Classroom Activism

There seems to be this “crisis” in Baltimore City, according Project Baltimore. For those unfamiliar, there are students in Baltimore City, who are being “pushed through” the school system, and are graduating. With diplomas. And are essentially, illiterate. In 2017. I am not surprised. And, as readers, you should not be either. The “School to Prison” Pipeline has been the topic of immense discussion for decades, even with allegations of special education class rosters being used to predict the number of future prisoners. The United States Department of Justice publishes demographics of state and national prison populations, where on both levels, there are high percentages of prisoners with learning disabilities and mental health illnesses. In other words: This is nothing new. I know a young man, who did not receive an IEP until he was in the fifth grade. At this time, the young man was not able to read on a second grade level, but was in the fifth grade. I remember sitting at the c...

I did not expect to write this soon, but the events that took place in Charlottesville, VA got my Twitter fingers moving. Charlottesville, VA 2017, is reminiscent of Charlottesville, VA 1997, 1977, 1957, 1937, 1917, and 1897. The astonishing thing to me, is the fact that we, as card-carrying Americans, are surprised that this can be going on in America. Now. How could this demonstration of hatred and bigotry happen now? The answer is quite elementary, my dear: education. When I was a student in elementary school, we learned about American History, from the perspective of good, God-fearing Christians. Those who believed in the creed that all men were created equal, and that Jesus is the perfect example of humanity. Fast forward to middle school. American history, and the watered down version of the Trail of Tears, the Slave Experience, and the glowing reviews of the Forefathers. The Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution were discussed at length, yet, the stories of the oppres...

I was asked to write an entry on the education and activism, and I had the hardest time, attempting to start this wonderful article. What tone of voice I should use, should I add statistical data, and how special education is connected to the prison system. But, I changed my mind in the middle of my article, and wanted to discuss activism, and how teachers are activists. Activism seems to be taking a front seat lately, thanks to social media. Everyone seems to have an opinion about something, most of which are not grounded in any facts. We speak on the Freddie Gray death, the lack of convictions given to police for killing unarmed men of color, the murder of trans men and women, and the wonderful presidency of Number 45. We believe that activism is participating loudly, drawing attention to ourselves, and being infamous in certain circles. We find the Deray McKessons, the Shawn Kings, the Umar Johnsons, the Colin Kaepernicks, and the Shannon Sharpes intimidating, questioning w...