Overcoming the Status Quo

What?

Within the readings “Another World is Possible/Another Education is Necessary” by Ayers and “The Way Forward: Remembering Zora: Another Kind of Public Education” by Collins, the authors advocate for an approach to education that is not about conforming to the status quo, but building the capacity to question it.

For example, Ayers mentions how “regardless of race or ethnicity, origin or background, ability or disability… the fullest development of each is necessary for the full development of all… Classrooms are necessarily porous places” (Ayers, 195). We need to allow for individuals’ own ideas and we should not be restricted by these ideas. By “widening [the] gap between have and the have-nots” we can work to let children grow without constricting them to a certain society (Ayers, 196). We want children to have a nurturing environment and need to recognize that society is not perfect. We need to eliminate this idea of seeing the world “through rose colored glass” and recognize that children need to be prepared for these negative, harsh realities; we should not blind them. “All children need to develop a sense of … reality” (Ayers, 197).

Similarly, Collins mentions how “democratic ideals would remain compromised as long as these and other groups remained second-class citizens” (Collins, 177). In relation to Ayers, she argues that democracy shows injustice and groups that were oppressed have less justice is democracy. In general, she is trying to say that not everyone has an equal voice. She explains how “her education did not prepare her to be a passive consumer of democratic ideals but rather demanded that she be an active citizen via participation in and engagement with social institutions through which democratic ideals are accomplished” (Collins, 177). She was oppressed and her education told her that she would never be a true citizen or a part of a society. In this way, she is deprived of her basic human rights and civic duty. She emphasizes how “racism and sexism limited her participation in [democracy]” (Collins, 179). However, she did not accept this and she found her own way to be more involved in her community through research and “studying people who at that time were not seen as having anything valuable to contribute” (Collins, 179) Through this, she is trying to illustrate how oppressed individuals are restricted. They are regarded as “pimps” and subjected to bad lifestyles and they are expected to live a certain way. Instead, those oppressed individuals need to develop a “personal vision” for themselves rather than restrict themselves to the negative visions that are expected of them.

When relating these readings to past readings I thought about the articles we read on the importance of being critically conscious. Throughout the excerpt of We Make the Road by Walking by Freire and Horton, the authors emphasize the importance of education that cultivates critical consciousness rather than an education that conditions people to accept the status quo. By accepting the status quo we are choosing to be “what the system asks us to be” (Freire and Horton, 102). The authors further this by stating that “neutrality is just following the crowd” and how it is equivalent to an “immoral act” (Freire and Horton, 102). Horton and Freire believe that there is no such thing as being neutral. By staying neutral you are siding with the oppressor because you do not want to be part of the minority. Their points that they make are very similar to what Ayers and Collins has to say about not restricting yourself to another person’s ideas or beliefs. Furthermore, this continued idea of the importance of critical consciousness is backed by James Baldwin in A Letter to Teachers when he argues that the purpose of education is to teach people to “look at the world for [themselves] and encourage them to make their own decisions about it. (Baldwin, 1). Baldwin adds onto this encouragement of education that promotes critical consciousness and he claims that we all should have the right to examine and judge things in our own way. Ayers and Collins would both agree with these ideas that Baldwin, Horton and Freire make in regards to the importance of developing critical consciousness, as it can help individuals to not limit themselves to the expectations of others and allow them to see the world for the harsh reality that it is.

When thinking about my community partner, WHAP, I was also reminded of what I said in the past in regards to critical consciousness in the classroom and how it can help the youths within the community to fight against these negative stereotypes in the future. Collins makes this point as well when she says that “each of us who works in education… needs to find ways to talk about what we can do differently” we need to tell a “sustained story of practicing resistance” (Collins, 183). Through her role as an educator, she hopes to encourage others to avoid focusing on fitting in. She wants them to, instead, make their own unique self in order to develop individualism.

So What?

Within the reading “Another World is Possible/Another Education is Necessary” the author, Ayers, states that “We cannot pretend to be child-or-youth-centered and at the same time ignore the concentric circles of context that both shape young people’s lives here and now, and illuminate the possibilities and perils they will face in the future” (Ayers,197).

When saying this, Ayers is advocating for the importance of recognizing that social context matters. We cannot restrict students to the same standards. This may only cause for the creation of facilities that support a certain kind of “smart.” There are other factors that surround individuals throughout their lives that affect them as a person. For example, if you grow up in a rough neighborhood with negative influences you may grow up thinking this is the norm. If you grow up in a more privileged or close knit community you may then think that this is the norm.

With my own experience, I have noticed that schools are creating this stereotype of the ideal student. Within some schools, there is more dedication towards the health field or STEM. We are causing kids to grow up thinking they hate learning when, in reality, they just have not had enough exposure to other fields of interest. Only those who are lucky enough to like what is pushed at them are able to thrive. There is a stigma towards majoring in, for example, art and people have this bias that those who choose this as a major should be considered lesser because schools consider it lesser. Individuals are considered “genius” if you can do well in a calculus course, but if you can paint like Picasso you are just considered “imaginative.”

Furthermore, both authors, Ayers and Collins, “recognize the importance of people’s stories being told and their lives, knowledge, and expertise honored.” Collins writes about Hurston’s belief in the “power of the voice, not just in the authoritative voice of the books that told her what African Americans were like, but in the authority of the speaker himself or herself, who can live life with dignity and be treated a certain way. She believed in the power of telling one’s own story” (181).

We should recognize the importance of allowing individuals to advocate for themselves and Collins emphasizes this throughout the chapter. She says that there are “African American youths who passively accept images of themselves” (Collins, 179). They think that maybe this is how they are supposed to be because they do not find individualism. With individualism they will be able to find positives in their own abilities and they will be able to form their own unique self.

Collins also quotes Martin Luther King and his dream that is “deeply rooted in the American dream” (Collins, 180). The American dream is the ability to prosper and people come into the United States for these opportunities. However, not everyone has these opportunities and is privileged with these choices. There are things that limit oppressed communities and their ability to achieve this “American dream.” MLK is fighting for all communities to be held on the same standards rather than limiting certain ethnicities from having these same opportunities.

She recognizes that people often “perceive change as dangerous” (Collins, 181). We rarely get people who challenge the norms and when people do challenge the status quo people get angry. New thoughts are unembraceable as people violently reject change.

Through mass media and technology, Collins argues that we will be able to publicize change and this vision to hear other’s stories. People follow how society believes they should act and before the media, no one was being heard or speaking up for change. Media has allowed people to tell their stories while helping them to avoid being harmed and it is not until people speak up that we will be able to fight this oppression.

I think both of these quotes are very important and can positively impact the community I work with. I think that this community is fighting to be heard, especially with all that is going on with the plans to renovate, and that they need to be. These authors, Ayers and Collins, both recognize the importance of teaching school aged children to not follow the norm and to speak up for what they believe in and I think it is necessary that this message is spread to many of the community partners that we are working with, not just WHAP.

Now What?

When reading about Ayers “Nine Possible Steps, Campaigns, and Connections” I found number three to be very interesting as it relates to some of the recent topics we have been discussing in class.

With peer restorative justice, individuals are working to “end criminalization of youth and to open creative spaces” (Ayers 200). Ayers is advocating for the idea that we support these communities that tend to follow the school to prison pipelines. Right now there is a lack of understanding for these oppressed groups and we need to not limit the youths who feel as if they have nowhere else to go.

When reading this I was reminded of the time we watched the short video “School-To-Prison Pipeline.” Within this video they explain how there is a “funneling of black students into the criminal justice system” (Lind, Scheltens, and Barton). There are more officers stationed in schools that have a greater percentage of Black students. Students are more likely to be arrested if the school has police officers, and Black students are “3 times more frequently expelled and suspended than White students” (Lind, Scheltens, and Barton). Whites tend to get suspended for acts of vandalism while Blacks are suspended for something as simple as talking back. Those who are suspended are more likely to drop out or get arrested in the future. Since Blacks get suspended more often and for less serious offenses, this system is biased, unjust, and puts them more at risk compared to White students.

We have the tendency to stereotype individuals based on their characteristics which can lead to the issue of mass incarceration. There is an unconscious bias towards different ethnicities and people are structured to believe that a certain race is more guilty than another. There is a clear stereotype against certain ethnicities and it is through these stereotypes that we are limiting these oppressed communities from being able to express themselves.

By avoiding this racist and stereotyped criminalization of youths we will be allowing them to thrive within their communities. This reminded me of Ronnie’s presentation as she mentioned the injustice when it comes to throwing youths into the adult prison system without giving them the chance to change or mature mentally. Instead we are forcing them into this endless loop of being in and out of prisons rather than allowing them to fully mature and learn from their mistakes.

We should be giving these oppressed individuals the opportunities to speak out and voice their opinions rather than throwing them behind bars. It is only through this effort to hear these individuals that we will be able to fight this consistency to shut out opinions of ethnic minorities.