Cultural Competency

The “Name Game”: racialization in a suburban high school (Encore)

Drs. Tony de Jesus, Anthony Johnston, and Don Siler of University of St. Joseph recount their intervention in a multiracial high school in crisis. White students had instigated a “game” of addressing Black students as the n-word. We discuss the impact of racialization in the Trump era on white students, students of color, and the school community as well as actual and potential responses by schools.

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Solving teacher shortages: It’s not just pay

Drs. Katherine Norris and Kathryn Wiley, colleagues at Howard University’s School of Education, speak about obstacles to recruiting and retaining teachers and increasing diversity. Money matters, but even more, so does ending discrimination. “Racial battle fatigue” is pervasive among Black teachers.

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Towards the school you want to see: Plan, Act, Reflect, Repeat

We speak with Justin Cohen, whose work focuses on the intersections of education, race, privilege, and public policy. Cohen’s recent book is Change Agents: Transforming Schools From the Ground Up. He looks at ways a faculty can systematically improve its school. Knowing the community and having honest and difficult conversations about race are critical.

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Intersections: Supporting Black LGBTQIA+ students

We speak with Dr. David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, NBJC, about the challenges faced by Black LGBTQIA+ students. Most young people at this intersection live in the South among other Black people, not in secular, gay-friendly cities like San Francisco or Hollywood.These young people face economic and cultural barriers to accessing mental health services, Dr. Johns explains how, rather than telling these students what sorts of support they need, adults should ask them.

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Cultural responsiveness: is music optional?

We speak with Dr. Anne Smith, longtime music teacher in Northern Virginia, about accommodating cultural differences. Dr. Smith created an alternate curriculum for students whose traditions don’t allow secular music-making. We discuss the extent to which parents should be able to influence what their students learn. We also talk about why music and art are treated as lesser (“special”) subjects.

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The purpose of education: Educating for a solutionary future?

We welcome back Zoe Weil, president and co-founder of the Institute for Humane Education, to speak about her recent Psychology Today column on the purpose of education. Although the official goal of many school systems is to prepare students for global competition, compassion, cooperation, and creativity are the qualities we should be emphasizing. A generation of solutionaries has a much better chance of creating a sustainable planet where humans and animals other than humans can thrive.

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Why Geoffrey Canada is wrong: Defending schools as democratic spaces

We speak with Dr. Brian Jones, director of the New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools, which provides all sorts of free resources to teachers and school administrators. Public schools, for all their flaws, are centers of power and potential for teachers and parents. As a historian, Dr. Jones draws parallels between Booker T. Washington and Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children’s Zone. In the aftermath of civil rights struggles, both accommodated the powerful and opposed collective efforts for systemic change.

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Abolitionist education: Creating liberatory spaces (Encore)

We speak with Swarthmore’s Dr. Edwin Mayorga, who explains how abolitionist classrooms and schools create “freedom as a place” in contrast to racial capitalism. Dr. Mayorga encourages educators to center joy and healing. We also discuss the corporatization of schools that reduces students to their test scores. Schools, as “localized nodes of political power,” should adopt democratic processes that cultivate voice, participation, and collaboration.

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Mentors and passages: The power of teen-centric programs

We speak with Al Kurland, longtime leader of out-of-school-time programs in Upper Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Mr. Kurland founded youth programs that help teens to “rewrite their stories” with the support of adult and peer mentors. He collaborated with other local youth organizations, creating a cluster of empowering and horizon-broadening experiences for students, helping many expand “tunnel vision.”

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Efforts to ban books escalate: Tips for resistance

We speak with Dr. Richard Price, associate professor of political science at Weber State University, about recent attempts to ban books, especially those about GLBTQIA+ people and people of color, from classrooms and school libraries across the country. (Spoiler alert: it’s not only in red states). Dr. Price offers strategies for teachers, principals, and school districts for responding to book challenges.

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