(1977). Racism, Scholarship and Cultural Pluralism in Higher Education. Education cannot be discussed apart from the social conditions surrounding it, since the school is not immune from cultural, economic, political, or class considerations. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep in mind the historical and contemporary circumstances which, in large measure, determine the function, purpose, and style of any given university or college. Thus, the struggle for racial justice in higher education aims to alter the mission, curricula, and values of the university so as to make it a culturally plural, non-racist institution. Exploratory and tentative in nature, this monograph examines the abyss which separates the perceptions and feelings of most non-whites, especially of Native Americans, from those of the dominant white elite in higher education. Topics include: the development of a mono-cultural university (e.g., the University of California); segregation and bias in institutions of higher education; ethnicity and academic life; research, scholarship…
(2007). Migration, Race and Education: Evidence-Based Policy or Institutional Racism?. Race, Ethnicity and Education, v10 n4 p367-385 Dec. The promise of evidence-based policy is that social scientific research can lead to rational planning that will lead to improved outcomes and life chances for people across the whole spectrum of social provision. This article argues that evidence is politically mobilised to legitimise the reproduction of racial and social advantage and construct racialised groups as targets for policy intervention. It is suggested that migration and education policy is refracted through a politically generated concern about the destabilising impact of new global flows of people; that this involves the construction of a new racial settlement; and that this racial settlement is articulated through a strategy of managing internal and external populations. Despite the weight of evidence in relation to the educational experience of minoritised communities, which demonstrates that racism is endemic and systemic, government-sponsored policy interventions continue to reproduce White middle-class racial and… [Direct]
(2011). Asian American Education: Identities, Racial Issues, and Languages. Research on the Education of Asian Pacific Americans. IAP – Information Age Publishing, Inc. Asian American Education–Asian American Identities, Racial Issues, and Languages presents groundbreaking research that critically challenges the invisibility, stereotyping, and common misunderstandings of Asian Americans by disrupting "customary" discourse and disputing "familiar" knowledge. The chapters in this anthology provide rich, detailed evidence and interpretations of the status and experiences of Asian American students, teachers, and programs in K-12 and higher education, including struggles with racism and other race-related issues. This material is authored by nationally-prominent scholars as well as highly-regarded emerging researchers. As a whole, this volume contributes to the deconstruction of the image of Asian Americans as a model minority and at the same time reconstructs theories to explain their diverse educational experiences. It also draws attention to the cultural and especially structural challenges Asian Americans face when trying to… [Direct]
(2009). The Failure of Social Education in the United States: A Critique of Teaching the National Story from \White\ Colourblind Eyes. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, v7 n2 p217-248 Nov. The curriculum discipline of Social Studies in the United States has historically been the field charged with preparing democratic citizens to participate in a complex political landscape that will serve to perpetuate the US national story of democracy, freedom and equality. However, it is our contention that the field of social education has failed to engage in a direct confrontation with one of the most significant and complicated themes in the US historical narrative–race. Race, simply, has been a defining problematic in the story of what it means to be an US citizen. The social studies must become the subject position to critically analyze and address this historical condition, especially when teaching and exploring with students the national narrative of what it means to be a democratic citizen. In an effort to address these issues, this article will explore the failure of social education research and practice to confront the issue of race, instead relying on a colourblind… [Direct]
(2013). Dreaming of Science: Undocumented Latin@s' Testimonios across the Borderlands of High School Science. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This qualitative study uncovers the voices of five Latin@ students who are high-"achieving" and undocumented and have strong aspirations in science, in a Southern, Title I high school. Through critical race methodology and these students' "testimonios"/counter-stories, these students' struggles and successes reveal their crossing of cultural and political borderlands and negotiating structures of schooling and science. The students dream of someday pursuing a trajectory in the field of science despite racial, ethnic, and political barriers due to their undocumented status. I use three key theoretical approaches–Borderlands/Anzalduan theory (Anzaldua, 2007), Loving Playfulness/World Traveling (Lugones, 2003), and Latino Critical Race Theory (in which many Latin@/Chican@ studies contribute)–to put a human face on the complex political and educational situations which the students in this study traverse. Data were collected during a full school year with follow-up… [Direct]
(2009). Controlling the Black School-Age Male: Psychotropic Medications and the Circumvention of Public Law 94-142 and Section 504. Urban Education, v44 n2 p225-247. Public schools have historically embedded mechanisms for control within their policies and procedures through a variety of means. This article investigates a moderately sized integrated public school system in an upscale to low socioeconomic Big Ten university community in Illinois. Through descriptive measures, the author examines the racial ramifications of using psychotropic medications (e.g., Ritalin) to control the undesired academic and social behavior of Black school-age boys. The study examines how federal policies (i.e., the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 and Section 504) have allowed for the introduction of disproportionate behavioral-stimulant use with Black males as a mode for social control. This article situates findings within a larger argument regarding the ways in which racism and reproduction of the racialized social structure, from the inception of the United States through the 21st century, have included a cycle of control targeting Blacks,… [Direct]
(2012). Hip-Hop(e): The Cultural Practice and Critical Pedagogy of International Hip-Hop. Adolescent Cultures, School, and Society. Volume 56. Peter Lang New York Illuminating hip-hop as an important cultural practice and a global social movement, this collaborative project highlights the emancipatory messages and cultural work generated by the organic intellectuals of global hip-hop. Contributors describe the social realities–globalization, migration, poverty, criminalization, and racism–youth are resisting through what individuals recognize as a decolonial cultural politic. The book contributes to current scholarship in multicultural education, seeking to understand the vilification of youth (of color) for the social problems created by a global system that benefits a small minority. In an age of corporate globalization, "Hip-Hop(e)" highlights the importance of research projects that link the production of educational scholarship with the cultural activities, everyday practice, and social concerns of global youth in order to ameliorate social, economic, and political problems that transcend national boundaries. Contents include:… [Direct]
(2011). Primary Sources Enliven Civil War. Education Week, v30 n28 p1, 18-19, 21 Apr. Today, a growing number of teachers are moving beyond the textbook in teaching about the war, and U.S. history more broadly. Teachers are digging directly into primary sources and harnessing technology, all in an attempt to help students better understand the past and bring it to life. Doing so may be especially important with the Civil War, educators and historians say, since public debates about its meaning are alive and well, and young people may be exposed to a lot of misinformation that original sources can dispel in compelling ways. One factor helping fuel this kind of learning is the roughly $1 billion supplied over the past decade through the U.S. Department of Education's Teaching American History program, which focuses on professional development to improve instruction in the subject. Participants say a strong component of many workshops and other activities supported by the program is helping teachers use primary sources effectively. Another development has been the rapid… [Direct]
(2008). Where Differences Matter: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Family Voice in Special Education. Journal of Special Education, v42 n1 p26-35. U.S. education policy acknowledges the troubling differential rates of special education identification and placement for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse by requiring states to review annually student identification data from all local education agencies to identify and address disproportionate representation. Yet, little is known about the interaction between families that are culturally and linguistically diverse and the service providers they encounter at their local schools. The authors examine those relationships in South Africa and the United States, two countries where the legacy of racism lingers in the ways in which school personnel and families negotiate differences in how children are viewed, assessed, and offered support for learning needs. In both countries, sustained efforts from families and school personnel were needed to develop supports and services that worked well for students with disabilities and their families. (Contains 1 table.)… [Direct]
(2008). Education and Gypsies/Travellers: "Contradictions and Significant Silences". International Journal of Inclusive Education, v12 n4 p331-345 Jul. For centuries there have been strong tensions between Gypsy/Traveller communities and their nation states. Today, discrimination against Gypsies/Travellers in the UK is still so widespread that it has been described as the last "respectable" form of racism. The paper argues that the experiences of Gypsies/Travellers, as they come into contact with the structures of education, reveal a continuing discrimination against one of the most disadvantaged minority ethnic groups in the UK; a discrimination that, at the same time, points to continuing "contradictions and significant silences" within the UK government, and Scottish Executive, policy drive to reduce social exclusion. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2011). Urban Education: A Model for Leadership and Policy. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group Many factors complicate the education of urban students. Among them have been issues related to population density; racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; poverty; racism (individual and institutional); and funding levels. Although urban educators have been addressing these issues for decades, placing them under the umbrella of \urban education\ and treating them as a specific area of practice and inquiry is relatively recent. Despite the wide adoption of the term a consensus about its meaning exists at only the broadest of levels. In short, urban education remains an ill-defined concept. This comprehensive volume addresses this definitional challenge and provides a 3-part conceptual model in which the achievement of equity for all–regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity–is an ideal that is central to urban education. The model also posits that effective urban education requires attention to the three central issues that confronts all education systems (a)… [Direct]
(2008). Unlearning Colorblind Ideologies in Education Class. Educational Foundations, v22 n3-4 p53-71 Sum-Fall. Critical educators, particularly Critical Race pedagogues, critique colorblind ideology as tantamount to racism because it serves to maintain racial inequality. King (1991), for example, refers to colorblindness as \dysconscious racism\ since colorblind ideology sustains and justifies the culture of power. As an attempt to unpack the colorblind model that so many pre-service teachers endorse, the author made the most of her own teaching experience as a teacher educator, reflecting analytically on classroom discussions and student reactions. What she found most vexing was that colorblind ideology seemed so well-intentioned that it was hard to fight against. Apparently, she was not alone: in scholarly journals, she located the stories of a number of teacher educators who struggled to problematize liberal discourse in their classrooms. Also, she collected first-hand interview data by talking with teacher educators (her colleagues) who have taught multicultural issues. These interviews… [PDF] [Direct]
(2008). The Anatomy of a Teachable Moment: Implications for Teacher Educators. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, v1 n2 p19-34. A university professor observes the use of a Native American stereotype by a cooperating teacher in an elementary art classroom while supervising a preservice teacher. She identifies ways that the teacher's words potentially harmed her students and reflects on her own role. This "teachable moment" is described, and characteristics of institutionalized racism and white dominance are examined as a foundation for racist insensitivities in the classroom. The professor calls for preservice teachers to be prepared in their teacher education programs to be culturally responsive. She draws on a study of preservice teachers mentoring minority children to demonstrate how change can begin with restructuring teacher education pedagogy to embrace multiculturalism (Adams, Bondy, & Kuhel, (2005). Implications include practices that help educators identify assumptions about race and socio-cultural difference and overcome learned stereotypes…. [PDF]
(2008). Tempered Dreams: Alaine Locke as Pluralist and Pragmatist. Philosophical Studies in Education, v39 p106-117. This essay discusses Alain LeRoy Locke (1885-1954), Professor of Philosophy (Howard University) and examines his experiences, reasoning, and rhetoric as they challenge the accepted notions of race, education, and democracy. As an African American practicing philosophy in a racist nation, Locke also examined value communities and value differences within what he called the "fictional" categories of race and ethnicity. Personal experiences with barriers to pluralism led him to acknowledge and address the enduring power of racism woven tightly into the national fabric as part of his own evolving philosophy. The author connects Locke's insights to the Supreme Court decision on voluntary school integration policies. Finally, she argues that Locke's pluralism and pragmatism provide justification for continuing explorations at the intersection of art, race, education, and democracy as integral to philosophy of education…. [PDF]
(2010). Precollege Contexts of Undocumented Students: Implications for Student Affairs Professionals. New Directions for Student Services, n131 p19-33 Fall. Undocumented students come to college from some of society's most vulnerable circumstances. Often their precollege experiences are marked by racism and poverty. These dehumanizing forces most often are contributors to and re-created by substandard schooling conditions. Furthermore, the labor contexts in which many undocumented families find themselves can be qualitatively different from those of other college-bound families. As such, participating in college life can take on new meanings for undocumented students, as their precollege experiences may frame what college is for and about in vastly different ways from the experiences of dominant students. This chapter reviews salient issues in the precollege lives of undocumented students that have relevance for student affairs professionals as they seek to serve these students better. Sociocultural theory and Gildersleeve's college-going literacies framework explain how these precollege experiences have been shaped by and simultaneously… [Direct]