent courses of action.

In stimulating such reflection, we have found useful the following kinds of questions. Most havebeen culled from the instructor's guide to Teaching and the Case Method(Christensen, Hansen, &Moore, 1987) and from discussions about case method teaching (Christensen, 1987).

The questions are:

1. What are the central problems in this case? What is go ing wrong here? Is anything going wrongat all? From whose perspective?

2. What, if anything, should the teacher do dif f erently next year? Why do you think so?

3. How does this s ituation appear to other participants such as the students? o ther teachers at theschool? administrators in the central office? parents in the community?

4. How did this s ituation develop? What, if anything, might alter the basic conditions which createdthe present diff iculties?

5. What, if anything, have you learned f rom this case?

In teaching a case, we typically ask students to prepare for class discuss ion by writing a two- pagepaper identif ying what they see as the main issues in the case, describing the actions the teachertook, and appraising the teacher's actions. We begin the class by asking each student to identifythe most important issues of the case and we list the issues on the chalkboard. We choose as astarting point for discussion an issue which many students have identified as key to understandingthe case and an issue in which students are emot ionally involved. The mos t memorable andpowerf ul learning occurs where a case involves both the intellect and the emot ions.

Af ter the case discussion, we ask student s to write ano ther short paper on what they now see asthe fundamental issues of the case, what actions they would have advised the teacher to take, andwhat t hey have learned or come to appreciate as a result of discussion and f urther ref lection onthe situation.

Issues Raised in Cross-Cultural Counseling:The Reluctant Seniors and the Guidance Project

As s tudent s read this case, it is helpf ul to keep two sets o f problems in mind:

1) What adult lif estyles do s tudents see as possibilities f or themselves? What cultural shift s andconf licts have made the pathways to adulthoo d so undef ined f or Yup'ik students or are these


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Fred was uneasy about the reception his pro ject would receive f rom the administrat ion. Thecounseling project was scheduled to use t ime during the seniors' regularly scheduled English class.How would his principal, Paul Best, react to such an unorthodox use of Fred's English teachingtime? Wouldn't it be wiser just to stick to the course objectives outlined in the Language ArtsCurriculum Guide set f ort h by the Mountain and Valley School Dist rict (MVSD)? Was it o ut o f line totake t ime f rom English class when many students needed so much practice in using the Englishlanguage? In all the in-service meetings he had attended, Fred heard one message over and overagain: To improve the skills of the s tudents o f MVSD in all areas of the curriculum, it is essentialf irst to improve their English language skills. Now he was about to s tart a project which wouldcertainly use Yup'ik, the language of the community and the language of choice among hisstudents, as much as English. Fred decided to let the principal in on his plans right away thismorning. He knew he should have done so weeks ago.

Fred also worried about t he village participants whom he had asked to come to school to describetheir work: would they actually come? He had asked some villagers who were working f or pay togive brief descriptions of their jobs. He had also asked some of the village elders who did not havea specific, paying job to talk to the st udents. Some of them might not be able to come because ofspecif ic conf licts. But he also knew that, in the Yup'ik culture, prearranging a t ime and place to visitwas a f oreign concept . People usually visited on a whim or, when meetings were called, they arrivednear a certain time rather than exactly at a t ime. The silent message sent by those who did notshow up might reinfo rce fo r his seniors the idea that preparing now for t he future was notnecessary. Would one of the elders actually come out and say what he had heard some of the

students echo: "School is nothing"? School didn't prepare you f or anything important andworthwhile. He wouldn't even know if the sent iment was expressed because he didn't s peak Yup'ik.

What about the students who had already made decisions for their futures and were well on theway to completing their preparations? Would most o f this two- week project be a waste of time f orthem? Was he emphasizing this project most ly to get those students who had resisted making adecision to give in and f inally decide on something? Fred was t roubled by his mot ives: was the realpurpose of the project just to gratify his own ego?

On the other hand, the school's philosophy was to help students achieve a career. Fred f elt he hadnot done enough as site guidance counselor to help the seniors. The more ef f ort he put into hiscareer guidance duties, the more he realized how litt le he really knew about the postgraduationneeds of his Yup'ik seniors. Involving members o f the village in the pro ject, he hoped, would

stimulate his reluctant seniors t o take their futures into their own hands.

Fred Young and His Background

Fred Young had never thought of himself as someone qualified to counsel high-school students,let alone to counsel Yup'ik students . He was not new to living in an Eskimo village, but he was arelative newcomer to teaching.

Fred had graduated f rom a university in the Pacif ic Nort hwest with a double major in English andpolitical science. He took a summer job in const ruction and later set up a business with a f riend inthe construct ion industry. One summer he took a business vacation to Alaska in order to const ructa house in a Yup'ik village. He liked the immense vistas o f unspo iled land and water and he liked thepeople he met. Fred decided to stay on in the village through the winter.

Because he was viewed as an expert in const ruction, Fred answered many requests t o help thevillagers learn the tricks o f the t rade. He taught all his skills many times o ver while helping oneperson do t his and another do t hat. People repaid him by taking him out and introducing him to theways o f subsist ing in the environment surrounding the village. Fred set tled in and entered the cycleof lif e which dominated the village, a cycle set into mot ion by the seasonal changes. He also servedas a substitute teacher at the village school.

One fall a new special education teacher, Katie, arrived in the village, and a mutual att ractiondeveloped between them. Fred decided to return t o college to obtain a teaching certif icate and Katiewent with him to complete her master's degree. They loo ked forward to their return to Alaska andhoped they would be able to get jobs in the same village. When MVSD of f ered them cont racts t o

teach in Tutulu , the acce ted the ositions without reservations.


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The Yup'ik Community of Tutuluq

Tutuluq, a village of about 500 people, is located on the bank of a river not too f ar f rom the BeringSea. Its present location is the second place to be called by the name Tutuluq. The f ormer villagesite, f ive miles f urther upriver, was originally a winter camp. The past lif estyle of the Yup'ik peoplewas nomadic, moving f rom winter camp to summer camp as f ood sources f luctuated. The originalwinter s ite with its abandoned sod houses and small cemetery has become a living page of histo ryfor t he new generation.

In the 1950s the Bureau of Indian Aff airs decided to build an elementary school in Tutuluq. Becauseof danger f rom f looding, the villagers relocated to the present site. The village had no local highschool until the late 1970s. Before that time, those students who wanted a high school educationwent away to boarding schoo l, but many dropped out and returned home. In 1976, the Tobeluk vs.Lind sett lement changed everything: all high school students won the right to receive an educationin their home village. In Tutuluq the high schoo l and grade schoo l are now combined into onebuilding. The high school has one large classroom, a half -size gym, a small shop area, a smallkitchen, two bathrooms, a washroom, and an of f ice.

High schoo ls have become the very heart of mos t villages but t heir function is oddly unclear. Whatexactly are the s chools preparing students f or? The Yup'ik culture remains st rong in Tutuluq. Yup'ikis still the language of choice. Grass is collected to construct baskets, and people use furbearing

mammals to make parkas and ruf f s. Trapping provides a source of cash income. Seals, f ish,berries, and plants are essent ial to the diet. Traditional dances, pot latches, and subsistenceactivities remain an important part o f lif e.

But Western inf luences are also st rong. The Catho lic church unites t he village. Schools, grocerystores , and government o f f ices dominate the landscape. A modern lighted runway allows planes toland, even on the darkest o f winter days. The Alascom satellite dish links Tutuluq by television andtelephone to the outside world.

Many students want to remain in Tutuluq, but the village does no t have a self -sustaining casheconomy. Few jobs are available in the community. The Army National Guard maintains a post in thevillage and employs twenty-one men and twelve women on a part- time basis. The Mountain andValley Schoo l Dist rict employs about f if teen villagers as teacher aides, maintenance personnel, and

cooks. Only two Yup'ik people are among the teaching and administ rative staf f . The city governmentemploys f our clerks and the village corpo ration, which operates a gro cery store and a hardwarestore, has a manager and two o r three cashiers on its payroll. There are only a f ew other wage-earning jobs-five air service agents, two operating engineers for the power plant, two store clerks,and a telephone repairman.

Men in the community earn cash in the winter by trapping f ox, o tt er, and other f urbearing animalswhose skins they sell to f urbuyers in the regional center, Salmonville. In summer, some of the menf ish commercially f or herring and salmon.

Everyone also participates in the subsist ence economy by hunting waterf owl, seals, and caribou;f ishing; drying game; rendering seal f at into oil; gathering and preserving edible vegetat ion;collecting grasses and preparing them for weaving baskets; and saving driftwood for winter use as

a fuel.

Fred Young as Site Guidance Counselor

At t he f irst st af f meeting during his second year in Tutuluq, Fred f ound himself the new guidancecounselor. The teacher who had previous ly been the guidance counselor had lef t unexpectedly.

"So what exactly does the s ite counselor have to do?" Katie asked him that evening.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I guess t he f irst t hing I'm going to concentrate on is gett ing the seniorsinvolved in making some so rt of career decisions. I hope I can bring a little excitement into theconcept of choosing a career."


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"You'll bring a lot of excitement, honey. Are you going to have time to do it?"

"I should. I really don't think it should be that time consuming to give the s eniors an insight intoopt ions open to them. It will just take a little planning."

"Just remember to take so me time f or yourself this year. Last year you were overwhelmed. Youpromised you would get out to the tundra more."

"I know, I know. I will. But someone has to do this. The seniors need so much direction. I'm going toget them all thinking right now about what t hey want to do next f all. And then, they're all going to

commit to something and do it!"

Fred made up a year- long schedule for get ting to gether with the seniors. Because he didn't havetime to deal with counseling duties f ormally on a daily basis, he scheduled an af ter- schoo l meetingon the second Tuesday of each month as official guidance time.

By the f irst guidance meeting, Fred had already spent about ten hours in guidance activities and yethad hardly given any advice to the seniors. He had mentioned to his seniors that they should beginthinking about what they wanted to do after they graduated, but he had given them no suggestionson next s teps. Mary Sipary, one of the seniors, had come to him with a scholarship application f orthe National Guard, which he had helped her begin to f ill out , but she was t he only one who hadcome to him f or help.

Fred had been spending all his spare time redoing the modest counseling center which the pastguidance counselor had used the previous year. He discarded old college catalogs and replacedthem with new ones which had accumulated over the summer. Each school day brought more mailaddressed t o "Counselor, Tutuluq High School" which had to be dealt with. Fred stuck the mail in aholding box in the counseling center until he had time to put it away properly.

The center had a drawer f or each of the post -high-school choices most popular with past seniors.As he became f amiliar with the cent er, Fred began to understand t hat he had jumped into a posit ionwhich he had very litt le idea how to go about f illing. The amount o f information in the center wasvast . He also began to realize that someone had already put a great deal of ef f ort into organizingthe center. Maybe last year's guidance counselor had done more than he thought. He rememberedhis distinct f eeling last year that t his person had not worked too hard at guidance counseling. Had

he been mistaken?

Fred saw the drawer labeled Financial Aidas the heart of the center. Not one senior could relycompletely on the financial resources of his or her family to attend college or trade school. TheFinancial Aiddrawer was chaotic. There were scholarship f orms mixed with loan f orms mixed withFinancial Aid Forms and announcements of contests for scholarships. Pamphlets like 101 Places toFind Financial Aidwere buried with pamphlets like Where to Find Hidden Money for College . Whenwould he have time to read them? If he didn't read them, how would he understand all the po tent ialresources available f or his seniors? The amount o f time he was going to have to put intocounseling was going to be a whole lot more than the sixteen hours he had originally estimated f orthe principal Paul Best and submitted on the required extra-pay-for-extra-duty form. The moneydidn't bother Fred. He had become familiar with expectat ions f or teachers in the villages. But it didbother him that he might not have enough t ime to do as good a job as he had hoped. Would he be

able to get each of the seniors ready fo r their lives af ter high school? Where should he start?

The second guidance session, he decided, would f ocus on f inancial aid. By then he would have abetter idea of how the seniors should begin to apply f or it. At the moment, his concepts of f inancialaid were about as organized as the contents of the counseling center.

Fred announced to his senior English class the time and date of the first counseling session aweek before it was to be held. "It's going to be an important get-together for seniors only," he said.He put up posters with the slogan, Seniors, Bring Your Dreams to Life , as a memory boos ter. Hepromised free soft drinks to all who attended. A couple of students complained that they hadcross- country practice, but the promise of a sof t drink at least got them to the beginning of themeeting.


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As the seniors arrived, Fred handed each one a soda and asked that they browse through t hebookshelves and drawers in the counseling center. Mos t o f the seniors were willing to loo k at thecatalogs and inf ormation. Fred was gratif ied by their comments.

"Wow, look at this."

"Gee, I wonder what it's like at this place?"

"So deadly!"

"Where's the UAF catalog?"

"I want to go to ROTC."

"Const ruction, man, const ruction. I want to make lot s o f money."

"No way! Pilots make the money."

"I can't f ind anything in here about the Marines."

When Jerry Olinka, a senior boy, arrived and asked, "What are you guys doing?" Fred decided to getthe students together.

"Okay, seniors !" Fred said, raising his voice to be heard. "Let's call the session to order."

It made him feel good to see the seniors smiling and for the most part enthusiastic to hear what hehad to say. He wanted to keep it that way throughout the year. His hope was to developcamaraderie among t he seniors so that they might inspire each other into developing plans.

"Here's the deal," Fred said, opening the meeting. "Next year at this t ime not one o f you is go ing tobe here. You'll be graduated!"

"All right."

"Yahoo."

"No more teachers' dirty looks!"

"I know it so unds crazy, but you have to start planning now. Right now you need to plan this yearf or what you'll be doing next year. If you want to go to co llege, now is the time to decide where togo. If you want to go to a vocational schoo l, now is the time. It's not easy making decisions aboutwhich dreams you want to come true, so I want all of us t o work together. By May, when you all haveyour caps and gowns on, you will know where you are going!"

Fred handed out the schedules and explained that it was the seniors' responsibility to meet onevery second Tuesday fo r the rest of the year to share information and work together.

"Use this counseling center any time to help you decide what you want to do and where you want togo. Read about the colleges. Read about the National Guard, the Navy, the Marines, the Army. Read

about vocational schools! But get ready now to make your dreams come true. Who's go tquestions?"

"Can we go now?"

''No, you can't go now. We still have half an hour lef t. Now what I want everyone to do is t ake oneof these drawers and sort t hrough the information. Throw everything that has a date on it bef orelast year into a big pile here f or t he trash."

By the end of the af ternoon, some of the drawers had been thinned out, but the bulk of them wereuntouched. The seniors' efforts had helped, but their enthusiasm had begun to wane with the lastof the so f t drinks. When they had gone to cross- country practice or home to do chores, Fred hadstayed and continued cleaning out drawers and organizing materials so mewhat obsess ively,


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knowing that he was neglecting his responsibilities of preparing for his next day's lessons.

Fred had come to realize that sometimes it was necessary to let classes s lide. What he had betterdo as soon as poss ible was make certain that each of the seniors would have enough credits tograduate. He wanted to be very, very sure. In another village one of the seniors t hought he wasgoing to graduate only to f ind out two weeks before graduation that he did not have enoughcredits . On the day bef ore graduation he committed suicide. The f amily blamed the school.

Nine seniors had at tended the meeting, f ive boys and f our girls. Of the f ive boys, Fred was certainthat Jerry Olinka had no hope of graduating this year and thought that two others might not have

the credits to graduate either. Fred didn't feel he should exclude them or point out in front of theirpeers the f act that they did not have the credits to graduate the coming spring. He cons idered them"nonsenior" seniors.

Jerry was nineteen, the oldest s tudent in the high schoo l. This was Jerry's second year ofnonsenior st atus. Fred had been impressed last year by Jerry's love of writing. His syntax was poo r,but it was evident that he put a lot of thought into his work. Jerry fell quickly behind in other work,but his journal was always complete and f ull of insights into the Yup'ik perspective. Invariably,Jerry's journal contained the phrase "... in the old days ..."

Fred had been surprised to see Jerry back again on the f irst day of schoo l. Last year Jerry hadtransf erred to a neighboring village, just before the end of the f all semester. Jerry had missed a lotof school before he left. Because he failed to register in his new high school until the springsemester, he received no credit f or any of his f all classes. Fred did not know why he had lef t,although he had heard rumors that another student had beaten up and threatened Jerry. Whateverhis reason for leaving, Fred had welcomed Jerry back and asked him how he had done.

"Fine, but they didn't like me down there."

Gett ing nothing more o ut o f Jerry, Fred decided to call and ask that Jerry's t ranscript be sent. Whiletalking to the principal, Fred learned that Jerry had earned no credits f or any class. When Fredasked for elaboration, the principal gave the phone to one of the teachers, explaining that he knewnothing about Jerry's perf ormance because he had just t ransferred to this school f rom anothervillage. The teacher who came on t he line was brief and to the po int. "Jerry was a very poor student.He was consist ently late to class . He did no homework. Finally, he just stopped coming to class at

all. He would have gotten an F in my class if he had kept coming."

Fred thanked the t eacher, asked that a transcript be f orwarded, and hung up. Jerry had gone toschool for the better part of a year and come away with absolutely nothing, except perhaps somebitterness about school and what it stood f or.

Fred thought about what he should do f or Jerry. So f ar he wasn't gett ing anywhere. During the f irstweek of schoo l, Fred had approached Jerry when he was alone, and asked him about his springsemester.

Jerry was concentrat ing on a computer game and kept his eyes o n the screen. "Those teachersdown there, I don't think they liked me."

"Why do you say that?" Fred asked, taking a seat by Jerry.

"I guess they all f lunked me."

"Did you go to school?"

"Yeah, I went to school."

"Every day?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I can't remember."

"Well, here's the deal, Jerry. I called down there to get your transcript sent up and they to ld me you

didn't et credit in an of our classes."


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Jerry looked over to Fred. "Not any of 'em?"

"No. None. Did you think you passed any?"

"Yes. No. Well, I don't know," Jerry said, concentrating on the computer. It was obvious that Jerrywas uncomfo rtable with the direct conf rontat ion.

"Well, until the t ranscript gets here, I'm going to assume that you didn't pass any, like the principalthere t old me."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Do you know what you're going to have to do now?"

"Take 'em over?"

"Right. Do you know what your biggest problem is about schoo l?"

"No one gets me to school? I don't know."

"No. Do you think all the students depend on their parents to get them up in the mornings?"

"Maybe."

"It's got to be you, Jerry. Do you know how you are going to make sure you pass all your classesthis year?"

Jerry looked up again, eager to hear. "How?"

"By getting to every class, every day, on time."

Jerry's smile faded and he turned back to the computer. "I'll try."

"I want to help you get your credits t his year, Jerry, so if anything or anyone is bothering you,please f eel f ree to tell me. You are go ing to have a successf ul year."

Fred stoo d up and put his hand on Jerry's shoulder. "Right, Jerry?"

"I'll try."

Fred decided that Jerry hadn't received his advice very well. Had he been too direct with Jerry? Hadeveryone else lectured him so of ten he no longer listened? What had Jerry been trying to say abouthis parents? Could it be so simple that the kid just needed some love?

Fred packed up and left for home. He was far from feeling the first guidance session had been asuccess when Katie asked him how the sess ion had gone.

"Did many of the seniors come?"

"Oh, yeah. Nine seniors, 100 percent attendance. The advertising worked, especially with the f reepop thrown in. I had to tell some of the juniors t o come back next year."

"Sounds like a success."

"From that standpoint, it was. But when the pop ran out so did their enthusiasm. Oh, I don't mean tobe so cynical. A f ew were genuinely interested in doing something next year. Isaac is really gung-hoon aviation school or the National Guard. The Guard was the mos t popular."

"Well, honey, you can't blame them. After all, it is o ne of the most prevalent ro le models in thevillage. The f act is, the National Guard carries a lo t of prest ige in all the villages out here. You knowthat."


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"I know, but I really want them to open their eyes to some of the o ther opportunities available. I justcan't bear the thought of someone like Mary going into the military."

"She wants to be in the Guard? That would be a waste. She's got to go to college."

"Well, I'm going to try to convince her, believe me."

"What about Nathan? What does he think he might do?"

"Nothing."

"Is he thinking of a vocational schoo l?"

"No."

"College? Well, he's not really college material."

"No, he's thinking of nothing. He said he couldn't wait unt il next year so he could get up in themorning and have nothing to do!"

Katie laughed. "What a nut! Well, it's inevitable that some of them are going to stay right here inTutuluq after they graduate."

"I know. I know it is. But I'm going to give them every opportunity to see what there is to do if theydo decide to leave. It's not like those who leave never come back. Even the ones who go to collegeeventually come back here."

"Not all of them."

"Well, I'd say mos t o f them, at least the ones who don't marry into another village. Loo k at AaronPete. He's a perf ect example. He went t o co llege for two years, then came back here and got a jobas an aide with the high schoo l and did some correspondence study. Then he went t hrough therural teacher's pro gram at UAF. And now he's teaching at the high schoo l."

"Well, Nathan isn't exactly the same as Aaron."

"I wasn't t rying to say he was. All I was trying to say was that it seems to me mos t o f the villagerswho leave to go back to s chool for t raining or boot camp usually f ind their way back here. So that 'swhy I am going to encourage all the seniors to line up something to do f or next f all. I don't want tosee them just do no thing."

"Oh, Fred, I think Nathan was just kidding when he to ld you that he was going to do nothing nextyear. When Nathan talks about looking forward to doing nothing, I think he means nothing that isn'tsubsistence lifest yle, and that's a lot of work."

"It's a beautiful way of life which we are changing," Fred replied, his ambivalence showing through.

"Sure it is. But f or goodness' sake, we're out here giving them new skills to f unction in the modernworld. And you're gett ing them ready to go to college or t rade schoo l or whatever it is that t hey're

going to do," Katie insisted.

"What is it we're trying to prepare the students for by the time they're ready to graduate, anyhow?"Fred asked her the question he had worried about many times.

"To f unction as active participants in their world," she said. "It's no dif f erent here than it is inAnchorage or Seat tle or Anywhere, USA."

"No, it's no t t he same at all. Which world are we preparing them for? T he traditional or the modern?"

"Which do you think?"

The Itinerant Counselor from Mountain and Valley School District


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Bertha Henderson, the itinerant guidance counselor, was scheduled f or a visit early in the f all.Bertha was based in the central of f ice. She organized the district's guidance activities andoccasionally visited each schoo l. Her reputation as a less- than-engrossing presenter reached Fredearly. One morning, one o f the s tudents came up and asked Fred, "Do we have to sit and listen t oold boring Bertha tomorro w?" Fred asked the student to f ill him in.

That af ternoon Fred too k the opportunity to meet Bertha when she arrived in the village. She hadcome to "give them a little career guidance and have them take the Armed Services VocationalAptitude Bat tery . . . you know, that 's f or the ones who are int eres ted in the military. And of courseI'll be giving the ACT test ; that is f or t he ones who are interested in gett ing into college."

Bertha may have had the interests of the students at heart. But, sitting in the back of the class andlistening to her presentat ion, Fred understo od all too well why she was known as "boring Bertha."Her f ilms were irrelevant to the lifestyle of the st udents. Her mono tone manner all but lulled theclass t o sleep. Bertha plugged along, oblivious to the f act that not one student was f ollowing oneword she said. Fred was dismayed. The s tudents , it seemed, associated the whole not ion ofcareers with absolute and complete boredom.

Fred had tried to put s ome life into the counseling program earlier in the year. He had called Berthaand asked her f or advice on what he could do. She had reassured him. "You're already doing all youcan by gett ing me out there on my f irst s top! I'll be glad to s it down with you and answer anyquestions you have. Oh, wait a minute, Fred, there is something. Are you going to be sending any of

your seniors on the bus trip?"

"Bus trip? What's that?"

"I take it you haven't received the inf ormation. You should have it by now. It's a t rip we've organizedfor the seniors who are interested in going to college or vocational school. We'll start in Anchoragewhere we've rented a bus. We'll look at the University o f Alaska Anchorage and the Alaska BusinessCollege and then go over to t he university in Fairbanks and, we hope, get the kids down to Sewardto the vocational center. It should be a whale of a trip, and I think there's s till space if you'reinterested."

"I'm interested! Is it on t he district o r does it come out o f our s ite budget?"

"Oh, I wish the district could. No, it comes out of the s ite budgets and it's $600 per student. Itshould be a real good trip though."

"Okay. Sounds great. I'll talk to the principal and see if we have any money. Thanks, Bertha."

Fred approached Paul Best about the t rip, but came away empty-handed. There was no money inthe budget f or the act ivity. It would have meant canceling a basketball trip. Besides, according to theprincipal, the Tutuluq Advisory Schoo l Board had established a policy on student travel: Moneyspent o n group activities is pref erred to money spent on individual student activities. Fred argued abit f or sending some of the more mot ivated seniors , but to no avail.

Last Year's Seniors

Fred worried about his guidance respons ibilities. What was the dist rict policy toward seniors? Werethey forgotten once graduated? Had any studies shown what sorts o f things held the greatestpromise of success f or Yup'ik students af ter high school? Why was it that so many of the youngmen seemed less apt to go to college and, once there, less apt to succeed? What could be done toget them more involved in pursuing an education or a career af ter high schoo l? How strong aninf luence should he try to be in deciding the f uture of the students?

Fred thought about his seniors f rom last year. Of them, two young men and a young woman hadgone into the National Guard and were looking forward to going into boot camp at the start of thenew year. In Fred's opinion, t he young woman, Charlene, and one o f the young men should havegone to college.

One aft ernoon on his way to t he sto re, Fred had seen Charlene coming toward him on the


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boardwalk. She was babysitt ing her sister's children, two in a wagon behind her, one pushing thewagon, and the last holding her free hand. He stopped to find out what she had done over thesummer and what she would be doing in the coming months. She looked down at t he boardwalk asthey approached each other.

"Hi, Charl, how was your summer?" Fred asked.

Charlene looked up smiling. "Is t hat Fred?"

"Sure, it's me. Don't you even recognize your most f avorite teacher?"

Charlene laughed. "You look f unny, dif f erent. I thought you were some stranger," she said, shakingher head. "Did you shave your beard?"

"No," Fred replied, "I don't know what happened. It just f ell of f one night."

"Naaaa, youuuu," Charlene laughed, looking up. "You shaved."

"I did, you're right," Fred conf essed. "I f inally took your advice. It looks good, though, doesn't it?"

"No," Charlene laughed, "it looks f unny! Yourmagojiklooks ugly!" Charlene gestured t o her own chinto indicate what she meant by magojik.

Fred laughed back, "Thanks a lot!"

"So when are you leaving for college?" he asked.

"I'm not going to college."

"What do you mean you're no t going to college?" Fred asked, amazed.

"I don't know. I guess I decided not to go."

"Why not?"

"Fairbanks is t oo f ar. My f amily didn't want me to be so f ar away."

"Well, what about Salmonville Community College?" Fred asked. "It 's close. It would be perf ect."

"I don't want to go. Oh gosh, my English skills aren't go od enough. My sister told me I wouldn't dovery well 'cause my English is baaad!"

"No way, Charlene! Your English is great ." Fred couldn't believe what he was hearing. Charlene hadthe strongest English skills of last year's seniors. "You would do just fine in college. It's not thatmuch dif f erent f rom high school. You should go!"

"I can't even read a book. I didn't read a book all summer."

"So what? That doesn't mean you can't read. You should try SCC. It's not too late to apply. You're a

good student!""Naaaa, I'm gonna go National Guard. Basic t raining is in January."

Fred knew her mind was made up. He was amazed that Charlene had opted against college. Itbothered him that she f elt her English skills weren't good enough. Hadn't he given her anyconf idence in her own abilities? Had she really not read a book all summer? Probably not. Sheprobably hadn't spoken English more than a f ew times all sl1mmer either. Af ter all, there was littleneed to. He should have given her some books to read over the summer. It sounded as t hough herolder sist er had inf luenced her decision.

Fred caught himself. He shouldn't be disappointed that Charlene was only babysitting f or her s ister.He knew stro ng f amily bonds had played a large part in the survival of the Yup'ik culture f or


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thousands o f years in extremely host ile conditions. What business did he have in trying to inf luenceher? Why should he feel bad that Charlene had chosen the military over co llege? At least she wasdoing so mething! It was her decision. Still he knew that if he had been the guidance counselor lastyear, he would have seen to it that she was on her way to college.

Two other seniors-Bernice, the valedictorian, and Sam, the salutatorian of last year's class-hadchosen to go to the University o f Alaska in Fairbanks. Bernice had been the mos t mot ivated s tudentthat Fred had ever known. She did meticulous work, making sure she received A grades in all of herclasses. She had been the student council president. To Fred, she epitomized the modern Yup'ikstudent-skilled in traditional crafts and respectful of traditional customs while at the same time

adept in all of her classes.

Fred had been surprised the previous year when Bernice had come to him and asked if she shouldapply to Harvard. She explained that she was asking all the teachers to give her their opinions f or"secret" reasons. Fred had urged her to apply. He thought it reasonable to assume that, with hergrades and her minority background, she might be accepted, and he told her this. Later, whenBernice was t alking with him, he f ound o ut that she indeed had been accepted into Harvard. Fredfound out that another teacher had urged Bernice to go instead to the University of AlaskaFairbanks because of its extens ive support systems f or Nat ive students. In Fred's mind, this was amistake.

Fred had, however, been very excited that Sam would at tend UAF. Sam had talked about it all year.

Although Fred and the o ther s taf f suspected that Sam abused drugs, this drug use had notinterf ered with his perf ormance in school. He had maintained his excellent class standing.

During the second guidance sess ion in October, Fred mentioned Sam's name as someone whowould be in Fairbanks to help those who went to co llege to f ind their way around. One of theseniors informed Fred that Sam had never gone to Fairbanks at all. Sam had been in Salmonvilleduring registration and had missed the deadline. Now he was still in Tutuluq "partying hard."

The District In-Service Meet ing on Guidance

As the s ite counselor, Fred was required to go to a ninet y-minute sess ion specif ically on thesubject of counseling at the district in-service which was held in late October. Bertha Hendersonhanded the site guidance counselors the MVSD handbook, which spelled out the dist rict's

counseling goals: "To provide comprehensive career and vocational counseling services includingindividual analysis, information dissemination, personal counseling and interpretation, placementservices, and f ollow-up services."

Two representatives f rom the nonprof it department o f the Asiqtuq Regional Native Corporationspoke about f inancial aid. Both the president o f Salmonville Community College and a recentgraduate of SCC talked about the community college program.

From the f irst Asiqtuq Corporation speaker, Fred learned that each student who was accepted intoa college could receive a $1,000 scholarship per semester f rom Asiqtuq Corporat ion. First, s tudentshad to f ile the Financial Aid Form (FAF). The FAF is f our pages long and requires that t he studentand the student's parents disclose all income that t hey received and report ed to the IRS on theirmos t recent income tax f iling. The speaker was blunt about t he fact that many students who

thought that they were going to receive monies for college did not receive them because the formwas f illed out incorrectly or submitted af ter the deadline. It was imperative that counselors insurethat the forms were turned in on time and filled out correctly. Further, it often was a difficult job toget the parents to disclose their income for a number of reasons. Sometimes they were simplyunwilling to let people know how much money they made and sometimes they did not f ile income taxforms. Only if students could prove they were not claimed as dependents of their parents, couldthey receive money without an income tax f orm.

This speaker also clarified for Fred the differences between loans, scholarships, and grants. Loansare available to the s tudents through the Alaska Student Loan Program. The danger is that manystudents do not realize that they are required to pay these back af ter they have been out o f schoolf or more t han twelve months . The speaker advised that st udents not be encouraged to take theseloans out. A typical pattern f or rural students is to go to co llege fo r a semester o r two and then


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The Third Guidance Session

The third guidance meeting was a f iasco. Basketball season was underway and practices had beenscheduled for t he boys right af ter school and f or t he girls at 7 P.M. Fred, theref ore, scheduled aguidance sess ion f or the boys in the evening and for t he girls right af ter schoo l. Attendance for thegirls was poor. Only two o f the f our girls showed up-Mary and Eva. They worked on f inishing lettersto the schools in which they were interested. Fred teased them about being so slow in completingthem. "You've been working on them for t wo months now!"

Fred showed them how to use the computer t o write the letters more eas ily. All that was necessary

was to compose the letter once, and then change the name at the to p of the letter to f it the school.He wished he had thought o f it earlier. He made a mental note to let the s tudents use English timeto compose the letters. Fred had begun to worry about deadlines. Before the girls lef t, he gavethem each a scholarship application to t ake home and f ill out .

Just as Fred was gett ing ready to leave, Adeline and Myrna came in and asked if it was t oo late f orthe meeting. Adeline claimed she had been baby-sitting. Fred wanted to stay and work with them.They had shown so little interest so f ar that he had begun to wonder if they were going to doanything or not . Both were good s tudents, although Myrna always seemed to be angry with a chipon her shoulder. Both girls were f rom more traditional f amilies. Did they have role models? How litt lehe really knew about his st udents. The t hing which dismayed him was that he knew both of the girlshad the potential to succeed in college. He recalled the young Yup'ik woman f rom the in-service. She

could have easily been either o f these girls. Why wasn't he able to get through to them? Fredwondered how he could influence their families to nudge them towards co llege. Would it be t oopushy to make home visits?

Fred was t ired. He to ld the girls they had missed the meeting but they were welcome to come thatevening when he was going to meet with the boys.

When the girls reminded him that they had basketball practice, he gently but f irmly to ld them thatthey had known about the meeting and, if it was important to t hem, they would miss basketball tocome that evening. Otherwise they could come to talk to him after school any afternoon.

Of the f ive senior boys, only Isaac Steve and Jerry Olinka came. Fred handed them a pop as t heyarrived. Isaac claimed to have f inished a let ter to UAF, but had misplaced it. Fred believed him. One

of his students' biggest problems was organization. No one had shown them how to be organized.Fred put Isaac to work on the computer getting his master letter composed.

Jerry had come to see if he could play computer games. He hadn't come to class that day, and Fredto ld him there was no way he could play a computer game. Instead, he let him use the computer tomake a journal entry.

Fred was disheartened that Nick and Emil and Nathan hadn't come. Was he spending all his timespinning his wheels? What was it go ing to take to get these others involved?

Adeline and Myrna opted f or bas ketball pract ice, and he wasn't surprised. But when they came intothe classroom for a drink of water, Myrna dealt him one of those blows t hat he had come to knowas a high-school teacher but which he would never get used to .

Fred said "Hi" to the girls as they walked in, but they turned away, unwilling to reciprocate thegreet ing. As they stopped behind Isaac and Jerry, Myrna said, in perf ect English, "Don't believeanything that Fredaaq tells you. He lied to us big time today about gett ing a soda if we came to themeeting. College is f or nothing anyhow."

Jerry replied, "Yeah, I know. That's what the old people say. School is for not hing."

Fred shouldn't have let it get to him, but it did.

The Staff Meeting

The principal, Paul Best, agreed to put Fred and the counseling program at the botto m of the


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agenda fo r the staf f meeting, which f ell on the following Tuesday. By the t ime Fred had the f loor, itwas late in a long day. Mos t of the classif ied personnel, who lived in the community, were gonebecause they were not required to stay after the close of the schoo l day.

Fred had written up a list of questions:

1. What are we preparing our students for upon completion of high school?

2. Should we encourage our graduates to remain in the village or t o pursue choices outside thevillage?

3. How can we best encourage the seniors to involve themselves in their futures?

4. What is the best way to keep Yup'ik traditions alive in our st udents?

He had hoped f or a vigorous discussion. Looking around at the t ired f aces and stained cof f eecups, he was dubious. But he plunged on.

"As you know, I'm the site guidance counselor this year," Fred began. "I've been working on someprojects, but the students' interest has not been what I'd hoped. It occurred to me that there aresome more bas ic quest ions in this guidance area that need to get sorted out . . . I know it's late butmaybe I could raise these quest ions with you.

"Here's my first question: 'What are we preparing our students for upon completion of highschool?'"

People shif ted in their seats. Finally one of the high school teachers s aid aggressively. "I think weshould be preparing our students in vocat ional skills that they can use in the village if they decidenot to leave the village."

Fred wondered if this comment was a reproach. Everyone knew how much he hoped kids would goon t o college.

The primary grades teacher added, "We should prepare the students to be successf ul in anyendeavor which they undertake."

No one said anything more. Fred decided to move on to his next quest ion. "Should we encourageour graduates to remain in the village or to pursue choices out side the village?"

"Not all the students should be encouraged to attend college," said Aaron Pete, one of the Nativeteachers.

Fred looked up, a worried expression f orming on his face.

"We should guide the students according to their own inclinations and according to their f amily'sdesires and wishes," said Paul Best, sensing tension.

"The military is okay but college or a vocational schoo l would be better if they are interes ted,"Aaron Pete continued.

Fred's anxiety eased. Maybe he had misinterpreted Aaron Pete's f irst remark. Maybe all Aaron wassaying was that students shouldn't be pressured into college.

"Some of them shouldn't leave the village," commented Agnes Johnson, the ot her Native teacher atthe school who taught kindergarten.

The meeting grew silent again.

Fred decided to go t o his next quest ion. Maybe he could get some specif ic ideas that would helphim put together a guidance project. "How can we best encourage the seniors to involve themselvesin their f utures?"


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"Find out what they are interested in," Agnes Johnson said.

"Have some role models come in and speak to them," suggested one of the high school teachers.

"The f amily is responsible fo r gett ing their senior involved," Agnes added.

"I'd say it should be one-f ourth the senior, one-f ourth the family, one-f ourth the school, and one-f ourt h the community," said Aaron Pete.

No one said anything more. Fred sensed an uneasiness, although he couldn't f igure out exactly

what it was. The discussion wasn't going anywhere. Was there a conf lict that people didn't want t obring out into the open? Or was everyone just t ired and worn- out? Or maybe they had all been overthis ground too many times before. Fred wondered if he was acting too much the bright-eyed andbushy-tailed new t eacher.

"What is the best way to keep Yup'ik traditions alive in our st udents?" asked Fred, moving to hisf inal question.

"Parents need to enf orce traditional values at home by involving the students in traditionalactivities," said Agnes Johnson. She had made this point at f aculty meetings many times bef ore.

"In the school the best we can do is to convey at attitude which allows for a sense of pride in ourheritage," said Aaron Pete. "Keeping t raditions alive should be lef t to the individual."

Were Agnes Johnson and Aaron Pete in agreement, Fred wondered, o r were they disagreeing? Hetuned back into the discussion.

"We should invite the elders in to speak on a more regular basis and have them speak aboutvalues," said of the high school teachers, glancing at Agnes and Aaron.

The teachers fell silent once again. Paul Best thanked everyone f or s taying so late and peoplestarted to get up.

Fred felt better-especially af ter hearing Aaron Pete's view that get ting students involved in theirf uture was a responsibility equally shared by the students, the schoo l, the family, and thecommunity. But he didn't have any better angle on just what he should do about his guidance

project.

By Christmas break, Mary, Eva, Isaac, and Emil had all written lett ers to colleges. Emil had been asurprise, but Fred had to ld the seniors t hat he would give extra credit in English f or any letters ofinquiry they turned in. Fred was beginning to worry about Emil because his attendance was droppingof f . In the f all, Fred had made a home visit (with Aaron Pete as t ranslator) to speak with the boy'sgrandfather. His mother had been out of the village f or most o f the f all. Emil had missed severaldays o f school due to the hunting trips that he liked so much; he was st arting to get dangerouslyclose to receiving no credit in some of his classes. Adeline, Myrna, Nick, and Nathan had yet toshow much interest in making plans.

January Arrives and the Guidance Project Begins

When Fred arrived at school that raw January day, his new approach to senior guidance was inplace. What remained a serious worry was how it would turn out . He reminded himself again to tellthe principal about it right away. During the Christmas break, Fred's plan took shape. He would moveguidance into his regular classroom time for a two-week intensive session. He thought about thecomments made at t he staf f meeting about role models and having elders come in. He woulddef initely involve the community.

Back in the village af ter t he break, Fred began to work on the senior guidance project he hadenvisioned. He gathered together all the books on occupations f rom the library and put them in hisclassroo m. He asked villagers if t hey would be willing to come in fo r the seniors' sakes. The f irstthing on the agenda fo r the two-week session was to f ill out the Financial Aid Form . Fredrationalized that this would be a mot ivato r. Af ter scanning the f orm, Fred realized none of the


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seniors would be able to f ill one out by themselves. The vocabulary was too complex and thestudents might not have the necessary inf ormation. The seniors would also f ill out the AsiqtuqCorporation forms. He had allotted Monday and Tuesday and part of Wednesday for thesepurposes.

On Wednesday he planned to give the st udents the complete set of volumes f or t he Alaska CareerInf ormation System (AKCIS), which was published by the Alaska Department of Education. He hadplaced the set in the counseling center early in the year. His advice to the seniors t o use them hadgone largely unheeded. AKCIS consist ed of f ive volumes: Schoo l Inf ormation, OccupationalInformation, Programs of Study and Training, Military Career Information , and Learning Activities and

Implementation. All the volumes were cross- referenced so t hat when the students f ound a job theywere interested in they could f ind out where to get t he schooling. Included with AKCIS was acomputer disk with which the students could find jobs most suited to their interests. Fred thoughtthat the students would enjoy the computer program. The next s tep was writing the master inquiryletter. They could f inish by Friday. However, on Friday, the f irst of the s peakers, Rudy Beluga, thepresident of the Tutuluq Associated Schoo l Board, was due to come speak to the seniors.

Thinking about Aaron's and Agnes's comments about the importance of the community, Fredscheduled speakers f rom the village during the entire second week. Knowing how ingrained thesexual stereo types were in the village, Fred alternated male and f emale speakers, so that neitherthe girls nor the boys would be bored. He had anticipated so me diff iculty in locating some of thecareer role models which he thought were representat ive of each of the sexes, but he actually

f ound a wealth of choice in the village. For the boys, he had asked these men to come in and talkabout their jobs: Rudy Beluga, who was manager of the st ore; one of the young men involved withthe National Guard; a pilot f rom one of the Salmonville air services (if he was able to ); the f oremanof the const ruction crew building a new clinic; Aaron Pete, whom the students knew since he was ateacher f rom the community; and two o f the elders f rom the council. For t he girls, he had asked oneof the assistant cooks; the health aide f rom the clinic; one of the store clerks; Agnes Johnson,who taught kindergarten in Tutuluq; one of the young women in the National Guard; and two womenelders.

On Thursday, Fred had asked anyone in the village whom he knew had attended at least a semesterof college to come in fo r a group f orum. Friday, as a closure of sorts, the seniors were going towrite essays on "My Plans Aft er High School."

Fred looked at t he bulletin board. "DON'T JUST DO IT FOR YOURSELF-DO IT FOR YOURFUTURE-DO IT NOW." He picked up the copies o f his lesson plans and went in to give them to theprincipal and to explain what he hoped to accomplish.

"So you see," Fred concluded, not quite sure how Paul Best was taking his explanation of theproject, "I'm hoping to get them involved in deciding on what it is t hey want to do af ter t heygraduate. I've tried using time aft er class , but so f ar I've met with limited success."

"I think it's great, Fred," Paul reassured him. "It looks to me as though you've gone to a lot ofpreparation f or t his. The only qualms I would have would be that your lesson plans might not ref lectsome language arts skills, and f rom looking at them I can see that they do. You have my f ullsupport!"

Fred breathed a litt le easier. "Well, I think next week a lot of Yup'ik will be spoken and only a litt leEnglish."

"Again, all I ask is that your lesson plans ref lect English language skills," the principal said. "Forinstance, I would say that t here will be a lot of listening comprehension. You've set up somethingquite valuable f or t he seniors. Would you mind if I dropped in one of these days to see how itgoes?"

"Of course no t. Please, feel f ree," Fred replied.

Af ter leaving Paul's of f ice with his complete s upport , Fred wished he had told Paul earlier.

The seniors liked the bulletin board Fred had made. Mos t were enthus iastic about f illing out the


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Financial Aid Forms, and af ter a f ew rounds o f "Do what? It. You know, do IT! Yeah, let's do it righthere!" they got to work.

As they f illed out the FAF, step by s tep, Fred kept reiterat ing the importance o f having their parentsf ill out their income tax f orms. "Have them come talk to me or call me if they have questions withthis section. But you have to get them to f ill it o ut o r you won't be able to get the money you aregoing to need. And remember, without the FAF, you won't be able to get the scholarship f romAsiqtuq Corporat ion."

Half of the seniors t hought that their parents had never f iled taxes befo re. Fred told them he would

be glad to help any of them with their taxes. The Asiqtuq Corporat ion f orms were easier tounderstand, and the seniors could work on them independently.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the s tudents went through t he AKCIS system and used thecomputer disk to f ind out more about t heir career interests . By Friday, Isaac had written threeletters of inquiry to aviation schools. Nathan st ill hedged on writing a letter, and had only f illed outthe FAF under duress . By the t ime Rudy Beluga, manager o f the store, arrived Friday, neither Nathannor Myrna had writt en a letter.

Fred had come to regard Rudy as a respected f riend. He appreciated Rudy's sense of humor andmarveled at his impeccable English. It seemed to Fred that t his man was a perf ect blend of modernWestern culture and traditional Yup'ik culture. He had gone bird hunting with him on a couple ofoccasions at Rudy's invitat ion. Fred had spoken with Rudy about the path which seniors shouldfollow and asked that he come speak to them and give them some advice. Rudy eagerly acceptedFred's invitation.

Rudy's speech (he agreed to speak in English) to the st udents f ocused on t he uncertainty o f theirf utures and the uncertainty of the f uture of Yup'ik people. He urged them to t ake the opportunity topursue a course o f action af ter high schoo l so that they might better serve the village in the f uture.He also pointed out that just as in the o ld days, each of them had the responsibility to contributeas best they could to insure the survival of the Yup'ik people. Rudy concluded his talk with movingwords, "You are wasting your precious lives if you don't take the fullest advantage of this gift of ahigh school in your very own village. We don't know the f uture. How could we? When I was your agehow could I have known that this [gesturing beyond the classroo m] was what it would be like? Takethe skills you learn here and do something to make Tutuluq even better."

The st udents listened intently to Rudy. Fred felt the seniors were interested in the f uture of theYup'ik people. It gave relevance and purpose to their own futures. The second week of the pro jectwith its representat ive Yup'ik voice, Fred f elt, would be the impetus he had hoped would mot ivatehis reluctant seniors.

The f irst t hree days of the second week went better than Fred had hoped. All the participants-except the pilot -arrived on schedule. While Fred understood very litt le of elders' speech, he f eltcertain they had made no mention of school being worth nothing. From the translations he got fromMary after the four elders left on Wednesday, it seemed that they had mostly talked about the past.

For the college f orum on Thursday, Paul Best came and Aaron Pete bro ught his junior algebra class!Then t he panelists arrived-seven women and three men. Each told about their college experience

and then the students asked questions. College students still home for the Christmas break gotthe most questions-mos tly about what co llege lif e was like and what it was like to live outs ide thevillage. The very spirited f if ty minutes was not nearly enough t ime. Paul to ld him it had been "justexcellent," and some of the students said, "Let's do it again tomorrow."

On Friday students moaned and groaned about having to work so hard, but each of the seniors didcomplete an essay on their specific plans after high school. For Fred, the sight of his seniorsworking at the computers was the ultimate satisfaction.

Most of his worries about the project had been needless. All the seniors had gotten something outof it. The principal had been support ive. The ro le models had arrived and brought purpose andrelevancy to the seniors. The elders hadn't undermined the not ion of schoo l. Fred was sorry it wasover. It was up to the seniors now.


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The Next Week

Fred scheduled an af ter- schoo l guidance meeting f or the next Tuesday. Attendance was poo r.Deadlines were drawing near and the seniors knew it. Fred was puzzled and disappointed, but hewas starting to accept the fact that not every senior was going to get involved. The meeting didbring one surprise t hough. Three young men f rom the community came in and asked for FAF f ormsand how to go about get ting into the University o f Alaska in Fairbanks. Fred took great delight inhelping them word letters of inquiry.

In the weeks that f ollowed, more o f the villagers asked Fred f or loan f orms and advice. Fred calledJuneau to have more FAFs and s tate loan applications sent. Fred was baf f led. Why the suddeninterest in college? Had it been there all along in a latent s tage? What words had traveled throughthe village grapevine which brought about these sudden requests f or advice? Was it a result o f theproject? Fred was surprised and excited.

As the semester moved on, Mary decided f or certain that she wanted to get into the nursingprogram of f ered at SCC. Fred was relieved she had not chosen t he military and helped her work onher entrance essay. Eva was still going to UAF. She was the f irst to receive a letter o f acceptance.Fred could barely control his exuberance. He wished he had had a contest among t he seniors tosee who would get the f irst acceptance letter. A litt le competit ion was always benef icial to achievingresults , but it didn't matter now. Adeline had f inally decided that she, too , would go to UAF. Isaacwas st ill pursuing aviation and had received replies f rom two f light schools in Anchorage. Nathanhad changed his mind f rom doing nothing to gett ing a job in the village. Nick st ill had not completedall his paperwork. Myrna hadn't made any decisions . Emil had f allen so behind in his att endance thatFred and the rest o f the st af f decided that another home visit was necessary. Paul Best took onthe responsibility of seeing if he could impress o n Emil's grandf ather the importance of keepingEmil f rom going out hunting in lieu of attending classes.

Deadlines Approaching

With the deadline for sending in the FAF nearing, Fred cont inually questioned his seniors as t owhether their parents had f inished their income tax forms. Adeline's f ather arrived with his tax formand Adeline's FAF f orm. Fred spent the evening helping him to get the f orms f illed out. Anothervictory!

Isaac came to Fred one af ternoon with his acceptance letter f rom UAF.

"Congratulations !" Fred said. He f elt ecstatic.

Isaac wasn't smiling. "I don't think so," he said.

"What do you mean? You're go ing to become a world f amous pilot !"

Isaac laughed. "I don't know about t his f orm," he replied, holding out his FAF.

"Is your father having trouble filling it out?"

"He said he's no t going to f ill it out ."

Fred read the disappointment in Isaac's eyes. "Would you like me to come and talk to him?"

"I don't know."

"When would be a good time?" Fred asked, pushing.

"I don't know."

"Maybe tomorrow af ter school?"

"I don't think my dad wants me to leave," Isaac said. "He wants me to be around to help out."


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"What about your brot her. Can't he help while you're gone?"

"He's lazy," Isaac said, shaking his head.

Fred decided he was go ing to speak to Isaac, Sr. whether Isaac wanted him to or not . He knew howmuch Isaac wanted to become a pilot. "Well, listen. I'm going to come by tomorrow and talk with yourf ather and tell him why you need to go t o co llege. Would that be all right with you?"

"I guess so ," Isaac said.

"Will you t ranslate o r would you like me to bring someone else?"

"I think maybe someone else. I'm not too good at that."

"Hey, Isaac," Fred said as Isaac turned to leave, "don't give up yet."

"Sure."

Isaac's f ather was one of the most respected elders in Tutuluq. Fred was a litt le nervous aboutgoing to talk to him. Fred spoke to Aaron Pete about Isaac's dilemma and asked him to come withhim to trans late the next af ternoon. His hope was that Aaron's presence might be inf luential.

Isaac, Sr. was taking a nap when Fred and Aaron arrived. Isaac woke his f ather up and brought o ut

some tea.

Fred thought it best t o get right to t he point. He looked at Isaac, Sr. and said, "Isaac wants t o be apilot."

The elder Isaac loo ked at Aaron as he translated Fred's words. He then replied, looking at Aaron, "Ihave a fine so n."

"Yes," Fred replied. "You do. He's one o f my best students. Next year he needs to go away toschoo l so t hat he can become a pilot . Do you understand what this is f or?" Fred pulled out the FAFform and laid it on the table.

Isaac, Sr. looked at the f orm and then to Aaron. "You are do ing a very good job at t he high schoo l.

The st udents learn good t hings there. There are things t o learn f rom the tundra too. I know thispaper. There seem to be many things to learn for the young people of today. The students need tolearn about living on the t undra, not just the new education. So much is important."

Fred looked at Aaron as he translated, then said, "This is t rue, there are many important things,especially today. To me it is import ant that Isaac use the opportunity he has earned to go t ocollege. If he waits too long, he may lose the opportunity."

"My son will go away one day." Isaac, Sr. picked up the FAF. "I need some time to think about thethings you have said. They are good t hings and they need some consideration."

Fred lef t f eeling very conf used. He could understand Isaac, Sr.'s po int o f view. Or he thought hecould. But at t he same time his disappointment f or Isaac wasn't something he would be able to

shake of f easily. Fred made a point to s peak to Rudy Beluga to see if he could inf luence Isaac'sfather.

A f lurry o f activity occurred in the f inal days bef ore t he post mark deadline f or the Financial AidForms arrived. Fred spent the af ternoons helping out villagers who had last minute questions. Whenthe dealine arrived, only Mary, Eva, and Adeline had completed and mailed their f orms.

Graduation arrived, and Fred watched as the seniors walked up to receive their diplomas. Emil haddropped out of schoo l completely. Jerry, af ter squeaking by the f all semester in all of his classes ,had dropped out also. Mary, in her valedicto rian speech, thanked Fred f or helping her get intocollege.

Befo re schoo l closed, Fred brought the AKCIS system into his junior English class. He spent f our


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days f amiliarizing them with t he cross- ref erencing and introducing the computer program. With nextyear's seniors , he vowed, he would start earlier, and he would do better.

Epilogue: The Graduating Seniors

Mary, the valedictorian, att ended Salmonville Community College. She is st ill enrolled and doing well.

Adeline and Eva went to the Universit y of Alaska Fairbanks. Eva has begun her sophomore year.Adeline completed the f irst semester and then decided to take some time of f and live at home.

Myrna stayed in Tutuluq and lives there with her f amily.

Isaac lives in Tutuluq and take correspondence courses in aviation. He is currently the main providerf or his parents. Like his f ather, he takes an active role in community af f airs.

Nick had planned to attend a technical school. However, he found employment in Salmonville duringthe summer f ollowing graduation and moved there.

Nathan got a job with the city in Tutuluq. He is currently working in a maintenance position and is anactive hunter.

Fred Young lef t Tutuluq af ter t he next school year and moved outs ide Alaska. He is planning toreturn.

Discussion Questions

1. Fred Young, as site counselor at Tutuluq, has set f or himself a clear goal: "mot ivating hisseniors to do something the year fo llowing their graduation: attend a trade school, go tocollege, or even join the military."

A year later, two of his nine seniors, bo th young men, had dropped out of school ent irely. Ofthe other three young men, one is taking correspondence courses at home, one is working ina nearby community, and one has employment at home. Of his f our senior women, three havegone on to college, and one is living at home.

How would you evaluate Fred Young's success? How does Fred Young himself f eel about it?Are you troubled by the goal Fred Young set f or himself ? What troubles you about it?

2. This case raises diff icult issues of prof essional judgment and where to "draw the line." Doyou see Fred Young as a teacher who is admirably assuming his respons ibilities (rather thanblaming poor outcomes on the students and community) or as a teacher who is overly egoinvolved in what he wants t o accomplish? Fred himself worries about this problem: "was thereal purpose of the project just to gratify his own ego?" How would you answer Fred'squestion?

Does Fred handle well the dilemma o f "encouraging" versus "pressuring" Yup'ik students?Fred discusses this problem with the o ther guidance counselors , Barbara and Bertha. "Youhave to push them just enough," Barbara concludes. "If you push kids too much into

something they f ind out they don't want to be into , they'll be bitter and blame you. If you don'tpush kids enough and they don't get their financial forms and admissions papers in on t ime,they and their parents will also blame you."

Do you think that Fred Young draws the line in the right place with his nine seniors? Is heappropriately encouraging and mot ivating them or is he pressuring them and trying to imposehis values on their lives? Read over his specif ic conversations with a) Jerry, when he cameback to school af ter not completing any of his courses when he transf erred to the school inanother village, b) Bertha, when he f ound out she was baby-sitt ing her sister's children ratherthan going to college, c) Isaac, Sr., when he found out that Isaac, Sr. would not permit his sonto leave the village f or college. Which of these meetings do you think Fred Young handledwell? What would you have said in these situat ions or would you have said anything at all?


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In Yup'ik communities, delicate matters are traditionally handled by indirection, rather thandirect confrontation. Communicating indirectly about conflicts and problems promotes groupharmony and so lidarity. One traditional method of indirect communication is the use o fintermediaries who convey messages. Another method is the subt le and careful way Isaac, Sr.handled the conversation with Fred Young. Do you think Fred Young would have been welladvised to use a more culturally congruent st yle of communication in his discussions withJerry, Bertha, or Isaac, Sr.? Or would his attempt to match Yup'ik communication styles be outof character and make him seem f alse and unauthentic?

3. Why is the guidance counselor role 80 dif f icult in Yup'ik communities?

Consider the adult roles that Tutuluq students want and see open to them. Does collegeattendance and high schoo l success help them achieve what they want as adults? Thetransition to adulthood is a diff icult period f or many rural students (see note 1). What iscausing the difficulties?

Consider the messages Tutuluq students receive about desirable futures and essentialvalues f rom dif f erent socializing agents: elders in the community, the younger generation o fmanagers and leaders like Rudy Beluga, and teachers like Fred Young. Do these me6sagesharmonize or conflict? In what position does this leave students like the Tutuluq seniors?

College att endance rates f or Alaska Native students are low, especially for young men. Nativemen tend to be more interested in village lifestyles than Native women are (see notes 2 and3). In Tutuluq, three of the f our young women but none of the young men to go on to college.Why are young women in communities like Tutuluq choosing dif f erent f utures f rom youngmen and what are the implications f or the vitality of Yup'ik communities? Does t his dif f erenceaf f ect the way guidance counselors should look at their roles?

Do you see the role of guidance counselor as dif f erent in a village like Tutuluq f rom what itwould be in an urban area like Anchorage? If you believe the guidance ro le should be diff erentin Tutuluq, how should it be dif f erent and why?

4. Fred Young tried two major approaches as guidance counselor in Tutuluq. In the f all, heencouraged students to refer to the catalogs and other print material in the counselingcenter, and he held af ter- schoo l guidance counseling sessions. In January, he developed a

special project during schoo l hours where community people and college students came totalk to the seniors .

The second approach worked much better. Students were excited, and the principal wasimpressed. Community people sought Fred Young out, asking f or admissions f orms andadvice. Exactly what was it about t he second approach that made such a dif f erence? Whathave you learned f rom Fred's experience that might af f ect the way you planned a guidanceprogram for next year? Did Fred seem to learn f rom his experience?

Fred Young lef t Tutuluq af ter o ne more schoo l year. If you replaced him as teacher and siteguidance counselor, what goals would you set? What type of guidance counseling programwould you develop?

In considering your own approach, think not only about Fred's f ailures and successes butalso about other approaches used in Alaska's small rural high schools to offer guidancecounseling, broaden students ' experience, and increase their interest in and attachment tocollege (see notes 1, 4, 5, and 6).

5. Fred presents a list of questions to t he schoo l staf f at the end of a meeting aft er a long andtiring day:

a What are we preparing our students for upon completion of high school?

b. Should we encourage our graduates to remain in the village or to pursue

choices outside the villa e?


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c. How can we best encourage the seniors to involve themselves in their futures?

d. What is the best way to keep Yup'ik traditions alive in our students?

Are these the right questions f or school f aculty to be raising i

Ankn.uaf.Edu-The Guidance Project and the Reluctant Seniors

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