Equity and Excellence: Intertwined

When any institution thoughtfully and intentionally engages members of groups that it has previously marginalized, the institution itself benefits from the sharing of diverse identities, histories and ways of knowing. As institutions of higher education, we must be conscious of the circulation of power, and the power of privilege at work in our relationships. There can be no excellence without inclusion of diverse peoples. Without active inclusion, there can  be only exclusion; whether de jure or de facto, the results are the same. We all have a lot of work to do before we are able to move from our settler-colonial-based strivings for the “exclusive” and “elite” to a mindset where we can all become the best versions of ourselves alongside each other.

In my work I try to emphasize the institution flexing to include the people, rather than the way we usually do it, to get the individual to change to accommodate the demands of the institution. Schooling in the US nation-state has always been, and continues to be, a tool of oppression, with its rules and expectations set up to have students from all backgrounds comply with white American norms and values.  In early childhood education, this might look like “kindergarten readiness.” There is some focus on “academics” such as beginning letter sounds, but even more on behavioral readiness – in order to succeed in Kindergarten, you need to be able to sit still, line up, don’t talk until you’re called on, etc. In K-12 behavior is enforced with Skinnerian-type charts, token economies, and competition. In higher education there is over-emphasis on job skills, as evidenced by the perennial question: “What are you going to do with a degree in ____?” Rather than inculcating students in materialism, capitalism, and competition for limited resources (whether praise, tokens, or entry-level accounting jobs), real equity and inclusion would be a process of growth, change, and even liberation.  Rather than being taught to obey, students would be taught to question and to lead, how to work together with others and accomplish shared goals.  Here is the democratic possibility of public education, one which our institutions of schooling have never really delivered upon.

Centering Students

Students must be active participants in their learning. As young adults, undergraduates (and many graduate students also) must learn through experience what their roles as leaders and changemakers will be.  Rather than a “career readiness” model, most students benefit from a learning context that allows them to explore, and grow in community with each other and the world.  As ethical teachers and education leaders we must honor students’ voices, attend carefully to their wants and needs, and engage with them in helpful and always respectful ways. As we do this we are also showing them how to be better teachers and community members.

The work of centering students’ learning and their other needs looks different in the classroom, in the faculty meeting, at the state legislature hearings, and in the streets. My work includes not only academic writing, but letters to the local and state school boards, protests at the DOE in Washington and at the Supreme Court; it includes advocating for individual students when necessary, and advocating for changes in the schooling system that will benefit all learners. My work with students, whatever their ages, means making room for quiet voices to be heard, and also creating the space where dominant voices can become still enough to listen, and to reflect upon their own words.  

Decolonizing Community Engagement and Relationships

University-Community relationships are sometimes disparagingly called “town gown,” a term which signifies a traditional and expected tension between students and faculty and their neighbors. Most institutions of higher education on Turtle Island have room to significantly increase their efforts toward positive change in this area. A decolonial approach to working together is necessary if we are to move forward together, especially as predominantly white institutions among cities with large numbers of people of color, and situated on lands stolen from the Indigenous inhabitants.

Although I hope to work in an institution of higher education, I need to be able to engage in community as well. Part of the reason for the concept of the “Ivory Tower” as separate and unreachable from its home city or town is the way researchers have conducted themselves – as “helicopter researchers” doing “research on” Indigenous peoples and extracting a wealth of knowledge to their own benefit – sometimes as “experts” who seem to talk over everyone’s heads and fail to be helpful – sometimes simply as rude neighbors. Part of my project is to overcome the suspicion that many folks have (and rightly so) about university faculty. Whether I am working in solidarity with my neighbors of color, folks who are marginalized based on language or immigration status, or youth whose voices are mostly ignored, building trust and being accountable is a key piece of any research or community support that I and/or my students offer.

Choosing Kindness; Demanding Justice

I am committed to building a more peaceful and just world through academic insights (both theoretical and empirical) woven together with culturally responsive research, community-based participation, and collective action to address challenges faced by humanity. As institutions of higher education, we have a responsibility to use our resources to understand the roles of societal forces and individual work in achieving social justice for all. We must be showing our students how to be responsible citizens and activists as well as compassionate and charitable individuals.

Of course we must be kind and have a generous spirit, and be respectful of elders and gentle with children. But if we stop there we fall short of our potential to make deep and sustainable positive progress in our society. I ask my students to think about working in solidarity with folks who are different from themselves, rather than approach their work (whatever it may be) as charity. As a teacher I ask future teachers to understand the system in which we are working, to fearlessly look at the inequities and injustices it creates and perpetuates. Through history, sociology, ethnic studies, critical race theory, and Indigenous theory and action, they come to a different awareness of the pervasiveness of injustice.  Part of their work is to get involved in some way in an action that is NOT volunteering – attend a meeting, work on a campaign, do some social media or writing for a local organization. Be a teacher, and a citizen… be an activist!

Intellectual Growth, Challenge, and Risk-Taking 

The culture and the structures of higher education are not often conducive to fearless inquiry and the radical growth to which it can lead. “Rigor” should not mean that it is hard to get an “A.” We must think of a rigorous education as one that personally challenges all students and teachers; that intentionally engages each member of the education community, and the surrounding city, as both wisdom-holders and as wisdom-seekers. 

As I wrote in my teaching philosophy, I expect a lot from my students – but one thing I do not expect is that they parrot what they think I want to hear.  They have been immersed in what Paolo Freire called the “banking model” of education from K-12. I insist that they try a new way (which is sometimes frightening for them, but ultimately liberating).