EDLP 380
Book Discussion Groups
(Summer 2019)
Embedded Files
Session 1: School Privization
Session 1: School Privization
EDLP 380 Session 1 was led by Professor Tammy Kolbe, diving into the topics surrounding the privatization of public schools and the links to segregation. The main text we used was Cutting School, by Noliwe Rooks.
In this class, we reflected and discussed how forces behind privatization (external funding, charter schools, school choice policies) can exacerbate inequity in public schools. Rooks notes that the current system is rooted in segrenomic financing, and therefore requires segregation to function (Rooks, 2017). Rooks notes that many of these systems further perpetuate inequality for under-served communities, and that private forces may do more harm than good.
Through deeper investigation of many of these topics, I was pushed to futher my reflections on how I contribute to existing educational systems. I have worked within a Charter School, serving the most poor children in the Boston area, yet did not suitably question the funding choices behind the system I was participating within. This class gave me an opportunity to dive into national data, explore themes surrounding poverty and school financing, and allowed me to apply these topics to my own experiences.
Session 2: Eviction, Poverty and Housing Insecurity
Session 2: Eviction, Poverty and Housing Insecurity
EDLP 380, Session 2 was led by Professor Tammy Kolbe, diving into the topics surrounding eviction, housing insecurity, and extreme poverty. The main text we used was Evicted, Poverty and Profit in the American City, by Matthew Desmond.
In conjunction with research papers and national data, our learning centered around how eviction acts as a disruptive force in the lives of the most poor communities. The book reads as a narrative of different families suffering in extreme poverty, and is both compelling and heartbreaking to read. The author brings attention to the systems that take advantage of the least fortunate, and how schools could better serve students who are dealing with housing instability.
Personally, I found the descriptions and data about extreme poverty to be alarming. While I have worked in under-served communities before, the poverty that Desmond describes is abhorrent. This class content only furthered my interest in continuing to work for more equity in systems serving families.
Session 3: Higher Education
Session 3: Higher Education
EDLP 380, Session 3 was led by Professor Tammy Kolbe, diving into the topics surrounding the inequity in accessing post-high school opportunities. The main text we used was Divergent Paths to College: Race, Class and Inequality in High Schools, by Megan Holland.
Over the course, we explored how schools act as information brokers between students and universities, and how this information can be disseminated unfairly. After exploring how high schools and school guidance counselors share and broker this information about college, it is clear to me that information is being distributed inequitably.
Personally, I found that this book brought me face-to-face with my own educational privilege. I attended a public high school with a high ratio of student- school counselor, but relied on my family and friend networks for information about the college process. My college application experience mirrored other white, privileged females in the author's examples, and I benefited greatly from this advantage.
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