Real Solidarity In The Time of Education Reform
We don’t have to choose between the testing / Common Core State Standards / Teach For America / charter school debate and intersectional / race talk. In fact, they’re part and parcel.
I want to talk about all of it from the position that we need to look at education reform from the most disenfranchised, those who’ve rarely if ever had a voice in their own schooling for the last century. Generally, that means people of color and poor white people, more so the former than the latter. Instead of creating unity around the most ignored, some edu-activist movements decided to wait until after education reformers ravaged centers of color, specifically urban school systems. On a national level, we leave these wide gaps for the wrong ideas to creep in, pre-packaged with social justice language, but without the principles that allows for people on the ground to have real agency.
People can mistake teargas, handcuffs, and hyperbole for uplift, but the totality of the work and the people it helps is ultimately the effect we should look towards.
We can have the conversation about political hopefuls on the city, state, and federal level all across the country, but if there isn’t a plan that’s one big “no,” then there’s no reason to trust the next Real Solidarity In The Time of Education Reform | The Jose Vilson: