We welcome back Dr. Anthony Johnston to speak about his new book, "Introduction to Secondary Teaching: Blending Wisdom, Research, and Social Justice.” Dr. Johnston explores teacher wisdom of practice, social justice pedagogy, evidence-based practices, and adolescent brain research. He identifies the foundation of all classroom teaching as teacher identity, teacher presence, teacher passion, and teacher stance.

We share brief presentations from the third of the “Saturday Salons” that Ethical Schools is sponsoring with three international partners. Kerry Kirk Pflugh is the executive director of the New Jersey School of Conservation. She also comes with extensive background experience at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Tom Roderick is the author most recently of Teach for Climate Justice: A Vision for Transforming Education. He was also the Founding Executive Director of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. Deb L. Morrison is a Learning Designer and Advisor at the University of Washington and a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report 7. They talk about how educators can respond to the urgent environmental crises we face. Learn more and join at globalconversations.net

We welcome back Dr. Ujju Aggarwal, assistant professor at The New School, to speak about her book, Unsettling Choice: Race, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education. In Unsettling Choice, Dr. Aggarwal focuses on the intersection of public education and gentrification. The book is based on her work with mothers at a Head Start center in NYC. We discuss the race and class discrimination the parents faced and whether exclusion is inherent in school choice programs.

Overview

00:00-00:56 Intros

00:56-07:13 Working with Head Start mothers in Manhattan’s Community School District 3

07:13-09:15 Connection between school choice and austerity

09:15-19:17 Issues mothers faced in choosing schools for their children and their experiences

19:17-24:06 The “post-Brown realignment” following the Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decisions

24:06-25:30 Parents as “consumers” rather than as “citizens”

25:30-28:01 Can school choice exist without exclusion

28:01-29:03 NYC Schools Chancellor Samuels and citywide integration

29:03-32:21 Radical municipalism

32:21- Outro

Transcript

Click here to listen to see the full transcript of this episode.

References

• Book "Unsettling Choice: Race, Rights, and the Partitioning of Public Education" by Dr. Ujju Aggarwal
• Listen to our first interview "Ujju Aggarwal on school choice, whiteness as property, and the “right to exclude” published in 2019

Soundtrack by Poddington Bear