The Year Everything Changed, Including Education Injustice

Its been only a few weeks since we have observed a near total collapse of modern society so admittingly,  this post maybe terribly prematurely hopeful as we observe a complete re-engineering of our education system.

In short, people who were neglected, abused, and ill-served by this American system now find themselves even more so on the brink of survival, wondering if there is indeed any semblance of humanity, yet alone society, remaining.

So, I acknowledge that it maybe terribly premature to find the hope in the midst of our current crisis when so many people are hurting and with this virus, sick, and to be blunt, dying. But what I will try to delicately convey is that our educational system, which has for decades served as a microcosm of those societal inequities and also impacted by this major, catalytic shift, will have an incredible opportunity to re-imagine what traditional education can look and feel like for millions of youth. We maybe watching the traditional, highly inequitable school system take its last dying breath..

So what becomes of this new reality in education? Are we to proclaim the liberation of virtual learning as the new panacea of how we educate our students? The most important question we can now as ourselves and our education leaders is:

• How can we re-imagine a school system where students have more control over their learning, access to high quality foods and learning that actually matters? 

• What does it mean to be "educated" in a post-COVID 19 world? 

• How will industry and the restructuring of society determine what and how we teach? 

I'm hopeful that this will bring about a new beginning and a death to the traditional, out-dated methods of teaching and learning once and for all. In its place, an equitable way so students can receive a highly relevant and high quality education that really prepares them for a post-COVID 19 world.  

Dismantling White Supremacy in Schools

It's taken me longer than expected to write about this topic, probably because I didn't know exactly where to start with having the courage to post. I know understand that by not calling this out more explicitly in my work, that I am being complicit in upholding notions of white superiority, dominant culture and exploitation.

So, what's my message here. I guess, its first establishing the fact that we must begin this work in all aspects of education. Reflecting back, I'm starting to understand why so much of my schooling frustrated me, or rather felt deeply oppressive. Of course, there were many instances in my education where some of my teachers reflected more liberatory teaching practices and to this day, I continue to benefit. However, looking back on the collection of my K-12 education in metro Detroit, much of what I was taught was rooted deeply in the notion that the most important ideas in this world are generated, promoted and eschewed by white people.

In today's educational landscape, we are starting see the emergence of incorporating new paradigms into our system that challenge notions of superiority of white culture.