Sheldon Jackson - Education Policy

Education Policy

In 1885 Jackson was appointed General Agent of Education for the then newly acquired Territory of Alaska. Concurrent with the values of the expanding colonial administration, Jackson undertook a policy of deliberate acculturation. In particular, Jackson advocated an English-only policy which forbade the use of indigenous languages. In allocating $25,000 of federal education monies in 1888 he wrote, "o books in any Indian language shall be used, or instruction given in that language to Indian pupils." In a letter to newly hired teachers in 1887 he wrote:

It is the purpose of the government in establishing schools in Alaska to train up English speaking American citizens. You will therefore teach in English and give special prominence to instruction in the English language…. our teaching should be pervaded by the spirit of the Bible." (emphasis added)

The legacy of Jackson's educational policy is clearly evident in the now moribund state of Alaska's indigenous languages. Decades of punishment for speaking Native languages resulted in greatly decreased transmission, with the result that few indigenous Alaskans still speak indigenous languages in the 21st century.