Give the Gift of Student Voice—In New Orleans
A holiday shout out to Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools
Reader: this is typically the time of year when I ask you to open your hearts, meaning your wallets, on my behalf. But this year I’ve decided to roll a little differently. (This has nothing to do with the fact that last year’s fund drive, which I outsourced to the man to whom I’m *technically* married, was a dud!). So instead of asking for your love and largesse, I’d like you to consider making a generous donation to one of the most amazing student groups I’ve come across: Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools. Shall I pause here while you call your broker?
Listen up
First: let’s conduct a little thought experiment together. I’d like you to run a quick mental sort through the roughly 10,000,000 stories that have been written about the New Orleans education experiment and ask yourself this one
question: how often have you heard from the students who are living through it? Ah—I thought so. Which is why the Rethinkers, as they’re called, are playing such an essential role. These students—hundreds of them, from charter schools all across New Orleans—start with a simple and powerful premise: that sharing their stories can help them change their schools, their neighborhoods and their city. It’s a concept that has proven remarkably successful in places like Lawrence, MA, as I wrote about in this happy, good news story. But in New Orleans’ schools, where silence and strict discipline play such an outsized role, helping students not just find their voices but use them to push for change is even more important.
First: let’s conduct a little thought experiment together. I’d like you to run a quick mental sort through the roughly 10,000,000 stories that have been written about the New Orleans education experiment and ask yourself this one
question: how often have you heard from the students who are living through it? Ah—I thought so. Which is why the Rethinkers, as they’re called, are playing such an essential role. These students—hundreds of them, from charter schools all across New Orleans—start with a simple and powerful premise: that sharing their stories can help them change their schools, their neighborhoods and their city. It’s a concept that has proven remarkably successful in places like Lawrence, MA, as I wrote about in this happy, good news story. But in New Orleans’ schools, where silence and strict discipline play such an outsized role, helping students not just find their voices but use them to push for change is even more important.Now what did I do with that?
Now I know what you’re thinking: *where did I leave my checkbook or some
other non-dated payment vehicle so that I can make a generous donation?* I’ll pause here to allow you to go and look for it. Back? Excellent. You’re curious about what the whole process of young people finding their voices and pushing for change actually looks like. Well, it look like this: Our New Orleans—The Black Youth Perspective, in which Rethinkers crisscrossed their city, interviewing their peers in three neighborhood about gentrification, youth incarceration and education. The result is a vivid, often startling picture of a city, its Give the Gift of Student Voice—In New Orleans | EduShyster:
Now I know what you’re thinking: *where did I leave my checkbook or some
other non-dated payment vehicle so that I can make a generous donation?* I’ll pause here to allow you to go and look for it. Back? Excellent. You’re curious about what the whole process of young people finding their voices and pushing for change actually looks like. Well, it look like this: Our New Orleans—The Black Youth Perspective, in which Rethinkers crisscrossed their city, interviewing their peers in three neighborhood about gentrification, youth incarceration and education. The result is a vivid, often startling picture of a city, its Give the Gift of Student Voice—In New Orleans | EduShyster: