Article

What We're Reading This Week: January 12, 2018

A weekly sampling of articles, blogs and reports relevant to TT educators.

Jaylen Brown: 'Sport Is a Mechanism of Control in America'

The Guardian

“But when I got older and went to the University of California [Berkeley] I learnt about a more subtle racism and how it filters across our education system through tracking, hidden curriculums, social stratification and things I had no idea of before. I was really emotional–because one of the most subtle but aggressive ways racism exists is through our education system.”

 

LGBTQ Youth More Likely to Seek Community Online, Survey Shows

NBC News

“Composed of data collected from 3,015 online interviews with people ages 15 to 24 in June and July, the findings showed LGBTQ youth respondents were unique in saying they felt they could be more themselves online than they could offline. Seventy-six percent of LGBTQ respondents agreed they could be their ‘complete self online’ compared to 74 percent who said they could be their ‘complete self with friends.’ For comparison, 66 percent of all non-LGBTQ respondents said they felt they could be their ‘complete self online’ while 82 percent said they could be their ‘complete self with friends.’”

 

America's Schools Are 'Profoundly Unequal,' Says U.S. Civil Rights Commission

NPR

“This report excavates the enduring truism that American public schooling is, and has been, profoundly unequal in the opportunity delivered to students, the dollars spent to educate students, and the determinations of which students are educated together.”

 

Keep Guidelines in Place That Work to Ensure Fair Discipline for Black, Brown Students

USA Today

“Biases from educators have an immediate impact. Black students are expelled, suspended and thrown in juvenile detention more frequently than their white counterparts for the same behaviors. But even worse are the long-term effects: Excessive discipline against black children causes some to be held back in school and others to drop out and contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline. Students of color who are forced to repeat a grade or who drop out altogether have an increased likelihood of ending up in prison.”

 

We Can Draw School Zones to Make Classrooms Less Segregated. This Is How Well Your District Does.

Vox

“In short, the way the courts have interpreted the segregation laws, white communities with political and economic clout still have quite a bit of agency to determine who their kids go to school with. And they're deciding that they only want a certain amount of diversity in their schools before they decide it's better to opt out of the system.”

x
A map of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi with overlaid images of key state symbols and of people in community

Learning for Justice in the South

When it comes to investing in racial justice in education, we believe that the South is the best place to start. If you’re an educator, parent or caregiver, or community member living and working in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana or Mississippi, we’ll mail you a free introductory package of our resources when you join our community and subscribe to our magazine.

Learn More