book review- Equity 101: the framework by Curtis Linton

I am writing this book review after reading the first three chapters, which I feel has given me enough information to thoroughly understand Linton’s message. I believe that this book is helpful- it defines what equity truly means and serves as a resource to understand and be conscious of privilege. This is a good book to start off reading, especially for the typical educator, whom is white, suburban and has little to no experience interacting with anyone who is not white. There is one major problem of this book- Linton is constantly arguing that black students can achieve. This is problematic. As a high achieving black college student, I know that black students can achieve. But why do people think otherwise? I recently listened to Malcom Gladwell’s Revisionist History: Miss Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment and one of the thing Gladwell talks about is this idea that black students cannot achieve. Glad well argues that the decision of Brown vs the Board of Education was that segregated school were wrong because they left black schools (and indirectly the students that attended them) were inferior. The court went on to say that educating black students separately caused retard the educational and mental develop of black students. This ruling was not what the families wanted- they simply wanted the ability to send their children to whatever school they wanted. But this principle is based off of a popular ideology. This ideology comes from slavery and the idea that blacks were inferior therefore selling them was acceptable. In my opinion, this is why Linton arguing that black students can achieve is problematic. But I do believe that this book is a good introduction to the issue. I just think that Gladwell did a better job explaining the issue. Black students are just as capable as white students. The lack of: opportunities, teachers who think the students are capable of achieving and resources leaves black students behind. But what I liked was that Gladwell mentioned a solution to the problem indirectly- black teachers. After schools were integrated almost half of the black teacher population was fired, which left black students at a disadvantage. As a graduate of a black school system I can confidently say the experience shaped me as a whole, made me proud of who I am and nurtured my mind and soul. I had strong black women as role models, in my family and in my schools. This shaped me. Gladwell discusses how having one black teacher between third and fifth grade decreases the drop out rate for black males by 39%. Black teachers are important and positively affect black children. So after listening to this podcast and reading some of Linton’s book I can confidently say that: 1. I am so proud to be a black teacher 2. white teachers need to work diligently to educate themselves on issues they are not aware of. Teachers need to love what they do and be willing to really help their students. But the first thing is removing the biases and searching for them (often they are subconscious biases). My message to white teachers is to please educate yourselves- we need you to understand yourself, our community and be open. What you were taught about us is only part of the picture and if you open your mind and heart, you will be able to see the whole picture.