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Betsy DeVos, Our Educational System Helps Produce Harvey Weinsteins and We Need to Change That
Editorâs note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. The New York Timesâ explosive revelations of Harvey Weinsteinâs three-decades-long career of sexual assault laid bare the prevalence of rape culture in our society. Sexism is a national problem…
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Somebody Lied: Education Alone Canât Dismantle White Supremacy
Editorâs note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. Americans like to think that if individuals are educated in great schools, they can pull themselves up by their proverbial bootstraps and bring their families with them. From childhood,…
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Black Women and Girls May Run the World, but Theyâre Not Safe in It
In black America during the 1970s, the portraits of MLK, JFK and Jesus hung on every familyâs wall. Today, the new trinity of Oprah, BeyoncĂ© and Michelle Obama could almost replace them. But the increasing power and cultural influence of black women donât equal protection. Black womenâs accomplishments, despite their continuing struggle, illuminate how sexist…
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With Domestic Terrorism in Charlottesville, Va., Betsy DeVos Fails to Recognize a Teachable Moment
President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos didnât wholeheartedly renounce white supremacy over the weekend, but teachers must. James Alex Fields Jr., the driver who allegedly plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday, killing one and injuring at least a dozen more, had spouted Nazi ideology in high school, according…
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New Study Finds Multiracial High Schoolers Show No Test-Score Gap With White Students
Editorâs note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. âIâm not white. Iâm also not not-white. So itâs fuzzy figuring out exactly what privileges I benefit from,â explained Sierra Fang, a rising senior in an Oakland, Calif., high…
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The Civil War May Be Settled, but the Fight to Remove Confederate Symbols Rages On
Fights over history are really contests for childrenâs minds. And the stakes are high enough that adults have put children in harmâs way. Last week, people protesting the removal of Confederate flags in New Orleans brandished guns and at least one assault rifle within range of a local school known for diversity. School officials casually…
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The National Interest: Whatâs Really Wrong With White Teachers? Theyâre Racist
Editorâs note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. In recent years, an outburst of national studies (pdf) and exposĂ©s have shown that black teachers produce better academic and behavioral outcomes for black students compared with their white…
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The NAACP Will Learn the Pain Associated With Charter Schools
âBefore the NAACP came to New Orleans, we never had the opportunity to share,â Kim Ford, communications chair for the New Orleans branch of the NAACP, said exclusively to The Root. Ford helped organize the national organizationâs sixth hearing on quality education, which took place in the Crescent City on April 6. âWe are a…
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The National Interest: Teaching Gender Studies in Sex Ed Courses Is a Matter of Life and Death
Editorâs note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. We canât teach safe sex if kids donât understand their own and othersâ gender identities. Women across the gender spectrum are being killed and raped every day, but our…
