Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom
This review was originally published at Education Review (PDF)
Ayers, Rick; & Ayers, William (2011). Teaching the Taboo: Courage and Imagination in the Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
Taboos lurk in every area of life, and schools are no exception: Lift the cover in any classroom, in any educational venue, and there they are, waiting. But precisely because taboos are so profoundly human, we each maintain the power of reinvention: We can question, re-inscribe, and repurpose many of the taboos we’ve inherited. Let in a single, dazzling beam of light, a bracing breath of fresh air, and see what happens - you may find yourself advancing from the margins, sailing against the tide, speaking for the opposition. You may be - without even realizing it at first - teaching the taboo. p. xii
Those are the final words of the two-page Prelude, after the Foreword (by Haki R. Madhubuti) and before the Introduction that begins this new book by the brothers Ayers, both distinguished as classroom teachers and activists for an approach to schools and their reform very different that what is now unfortunately the conventional wisdom offered by major figures from both political parties.
