Posts in Category Social Justice

A conference that will matter after it is over

Justo Méndez Arámburu has had a very clear message about IDEC 2012 over the last two months.  

“The most important day of IDEC 2012 is April 1st.”  

That date is remarkable because it is the day after the conference is over.

In total, the conference will bring together over 750 young people, educators, community leaders, organizers, academics, and advocates from around the world and across Puerto Rico.  But, the most profound accomplishment of conference organizers has happened even before the conference begins.  Unlike so many other conferences, IDEC 2012 has been organized to have maximum impact in the lives of young people and communities in Puerto Rico after the international...

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Posted on Mar 22, 2012 - 09:58 AM by Scott Nine

The Stirrings of Subversion

It's that time of year again. All of the Christmas decorations are hitting the store shelves way too early; people are propping up trees before the turkey is even killed, let alone cooked; and children are running around after school, sporting their pilgrim hats and "Indian" feathers. War paint, garb, and lines to the latest "First Thanksgiving" play may also be prominently featured during play or bus stop chat.

If there was one single thing that poked the speck of homeschooling sand beneath my wholly public-schooled shell prior to its pearled status in my heart, it was the way we learn about the first Thanksgiving in schools. I can remember the shock and outrage I experienced when I...

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Posted on Nov 18, 2011 - 02:29 AM by Sara Schmidt

A list of incredible humans who know what real education looks like

Late last week, I was in a conversation with Sheryl Petty where she graciously encouraged me to look at just how much IDEA and my own thinking is impacted by other humans who have put their ideas and love into words.

In support of #blog4idec and today's theme of "Human", I thought I'd try to brainstorm off the cuff (no help from Google) the names of the people whose writing has profoundly shaped my thinking about what real education looks like at the most human level.

Feel free to add your own incredible humans in the comments box.

And yes, I am inviting several moments of, "how could I forget ________, and _____________, and __________ . . ."

Here's my list of incredible humans:

...

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Posted on Nov 01, 2011 - 11:59 AM by Scott Nine

Is “The Experiment” Working?

It was a classy affair with an attendance of perhaps fifty guests, and I was lucky enough to be granted an invitation to an exclusive screening of The Experiment at The New Orleans Museum of Art.

I walked into the place – a tad bit under-dressed – and filled my hands with an Abita Amber and a flat mushroom-filled pastry, which turned out to be delicious. In the buffet line, I met a well-dressed young man (about 10 or 11) wearing a (fake?) diamond-encrusted cross on a silver chain and questioning me as to whether I’d purchased a ticket.

When I said no, he seemed disappointed, saying, “Man, so they just giving tickets away to anybody?!” I asked if he had paid for one and he told me, no,...

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Posted on Sep 01, 2011 - 10:55 AM by Jason Lacoste

Purpose of Life and Schooling

Purpose. It's a word that has been thrown around in conversations I've been in or observed for weeks now. It became most pronounced lately after viewing the movie, Race to Nowhere ; a film directed by Vicki H. Abeles, a mother concerned with the pace of her children's schooling.

The film delved into the world of competitive, even exclusive schooling and the need to always be better, do more, and be perfect. Students in the film spoke about health issues, self-esteem issues, suicides in their communities and their feeling of overwhelming gloom. What was it all for?

However, my close friends and I found ourselves perplexed by the film. It seemed, number one, that the film really...

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Posted on Jan 11, 2011 - 09:25 PM by Ammerah Saidi

Another major language

Spanish, like every other major language, is indeed a crazy quilt of various dialects as there are
countries, regions, and cities where Spanish is spoken. If so, why do we still have all of the academic research in education, and its literature, referring Spanish to us as a “minority language”?

As many agree, education research findings, and the American population at large, should begin
interacting more to further necessary critical awareness if we are to make it out of
the dualistic grip of “reformers” versus “those-who-oppose-this-reform” talking heads (cf. Dana
Bennis' “The Education Policy Debate”), who add more confusion instead of resolution to our dire public schools, and...

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Posted on Jun 16, 2010 - 05:53 PM by Luis Moreno

You Say You Want a Revolution…

I am a teacher in New York City working in a very poor community with mostly youth of color. Every day I see the effects of centuries of racism and class oppression show up on my students' faces. On some days I have hope that we will be able to create a just future and I want their schools to be better. Some days are harder and I think the only way out is for their schools to be destroyed. What does IDEA have to offer me?

Anonymous Teacher - The Bronx, NY

Thank you for the question. First of all, I do not have an answer for you. Your question very much hits home for me, and the best I can do in this situation is to tell you how I have figured out to live with those conflicting thoughts...

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Posted on May 10, 2010 - 09:10 AM by Jonah Canner

Pulling That Injustice Trigger

Now, I'm not one for protests, especially not protests that end after a one hour march around some political building with people going back to their homes feeling they've done their best. However, I was moved to read about the protests of thousands of students in New Jersey this week (read all about it in the NYTimes here).

What moved me about this student-led protest is that at such a young age, these students recognize how to magnify their power through unity against a single injustice: school cuts that compromise their education. From one Facebook invitation to protest these cuts that pulled their injustice triggers, 18,000 students were moved to the streets with signs and their...

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Posted on Apr 29, 2010 - 08:45 PM by Ammerah Saidi

Raining on My Students’ Parades

My graduate students tell me that I am depressing them - that I am the unfunny version of Saturday Night Live's Debbie Downer . Well, they didn't actually call me that, but that's sometimes how I feel. I teach the foundations of education course at my university. This is the class where American education is looked at through a critical lens - comparing the historical, Jeffersonian democratic citizenship purpose of education to the social mobility purposes that seem most paramount in schools today. We explore and critique different philosophies of education, deconstruct our society's current politicization of education, examine the injustices of our education system's funding practices,...

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Posted on Apr 12, 2010 - 09:31 AM by Kristan Morrison

Unschooling Is About Context

When my family decided to give homeschooling a try, we knew we wanted to define our own philosophy and approach. Being huge fans of the unschooling concept (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling) we began our adventure with the assumption that our children's curiosity would drive our inquiry, explorations, and adventures. We even use the term "unschooling" often to describe that to which we are up. This term keeps us grounded in our primary motivation for the endeavor: freedom and success.

But, my wife and I both have brown skin, and come from backgrounds that don't privilege a free-form attitude about freedom and success, even defined simply as having enough food, clothing and a...

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Posted on Mar 19, 2010 - 08:31 AM by Khalif Williams