Ladson-Billings, G. (2008). A Letter to Our Next President. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(3), 235–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487108317466
Summary:
Ladson-Billings aims to inform the future president, and also the public, about the longtime problem of educational inequity on the basis of race and class and its detrimental effects on the nation as a whole. She also breaks down the issue with naming this problem an “achievement gap,” and proposes instead the term “education debt.” The term”achievement gap”‘s popularity in political jargon she explains, perpetuates the false idea that schools, parents, and communities of color in which there are higher rates of student under-performance are to blame for these inequities and are responsible for the solution. This belief ignores the greater systemic issues of racism and class-ism that have created the systems of inequity that cause unequal access to education in the first place. These systems of inequity include legislation like NCLB which is built upon the false idea that linking funding to achievement will produce a greater urgency for schools to improve student performance. The deficit thinking that comes with these policies, such as emphasis on grit and parent involvement assume that there is something culturally linked to student under-performance which mindset and monetary incentive can fix. These beliefs and policies have enormous detriment to communities, schools, and students because they do nothing to address the real causes of educational inequity like racism and discrimination. Ladson-Billings believes that naming this crisis of inequity the “education debt” recognizes the historical, financial, sociopolitical, and moral debt the entire country and government owe to minorities and students in poverty, while simultaneously crushing the myth of merit and recognizing the responsibility of the government to solve the inequities these students face (236).
Ladson-Billings breaks down the different components of the education debt. The historical debt, she explains, began with slavery and the systematic exclusion of black people, women, and other minorities from receiving an education which, for brown people, still continues today. She then connects the historical debt to hugely unequal funding to schools on the basis of race which perpetuates a high lack of resources and experienced teachers in minority schools and a $10,000 difference in funding per student between minorities and whites. Another component of the education debt is systemic voting discrimination, which has protected the special interests of the elite whites and excluded minorities from policy and decision making on a community and national scale. This “sociopolitical debt” is the reason why although Brown v. Board happened over fifty years ago, public schools are actually undergoing a process of re-segregation because of the lack of equitable and culturally aware policy making (238).
Ladson-Billings concludes by urging the future president to begin a plan to repay the debt owed to these undeserved communities, schools, and students in order to bridge the educational inequities that cause the achievement gap to persist.
Response:
This source was eye-opening and I think will be highly useful in my project considering it touches on all of the systemic issues surrounding educational inequality, which my own goal is to learn about. I want to bridge these broad concepts with community involvement and progressive pedagogy to learn how, as a future educator, I can both strive to combat these systems of inequality and create an equitable learning environment. This article connects well to Ethan Chang’s evaluation of InnovateEquity because it is a macro view of the micro causes and effects addressed in their goal to equitably improve downtown Oakland. Overall, I think this article helps put me in the mindset of being critically aware of deficit ideologies that affect schooling that will help me form unbiased opinions and plans of action for my future classroom.
CPM200 