Yo, Miss! (No. 2)
The Power of Changing Your Mind
Welcome to Yo, Miss!, a weekly-ish newsletter where I write about education, politics, pop culture and everything in between.
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The Power of Changing Your Mind: My PBS NewsHour Classroom Educator Voice Conversation with Diane Ravitch
The theme of this week’s newsletter, The Power of Changing Your Mind, is inspired by a conversation I had with Diane Ravitch, education historian and education policy expert, for our PBS NewsHour Classroom Educator Voice series.
On November 10th, we spoke about her work in the education reform movement and as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. The most powerful and inspiring part of our conversation was when Ravitch shared her story about how she went from being a leader in the charter school movement to emerging into a vocal critic of it. Today she is known as a leading activist and advocate for public schools.
It is rare that a public figure known for one particular stance proceeds to make such an abrupt shift. Ravitch did just that. Here is her classic 2010 article for the Brookings Institute where she reveals “The Myth of Charter Schools”. In her book, “Reign of Error: The Hoax of Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools” she argues that “what’s wrong with charter schools is that they originally were supposed to be created to collaborate with public schools and help them solve problems” and “they have now been taken over by the idea of competition, they have become part of the movement to turn education into a consumer product rather than a social and public responsibility.”
“Public education is one of the cornerstones of American democracy.” - Diane Ravitch
I recommend reading her books and blog if you haven’t already.
I admire people who are strong and unwavering in their convictions (unless they are steeped in hateful white supremacist views and Christo-Fascism). Yet, sometimes it is so important that we spend time interrogating our ideas and world views. When facts come our way that run counter to our preexisting beliefs, it is natural to just ignore them and dig deeper into our information silos. There is nothing more comforting than tucking ourselves in and scrolling through the abyss of the algorithm, custom-made just for you! However, it takes courage and strength to confront the evidence that might completely go against what you originally thought and then change your mind. Ravitch did just that and I admire her so much for it. She agreed to do a second Educator Voices Series episode with us, so stay tuned for details on that.
Learning Honest History + Critical Thinking Skills = Crucial
The key to being able to go through the process of having an open mind is possessing strong critical thinking skills as well as a complex understanding of the political, economic and socio-cultural history of America and the world. I am concerned that students across the country will have to acquire these skills outside of the classroom. This is because more and more states across the nation are both banning books and systematically whitewashing K-12 curriculum under the guise of their “anti-CRT” bills. I wrote about this crisis for Parents Magazine a year ago.
Since then, even more states have passed these dangerous laws that are forcing teachers to commit educational malpractice by not allowing them to teach honest history by erasing so much content from the story of America. In turn, this curriculum alienates so many students from seeing themselves in history as well as in the books they read in ELA (English Language Arts) class.
Just the other weekend, the Virginia Department of Education released new standards of learning for their K-12 curriculum (approval pending). You should read through the changes yourself in this detailed Washington Post analysis by Hannah Natanson. I’m highly alarmed after just inspecting the proposed changes to the 11th grade curriculum. For example, whereas the old guidelines called for lessons on “the culture of the Indigenous people of North America,” the new guidelines propose that students learn about “the entrepreneurial characteristics of early explorers (e.g. Christopher Columbus).” In fact, it is not suggested to study Indigenous culture in North America on its own. Instead, the new guidelines propose that students interrogate the “cooperation and conflict” between European and Indigenous peoples. Excluding this major part of the story of America
My Recent Panels About Curriculum Bans and Book Bans
It is increasingly important that we all educate ourselves about these measures and strategize ways to fight back. PEN America is doing amazing work tracking the book bans. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to join a panel entitled “How Book Banning Prevents Civic Literacy For All.” Organized by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Share My Lesson and the Shanker Institute , the panel included Nadine Farid Johnson, PEN America’s Washington Director, New York Times bestselling author and activist, Frederick Joseph, and it was moderated by Mary Cathryn Ricker of the Shanker Institute. You can watch the whole conversation here.
I also highly recommend viewing our PBS NewsHour Classroom Educator Voice Series Zooms where teachers and librarians speak candidly about their experiences navigating these education bans.
You can also watch our PBS NewsHour Classroom Educator Voice conversation with Jose Vilson, Frederick Joseph, and Jean Darnell about book bans here:
In the next newsletter, I will write about the role that the group Moms For Liberty is playing in all these bans. As a preview, here’s an article about them.
My Recommendations of the Week
My Running in the Cold Playlist🎶:
What I’m Reading 📚:
After Life: A Collective History of Loss and Redemption in Pandemic America, Edited by Rhae Lynn Barnes, Keri Leigh Merritt and Yohuru Williams
My Favorite Podcast This Week 📱:
What I’m Watching 📺:
How I Feel About Trump Announcing He’s Running for President Again:
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But let’s see what happens with the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate Trump:
Ok. I could go on and on but I will stop. More next week.
Here’s a photo of me trying to look festive. I am still working on smiling more in photos :)
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