Seems that the mothers of Akiachack (recently highlighted in the New York Times and the Yup'ik language vote court battle) are taking to the streets to get the kids home by curfew. It's making a difference in the children's school attendance and alertness already.
From the article:
“Oh, absolutely yes, the attendance got better,” said Kristen Peterson, who is the Literacy Coordinator and 10th grade teacher at the Akiacuarmiut School. “It is hard to enforce curfew in the village - the kids can run, the police do their very best but they are also doing other things. The kids were staying up later and having a hard time getting up in the morning and they were oversleeping or they wouldn’t come in at all. After we started walking and patrolling and telling them to get home, we noticed that attendance in the morning classes were better, definitely improved.”
Although I moved away from Rural Alaska by the time such an age beset me, I remember my sister and cousins adhering to the very strict curfew policy. The time I spent there one summer in high school, EVERYONE reminds you of when curfew is. And it works. I forget what time it was - I'll say 11pm, but by the end of the summer, the minute that clock hits 11 and you're not where you're supposed to be, it's programmed - you must get there, and you must not get caught.
Kudos to these communities taking "small" but hugely important steps to making sure their children are being raised right
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