A place for educators to find thought-provoking news, conversation and support for those who care about diversity, equal opportunity and respect for differences in schools
Discipline That Works
Earlier this month, hundreds of educators, parents and students gathered at the Educating Youth of Color Summit in Colorado Springs, Colo.
That the state’s 4th Judicial District sponsored the event was no accident.
A Banner Day for Missing the Point
If you lined up all the small-minded people on the planet, the first thousand or so would probably be school board members. For proof of that, look no further than Wheatland, Wyoming.
No Name-Calling Week
The 2001 novel The Misfits by James Howe focuses on four friends trying to survive seventh grade. After running a gauntlet of teenage taunts and insults, this small group sets out to create a “No Name Day” at school.
F-Words And N-Words
A couple years ago, Chuck—my partner of 22 years—and I were invited to speak to a health class at a local high school. We were participating in a program that sends LGBT folks into middle and high school classrooms to promote tolerance by telling their stories of what it was like growing up.
Texas Tears Up Textbooks
Texas is in the throes of rewriting the curriculum standards for its K-12 textbooks. And that is something to be very, very worried about.
MLK: More Than Just A Dream
Every year around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the news media start quoting his “I Have A Dream” speech. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a great speech – certainly one of the best ever given in the cause of civil rights.
Seeing The World Through 'Mississippi Eyes'
That’s the term the man used – “Mississippi eyes.” He was describing how he saw California’s Imperial Valley after he had spent time as a civil rights activist in Mississippi and Alabama. He had been born and bred in the Imperial Valley, deep in California’s agricultural belt. But he had never understood the inequities or racism of life there until Mississippi taught him how to see.
An American Apology, Long Overdue
You’re forgiven if you missed it.
Late last month, Congress passed and President Obama signed a bill that included text that “apologizes … to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States.” Not only was news of the measure knocked from front pages by the health care debate and Tiger Woods, it was well-camouflaged within the 2010 defense appropriations bill.
Our new guide, 
