On the Iditarod at School
Part of my graduate school education focused on experiential learning, writing across the curriculum, multiple intelligences, and other then-progressive theories that were the antithesis of my own educational experience (until I reached grad school).
An educator in South Florida appears to have taken all that good stuff and is using it–to promote the Iditarod. In "Teacher in Pompano Beach Vies for Iditarod Race Honor" we learn that:
Maps of Alaska have gone up on the walls of classrooms, each assigned to a dog sled and musher. Every morning, teachers and students will track their teams, plotting their progress on the map and rooting for theirs to win.
It's part of lessons created by Linda Kal Sander, a reading coach and curriculum writer who, wanting to experience for herself a race that had captured her imagination, envisioned using the Iditarod to teach class material and good behavior — and living the trail firsthand.
Kal Sander, 44, is among a handful of teachers from across the country in the running to be the 2010 Teacher of the Trail, an educator who follows the Iditarod live and reports to teachers and schools about it.
''It's the last great race on Earth,'' said Kal Sander, who has a dog and is an avid skier but has never taken part in dog sledding. “I became totally fascinated with the idea of these amazing animal-athletes. They love to run.''
. . . .
''It covers all content — math, the history of the Iditarod and the science, where we can learn about friction and environment and Arctic tundra,'' Kal Sander said. “This is more than following an event on the Internet.''
So Kal Sander designed more lessons around the race. Students would read Paulsen's coming-of-age novel Dogsong alongside middle schoolers in St. Michael, Alaska, and then hold a literary-circle discussion using high-definition video conferencing equipment.
. . . .
Kal Sander hopes to weave the race into lessons throughout the school year to represent character traits emphasized by the Broward school district, like citizenship, acceptance and respect.
Respect? For whom/what?
A 12-year old named Gavin gets this out of the lessons: "''I want to go to Alaska and do that . . . I love dogs.''
So much to deconstruct, so little time. I welcome comments/reactions/deconstructions.
Another classic example of the education system promoting the exploitation and killing of nonhuman animals. What a great way to teach children as they try and form their views on life. Pathetic!
Mary, they do the same here in the Yukon for the Yukon Quest (another slave dog race).
"Dogs love to run" and humans love to use and abuse them for their abilities.
Thank you for posting this, Mary.
The Media is just as guilty for glorifying the use and abuse of nonhumans.
CBC lets animals down (Yukon News, Feb 20/09)
CBC coverage of nonhuman animal issues is so often one-sided in favour of animal exploiters.
Show host Al Foster was excited about having a unique opportunity to “skin a lynx” the next day (‘A New Day’ morning show, Monday Feb.16th). It was a relief to hear on Tuesday's show, that a lynx was not trapped and skinned for CBC to glorify
Animals are exploited and killed, yet CBC Yukon and CBC North condones (cheerleads) practices that any caring person would perceive as cruelty. Consider CBC's heavy promotion of trapping and lack of reporting on the suffering of man’s best friends who are forced to run in the Yukon Quest.
Thank you Genesee Keevil and Yukon News for telling some of the hard truths about the Yukon Quest–amongst all the media hype. The Wednesday News contained more real reporting in that one issue than CBC has done in the 26 years the Quest has been run.
The only way the real Quest athletes’ have to show how they suffer (other than outright dying, as many dogs have done in the race) is by leaving vomit and bloody diarrhea along the Quest trail. Thank you also to musher Jean-Denis Britten for bearing witness to this.
To the Yukon Quest race veterinarians – it is completely unethical for you to sanction an event in which dogs are injured and killed as a regular consequence of this and other races, including the Iditarod.
About head Quest veterinarian Kathleen McGill’s reply to Genesee Keevil’s questions regarding “sled dog myopathy” – “no comment” (she said she didn't have the time) is not acceptable to the Yukon public, whose tax dollars support this brutal race.
As a Federally funded news agency, CBC should be doing some real investigative journalism, instead of cheerleading for the animal exploiters.
Mike Grieco
Teachers who indoctrinate children into accepting without question, a race directly responsible for killing many dogs over the years the race has been run, should be disciplined, not offered teaching awards and acclaim.
"At least 136 dogs have been run to death or have died from other causes in the Iditarod. There is no official count of dog deaths available for the race's early years" – Sled Dog Action Coalition).
Many of those mushers who compete or dream of competing in races like the Iditarod and Yukon Quest breed sled dogs and cull/kill or otherwise discard unwanted dogs.
'Killing unwanted dogs doesn't bother mushers':
Ethel Christensen: "Our philosophy and goal at the Alaska SPCA is prevention, not destruction. And, what they're doing is breeding and breeding and then they cull and cull and cull. And culling to the musher doesn't bother them one bit. And they use to take them into animal control here and then also up in the valley, but they got such criticism so now they're doing their own killing. And it's not humane. Believe me it's not humane."
– Ethel Christensen is the Executive Director of the Alaska SPCA
– She made these remarks on Animal Voices, a radio show in Toronto, Canada.
– She was interviewed by Rob Moore on February 28, 2006
Source – http://www.helpsleddogs.org/remarks-abuseinkennels.htm#killing
That such cruelty and exploitation of Man's best friend is allowed to be taught says a lot about the poor state of the US education system.
Recently the Yukon Territory education system received a failing grade in a report by the Auditor General of Canada [ http://www.yukon-news.com/news/11076/ ] – Oh yeah, teaching of the Yukon Quest to school children is given the blessing of current and past governments. Several politicians in the current government have past Quest experience as board members, Quest executives and/or race volunteers. There are no opposition party politicians who will dare question or criticize Yukon Government over its hefty financial support for the Yukon Quest and the local dog mushing (racing and sled dog tours) industry.
Thanks Mary and Mike for never forgetting about the dogs.
Mary – I tried to post this on the WorldHum blog (noticed it your Twitter updates) but despite several attempts, couldn't successfully get it posted. I had been meaning to send you a letter about Yukon News reporter Genesee Keevil, mentioned in this post, who is pretty much the sole source of real reporting about the Yukon Quest in the 4 years she has covered the race (I am not aware of any members of the media who provide critical reporting about the Idiotarod). In my opinion, Ms. Keevil deserves an international award for humane journalism (if there is such an award). Most of the reporters and media managers up here in the Yukon and Alaska should hang their heads in shame for their roles as 'media villains' (borrowed that phrase from the SHARK rodeo cruelty website) who promote Yukon Quest and Idiotarod sled dog cruelty (Whitehorse Daily Star, CKRW Radio Whitehorse, CBC Yukon and CBC North, Alaska Public Radio Network, Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner, Anchorage Daily News are among the worst examples).
To Josh and the many other defenders of Idiotarod sled dog exploitation and cruelty:
Sadly for the dogs who suffer and die in extreme races like the Idiotarod and Yukon Quest (a.k.a. the Yukon Disgrace), very few journalists who cover these races have enough brains to recognize cruelty when they see it. Either that or they just fall into line with the rest of the cowardly yellow journalists who promote these events.
What is so exciting and heroic about the reckless individuals who make a living and gain fame from subjugating dogs? I am personally aware of only one journalist up here in the Yukon (Genesee Keevil of Yukon News) who has covered each race since 2006) who is brave enough to include the many instances of suffering of dogs, incompetence of Yukon Quest race officials including consumption of alcohol at race checkpoints, mushers falling asleep while their dogs are on auto-pilot (if the dogs fall asleep they will be dragged), mushers running injured and sick dogs including dogs who vomit and expell bloody diarrhea.
Race veterinarians are publicly unaccountable (refusal to give specifics when a musher like Donald Smidt in 2008 Quest race was disqualified for 'poor dog treatment') – surprised that the CBC Yukon morning show host asked this question after the 2008 race, but made no attempt to strongly follow up when no full disclosure was given by the head Quest vet (Smidt would have to have had done something really terrible in order to be cut from the Quest).
In the Yukon, Quest media supporters/media partners are paid off by government tourism money to provide favourable, cheerleading type race coverage. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation affiliate in Whitehorse, is shameless in its promotion of the Quest and Idiotarod, using public money to do so.
Ms. Keevil reports it as she sees it including comments from a Quest musher who complained about the leading mushers ruthlessly running the hell out of their dogs (100 mile sprints), thus causing dogs to vomit and pass bloody diarrhea on the trail (dogs in Hans Gatt's team had "severe bloody diarrhea" in 2009 Quest according to Gatt himself), not to mention comments about the leading mushers being arrogant, rude, and unhelpful to other mushers. She also did a story in 2009 about shooting of sled dogs being 'a sore subject' in rural Alaska, use of DMSO drug in Quest which is banned in other sled dog races.
Then there is the reporting about people like Quest/Idiotarod musher Hugh Neff who has a bad record of dog treatment in several Yukon Quests and was penalized for cheating (taking a race shortcut) in 2009.
I have lived in the Yukon for close to 18 years and have lived most of my life in the North. I see the newspaper ads which appear yearly in the Spring and Fall up here from these wonderful mushers who sell and give away Yukon Quest veteran athletes, and do not doubt that some mushers don't waste time GIVING AWAY dogs when a bullet in the head is quicker than placing a newspaper ad, and cheaper than bringing a truckload of dogs to the local veterinarians to die at the end of a needle.
Margery Glickman is definitely NOT a liar or spreader of hate, Josh. It is you who lack credibilty. Maybe you were indoctrinated as a child by one of the many schoolteachers in the Yukon, Alaska and across North America who promote animal cruelty towards Man's Best Friend in their classrooms with the blessing of education authorities.
It seems that the populations of the Yukon and Alaska consist of some of the most uneducated people in the world, when it comes to humane ethics?
Thank you again Mary Martin, another very brave, intelligent and compassionate lady who speaks up for dogs used as sled dogs.
http://sleddogwatchdog.com/yq_media_coverage_index.html
http://sleddogwatchdog.com/yq_mediacoverage_2009.html
http://sleddogwatchdog.com/yq_media_darling.html
http://sleddogwatchdog.com/yq_media_villains.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleddogwatchdog/show