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Poster Board - Family, Community, School

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Victor Rios: Help for Kids the Education System Ignores

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Victor Rios: Help for Kids the Education System Ignores

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Victor Rios: Help for kids the education system ignores

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Define students by what they contribute, not what they lack -- especially those with difficult upbringings, says educator Victor Rios. Interweaved with his personal tale of perseverance as an inner-city youth, Rios identifies three straightforward strategies to shift attitudes in education and calls for fellow educators to see "at-risk" students as "at-promise" individuals brimming with resilience, character and grit.

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Social justice is often critiqued and challenged for its vague definition and unclear plan of action. For this reason, it is necessary for educational leaders to define for themselves what social justice is, and thus enable themselves to take action to create a more just educational setting for all students. Social justice educators must be given the tools to recognize and acknowledge structural inequalities in the education system that disproportionately impact students based on their identity. Both teachers and administrators must be able to listen and learn from the experiences of those who are different than them, and in doing so, reflect not only on their own identity, but also that of their students. Administrators must make diversity and equity training for their staff a priority, and ensure that staff members are made up of and able to serve individuals from diverse backgrounds, such as at Gibbs High School: “all decisions about hiring, teacher placement, and professional development are centered on how to best build the capacity of all Gibb’s teachers to work with a diverse range of learners” (Capper, Rodriguez, & McKinney, 2010, p. 185.) In order to carry out social justice, educators must recognize that we all have unchecked biases and this can impact the way we teach and the way our students learn. On the first day of class, every teacher (no matter the amount of diversity training they have undergone) will look around the room and form opinions about the students without having even talked to them. Social justice educators must be able to recognize this inherent bias and challenge it on a daily basis.

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However, the classroom is not the only place where students learn. There is endless opportunity for educators to act on social justice outside the classroom as well, especially for school administrators. School administrators such as principals and superintendents often serve as a liaison between a school district and the community. School administrators must demonstrate inclusive leadership; holding events and discussions with community members and parents shows the community that it, too, is important in the ongoing conversation about school policy. This is especially important in areas where parents and community members may be English learners, or did not have a positive experience with schooling themselves (Horsford & Clark, 2015). This can also positively affect students: “...a student’s educational performance may be significantly increased by his or her parents’ civic involvement because of how this involvement is perceived to improve, and/or actually improves, the family’s overall quality of life” (Horsford & Clark, p. 75). Along with providing opportunities for community involvement, social justice administrators and teachers must also practice what they preach when it comes to issues of diversity and inclusion. This means challenging the status quo and striving to transform, not manage, the school system. This means listening when students express concerns about social justice issues, and challenging those who seek to maintain the status quo. As educators, we must constantly step back and look at the school structure and tracking process and ask ourselves: “Is this system truly equitable?” Chances are, it is not. Although transforming the education system cannot be achieved overnight, true social justice leaders do not use this as an excuse for inaction; they choose to work hard each and every day so that students everywhere have a place in our system.

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Having acknowledged that the identities of teachers, administrators, and students can and do impact how education is carried out and how students learn, social justice leaders must be willing to act upon it in the classroom. Simply being able to recognize injustice and social inequalities is the first step in creating a more just education system, but it is not sufficient. In acknowledging that not every student learns the same way, educational leaders must structure our classes so that every student is important and relevant to the conversation. As Victor Rios (2015) states, “If you teach to the heart, the mind will follow.” As much of the material taught our classrooms is Eurocentric and middle class in nature, many students are unable, or unwilling, to connect with the material. Educators must respect their students and the communities from which they come, and teach the material in such a way that is accessible to the student and does not force them to choose between their identity and academic success (Kohl, 1995). Another critical idea within this social justice framework is the difference between a student’s ability to learn and a student’s willingness to learn. According the Kohl (1995), many students who seem unable to learn are, in fact, refusing to learn. It is our responsibility as social justice educators to connect with our students on a deeper level and critique our own practices in the classroom. An exercise of good practice may be to review activities, class materials, and discussion questions and ask ourselves some basic questions: “Will this benefit my students? Will this hurt my students? How can each student add to this topic?”. In order to create an inclusive classroom environment, teachers must demonstrate that all students have value, and as such, be able to succeed in school while maintaining their identity and integrity.

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Capper, C.A., Rodriguez, M.A., & McKinney, S.A. (2010). Leading Beyond disability: Integrated, socially just schools and districts. In C. Marshall & M. Oliva (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (pp. 175-193). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Horsford, S. D. & Clark, C. (2015). Inclusive leadership and race. In G. Theoharis & M. Scanlan (Eds.), Leadership for increasingly diverse Schools (59-81). New York, NY: Routledge.

Kohl, H. (1995). I Won't Learn From You: And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment. New York City, NY: The New Press.

Rios, V. (2015, November). Victor Rios: Help for kids the education system ignores [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/victor_rios_help_for_kids_the_education_system_ignores