Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

War Made Visible

Editors,  Rethinking Schools

From language arts to math to science to social studies, the school curriculum teaches young people what to think about. But it also teaches young people what not to think about. What not to question. What not to care about. And crucially: who not to care about. In an important new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, Norman Solomon reveals how we are taught to ignore U.S. war spending, war making, and those others our country wages war against. The “America” in the book’s subtitle focuses on mainstream media and U.S. government officials. Solomon dubs it the military-industrial-media complex. But it could more properly be described as the military-industrial-media-educational complex, as educators and education corporations are complicit in the processes the book reveals.

House Republican Budget Threatens Public Education and Opportunity for Young People

Paige Shoemaker DeMio, Allie Pearce, Tania Otero Martinez, Center for American Progress

The U.S. House of Representatives will soon consider a funding bill introduced by Republican leadership that would upend federal investments in public education and workforce programs that are intended to ensure the education system serves young people from all walks of life. Since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society agenda of the 1960s—a defining effort to tackle poverty and increase opportunity—the federal government has invested in supporting the growth of the youngest minds through Head Start; providing equitable funding and highly skilled teachers to economically disadvantaged K-12 schools and their students; making higher education affordable for low-income students; and funding workforce training for youth who face barriers to employment. While there is still work to be done to achieve a truly great, more equitable society, these programs have undergirded nearly 60 years of social mobility, economic prosperity, and global competitiveness.

To solve teacher shortages, let’s open pathways for immigrants so they can become educators and role models

Daniela ALulema, Hechinger Report

As our country continues to struggle with historic teacher shortages, we ought to consider an untapped pool of aspiring teachers: Young immigrants who want to become educators. They can connect with other newcomers by sharing their stories and serving as role models, like the ones I had when I arrived in Queens from Ecuador at the age of 14. The bustling pace of rush-hour commuters, the tangled mix of languages and the loud rhythm of a sleepless city disoriented me for months. Thanks to Mr. Bello, my supportive math teacher at Newcomers High School in Queens, I was able to quiet the cacophony with the anonymity of numbers. Mr. Bello taught me much more than trigonometry and geometry. He taught me about probability, and helped me see that I could succeed as an undocumented student despite the uncertainty of my status.

Language, Culture, and Power

Foster, homeless youth lose disproportionately more instruction to suspensions

Mallika Seshadri, EdSource

Students in precarious living situations — especially foster and homeless youth —are much more likely to be suspended and lose instructional time vital to their academic success, according to a report released by the UCLA Civil Rights Project and the National Center for Youth Law. In the 2021-2022 academic year alone, California students lost more than 500,000 days to out-of-school suspensions, where students are sent home as a form of discipline, the study said.

Following Through on Restorative Practice

Sarah McKibben and Dominique Smith, ASCD

How has student behavior changed in the past couple of years? Yeah, that’s been the big conversation—and we can address it. But I like to hit the pause button and ask, What’s the adult behavior that’s changed? I think some of us haven’t fully recovered from the pandemic. Adults feel like they’re not making as strong of an impact. As a school leader, some of the tools and strategies that were successful for me a couple of years ago aren’t working now. I get frustrated a little faster. I don’t listen as clearly or hear my students as clearly because I’m still catching up. I’m still rebuilding my agency. So, we have to make sure we look at our own behavior. Am I my best self today? Because if I’m not, it’s easy to shift the blame.

One of the Oldest Broken Promises to Indigenous Peoples Is for a Voice in Congress

John Nichols, The Nation

Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution against the British Empire, representatives of the former colonies that were then governed under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee people. Among the many issues addressed by the Treaty of Hopewell was the question of how Indigenous peoples might make their voices heard in the new systems of government that were only then emerging in the US. The answer came in Article XII, which promised that the Cherokee “shall have the right to send a deputy of their choice, whenever they think fit, to Congress.”

Whole Children and Strong Communities

What Educators Need to Know About the ‘Epidemic of Loneliness’ Among Students

Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week

National experts warn an “epidemic of loneliness” may be driving the rise of depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems, particularly among adolescents. Helping students understand how to make social connections may be key to spurring their academic and emotional growth. In a report released earlier this year, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy found rates of loneliness reported among young adults have risen every year for more than a decade. Teenagers spent nearly 70 percent less time hanging out with friends in person in 2020 than they did in 2003: 40 minutes a day with friends, down from 140 minutes a day nearly two decades ago. “This crisis of loneliness and this mental health crisis is on everyone’s mind,” said Melissa Schlinger, the vice president of innovations and partnerships at the nonprofit Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. “The levels of anxiety and depression and suicide were already at all-time highs before the pandemic, and, certainly they have been exacerbated” by physical and social isolation during the pandemic.

Newark parents have long complained about school lunches. This coalition is looking to change that.

Samantha Lauten, Chalkbeat Newark

School gardens, culturally diverse foods, and options that reflect not only dietary restrictions but also students’ preferences: These are just a few of the things the Coalition for Healthy Food in Newark Schools hopes to see in the near future. Now, thanks to a $3.8 million grant from Novo Nordisk, a health care and pharmaceutical company, these changes might be possible. According to a press release announcing the coalition’s launch, the program’s first year will likely include the planting of more school gardens, further funding for partnerships with local farmers, and in-school nutrition education, among many other initiatives.

What Is Feminism and Why Is It Important?

Angi Varrial, Global Citizen

Feminism affects all of us, but most of all it impacts the rights of women and girls. At its core, feminism is about all genders having equal rights, opportunities, and treatment. The movement has its roots right in the earliest eras of human civilization, working to prioritize the political, economic, and cultural equality of women across every society for thousands of years. Let’s take a closer look at feminism: what feminism is, why it’s important, and how the empowerment of women and girls contributes to everything from ending poverty, to strengthening human rights, to tackling the climate emergency.

Access, Assessment, Advancement

Community college enrollment plummeted during the pandemic. Here’s one reason why it’s now turning around

Adam Echelman, CalMatters

When students started leaving college during the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s community colleges feared losing state funding, which is based partly on enrollment. But now, one group is offering hope: students over the age of 50. Last year, the state’s 116 community colleges saw an 11% increase in students over the age of 50 compared to the previous year — the highest percentage increase of any age group and just above the rate for students under 20. In contrast, students 20 to 29 continued to leave. The enrollment numbers represent a shift for older adults, who left college at record rates during the start of the pandemic. By fall 2021, California’s community colleges had lost roughly 20% of their students compared to fall 2019, bringing the system to its lowest enrollment figures in decades.

UC pledges $7 million to address Islamophobia, antisemitism on campuses

Michael Burke, EdSource

The University of California is committing $7 million to address what officials called “acts of bigotry, intolerance, and intimidation,” including incidents of Islamophobia and antisemitism, that have occurred over the past several weeks on its campuses, where tensions are high because of the Israel-Hamas war.  Michael Drake, UC’s systemwide president, announced the funding during the board of regents meeting Wednesday and said it would go toward emergency mental health resources, new educational programs and additional training for leadership, faculty and staff.

The Free Speech Exception

Radhika Sainath, Boston Review

Two weeks after Hamas attacked Israel, University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill issued a revealing salvo in the war of the statements. Like many other university presidents, she mourned the deaths of Israelis without making any mention of Palestinian loss of life. (As of this writing, over 8,000 Palestinians have been killed—including more than 2,000 children alone.) This dehumanization of Palestinians is common enough to be unremarkable. What was revealing was that Magill’s statement mentioned, and apologized for, a festival of Palestinian literature that had taken place weeks before, referencing the discomfort of some Jewish community members with speakers at the event in the same breath as Hamas.

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

Long walk to school: 30 years into freedom, many kids in South Africa still walk miles to class

Mogomotsi Magome, AP News

On weekdays, 14-year-old Luyanda Hlali gets up before dawn to fetch firewood and cow dung to start a fire and boil some water before her four siblings and parents wake up. The mornings are a hive of activity in the Nhlangothi home, in the tiny village of Stratford in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Once her chores are done, Luyanda embarks on a 10-kilometer (6-mile) walk to her school. There are no school buses. There is only the long, dusty road where thieves and bad men can accost her. Luyanda is one of tens of thousands of children in South Africa’s poorest and most remote rural communities who still face long walks to the nearest public school, nearly 30 years after the nation ushered in democratic change.

Sociologist Casey Stockstill explores the segregated lives of preschoolers in new book

Kalyn Belsha, Chalkbeat

Casey Stockstill didn’t set out to write a book about preschool segregation. Initially, the Dartmouth College sociologist wanted to write about the lives of preschoolers. To do that, Stockstill spent two years observing children and staff at a Head Start in Madison, Wisconsin, followed by spending a month at a private preschool on the other side of the city. Sunshine Head Start enrolled nearly all kids of color, while Great Beginnings was nearly all white. But both were top-rated preschools with experienced staff, a teacher for every six students, and a routine filled with learning and play. So Stockstill expected they’d be pretty similar. But the stark differences she observed — all of which were rooted in racial and socioeconomic segregation — became the organizing principle of her new book, “False Starts: The Segregated Lives of Preschoolers.” In it, Stockstill details how segregation shapes everything from how preschoolers spend their time to the kind of instruction and supervision they receive.

Black and Latino students lack access to certified teachers and advanced classes, US data shows

Collin Binkley & Annie Ma, Washington Post

America’s Black and Latino students are at a disadvantage in nearly every measure of educational opportunity, with less access to advanced classes, counselors and even certified teachers, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Education Department. The findings reflect inequities that have lasting implications for students’ ability to learn effectively, go on to college and earn degrees.

Democracy and the Public Interest

How Reconstruction Created American Public Education

Adam Harris, The Atlantic

Before the Civil War, America had few institutions like Antioch College. Founded in Yellow Springs, Ohio, in 1850, Antioch was coed and unaffiliated with any religious sect; it was also the first college in the nation to hire a woman to serve on its faculty as an equal with her male colleagues. It was unquestionably progressive, and would not have been that way without its first president: Horace Mann. Mann, the politician and education reformer from Massachusetts, sought to mold a certain kind of student: conscientious, zealous, inquisitive.

School districts navigate wave of activism in wake of Israel-Hamas war

Naaz Modan, K-12 Dive

Student and teacher activism is pushing education leaders to navigate a politically divisive environment as protests sweep the nation and globe in response to the Israel-Hamas war. On the K-12 level, reported protests have been largely advocating for a cease-fire or pro-Palestine. On Thursday, hundreds of students calling for a cease-fire walked out of New York City classrooms. Movement of Rank-and-File Educators, a social justice caucus of the United Federation of Teachers, expressed support for the walkout on social media. Chancellor David Banks, meanwhile, responded to the community. “In this challenging moment, when so many in our communities have deeply held personal views about various aspects of the Israel-Hamas war, the question can arise as to where the line lies between our responsibilities as public school district employees, and our personal lives and views,” said Banks, according to an email New York City Public Schools shared with K-12 Dive.

Student School Board Members Want a Seat at the Table, Not Just a Pat on the Back

Evie Blad, Education Week

For senior Ben Kolendo, the frustration started when members of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, school board voted to limit his ability to participate in meetings as a student representative, a position he’s held since his freshman year. In a 5-2 vote Sept. 6, the board sidelined Kolendo, limiting his ability to join in its discussions outside of brief, invited comments at the beginning of meetings. Previously, Kolendo could participate freely from his seat at the dais alongside elected adult members and question witnesses about proposed policy, he said. Now, he mostly listens from a seat in the audience among members of the public.

Other News of Note

Thanksgiving Squanto ‘true story’ marked by slavery and treachery, says historian [Audio]

Falen Johnson and Linda Jeffers Coombs, CBC

The American Thanksgiving story many may be familiar with goes something like this: the English Pilgrims settle in the New World, meet a “friendly” Indigenous guide named Squanto who teaches them to plant corn, and together, they celebrate their first harvest.  But that’s the “mythologized version” of Squanto, according to Linda Jeffers Coombs, author and historian from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head in Massachusetts. “To many Wampanoag or Native people generally, he’s seen as a traitor. But even that doesn’t get at his entire story,” Coombs told Unreserved host Falen Johnson. The real story behind Squanto, also known as Tisquantum, is complicated. Very little is known about Squanto’s early years, but historians generally agree he was a member of the Patuxet, a band of the Wampanoag Tribe that lived on what would become Plymouth, Mass.

The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue

Claire Bugos, Smithsonian Magazine

In Thanksgiving pageants held at schools across the United States, children don headdresses colored with craft-store feathers and share tables with classmates wearing black construction paper hats. It’s a tradition that pulls on a history passed down through the generations of what happened in Plymouth: local Native Americans welcomed the courageous, pioneering pilgrims to a celebratory feast. But, as David Silverman writes in his new book This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, much of that story is a myth riddled with historical inaccuracies. Beyond that, Silverman argues that the telling and retelling of these falsehoods is deeply harmful to the Wampanoag Indians whose lives and society were forever damaged after the English arrived in Plymouth.