Reports from the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the White House Conference on Indian Education identify as a national priority the need to retain American Indian and Alaska Native languages both as central elements in Native cultures and as national resources. A personal narrative of an Alaska Native man who grew up in the 1930s shows the importance of his native language to his cultural upbringing, and the gradual decline of native language use across the generations of his family. A contributing factor to generational language loss was the efforts of American schools to assimilate Native children, which included punishing children for speaking their traditional language. Recent findings show that learning languages in addition to English can enhance academic performance and that developing a strong language and cultural base is strongly and positively related to high academic achievement. The conclusion reached by the Task Force and White House Conference is clear: parents, tribes, schools, and governments all have a responsibility to promote the continued use of Native languages for academic and cultural reasons. Eight recommendations for systemic change made by the conference committee responsible for language and cultural issues are listed. (KS)