Public Writing — Activism Beyond the Classroom

For the past two years, I’ve had to prepare for the distinct possibility of being deported. My future, and the future of 800,000 other DACA recipients, hang in the balance. On November 12, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether the present administration’s decision to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was lawful. At the same time, attention and support for those with DACA should also extend to millions of other undocumented immigrants in the United States.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomJanuary 27, 2020Kareli Lizárraga

Can we connect the local to the global? Do we need to?

A personal reflection of my first “on the ground” protest action in the United States. More questions than answers.

OpinionKrystal StrongDecember 20, 2019Rehana Odendaal

What Role Can Technology Play in Education?

Between social media, video games, and electric scooters, if there is one thing my generation is known for it is being absorbed by technology. Technology has had an integral part in shaping modern culture, and in recent decades it has had an important role in the education system.

OpinionKrystal StrongDecember 19, 2019Maya Robnett

In Class to Incarceration: Re-Imagining the School to Prison Pipeline

What is the school to prison pipeline? How do zero tolerance policies perpetuate this? How can we as morally bound humans, do our part in recognizing these injustices, as well as start to correct them?

As a former (and future teacher), these questions have long floated around in my head. Although some may not recognize or be aware of a school to prison pipeline, the existence and perpetuation of this pipeline is ever apparent to me.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 19, 2019Kareena Pamani

Displacement and State-Sanctioned Violence: A New York City Tale

In this post I discuss how gentrification is a form of state-sanction violence and how that violence has impacted by home city.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 18, 2019Penelope Ramirez

Affirmative Action and Asian Americans: a former admissions officer's perspective

At almost every date, wedding, or social gathering I go to, I get asked the same question: “What do you think about affirmative action?” I probably get asked this question so often because I'm an Asian American Harvard alumna, and for nearly six years, I worked at a highly selective university in their office of admissions.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 18, 2019Jessica Ch'ng

Teachers Want What Children Need; A Plea for the PFT to Bargain for the Common Good

The upcoming Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) contract with The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) can influence societal issues in Philly if negotiated correctly with tactics suggested by the challenging group of rank and file members, The Caucus of Working Educators.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 17, 2019Kaitlin McCann

What Do We Choose to Memorialize?

What we choose to memorialize is important. I want us to reclaim the monument for those whom the monument has often ignored, erased, dehumanized. Given the power we confer upon monuments in our society, their establishment can serve as a tool to reassert what we recognize, centralize, and legitimize, and ultimately confer our values onto, as a society. In 2013, the city of Philadelphia closed 23 schools for the 2013-2014 school year. Shuttered due to low enrollment and failing test scores, many of these schools played central roles in their communities. t did not have to be this way, and it does not have to still. What would happen if we memorialized these spaces, rather than letting them fade into obscurity?

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 16, 2019Marissa Friedman

Uncomfortable, but Necessary: Fact-based sex ed as a tool to combat gender based violence

This article was written in response to a series of social media posted protesting the content of South Africa’s Comprehensive Sex Education curricular in 2019. CSE has been part of South Africa’s Life Orientation subjects since 2008. It aims to contextualize the role of public education in combatting the scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 16, 2019Rehana Odendaal

Turning Adversity into Opportunity: The Power of Youth Resilience

Healing through service encourages both individual and collective healing. I firmly believe that personal healing combined with the opportunity to heal others can be transformative, and hope to see a curriculum grounded in these principles.

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 12, 2019Sanah Jivani

Green Gentrification

What could redefining public space and communal engagement with the “outdoors” provide? How does the outdoors become a symbol of Whiteness and a tool of gentrification and capitalism? Considering surveillance and policing, what can be imagined as comfortable outdoor spaces for marginalized communities? What reclamation of outside space has taken place?

OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomDecember 11, 2019Caroline van ZeijtsComment

Social Emotional Learning: A Pedagogy of Control

Social Emotional Learning advocates position individuals as the site of the problem and the unit of analysis. Instead of finding ways to increase food available, teachers ask youth to manage their hunger and suppress their anger. Instead of asking why movement must be restricted, teachers assume youth need to be taught patience and stillness. Instead of examining what the teacher did to upset a youth, the focus is teaching youth to remain calm. Where administrators should be concerned with the size of a class, they assert kids just haven’t learned to manage anxiety.

Opinion, 2018Krystal StrongJune 5, 2019Ryan Haas