Recently I had the privilege of listening to Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade.
What’s his story? He is an Associate Professor of Raza Studies and Education
Administration and Interdisciplinary Studies at SFSU. Dr. Duncan-Andrade
is in frequent demand on the lecture circuit as he speaks bluntly, passionately
and unconventionally about serving poor and working-class children. He also
founded a school, K-8 Roses in
Concrete Community School, located in Oakland, CA named after late rapper, Tupac Shakur. He sees his students as the flowers in
Shakur's poem "A Rose That Grows in Concrete", students who live traumatic
experiences every day in a hyperbolic "concrete", a stark environment
devoid of nutrients, yet they grow into beautiful roses but oftentimes with
damaged petals.
His message was multi-layered and rebellious at times. Some of
it I heard before. For instance, he
talked about how first and foremost, in order for students to self-actualize,
their basic physical and emotional needs to be met, followed by love,
encouragement and awareness of self-worth. I knew this already. But Dr. Duncan-Andrade also presented topics
that were deeply provocative. For
example, he talked about the idea that school shouldn't be about common core
and test scores. He is convinced that we
are missing the boat in how and what we are teaching our kids. He believes that
textbook publishers are lying to our students, that our nation continues to
cover up the genocides it has committed, and most of all, although he didn't
say it outright, that the current state of education perpetuates "white
privilege".
The synapses in my brain couldn't digest fast enough all of
the data mixed in with the profanity that this renegade professor threw at us. It was a lot to process. The more I listened ,
the more I contemplated what it meant to educate, to connect with, to guide our
kids to bettering themselves and their communities. Dr. Duncan-Andrade left us
with a challenge to re-think what we're teaching and most of all inspire HOPE
in our students as we do this hard work. The talk today was a timely ending to a week
full of heavy discussion.
You see on that past Monday, I listened to our Superintendent, Dr.
Janney, spell out targets for this year at our annual Management Academy. Key concepts
that will live at our schools will be: quality instruction, equity, policy
coherence, and a commitment to putting students first, basically the LCAP goals.
Then on Wednesday and Thursday of that week, I was at Dr. Illingworth's two-day Assistant
Principal Mentor training. Our group
discussion about how we apply the coaching lens of equity to view situations
had me questioning just how equipped (or ill-equipped) we are as educators in
our “cultural competence” regarding the
students we serve. How well do we know
our students' stories? To what extent do we relate our curriculum to our students’ culture, traditions,
practices and customs? How do we develop their understanding of
self-worth? These discussions all made
me journey back to my own experience as a student of color in this very same
district. Throughout grades 7 - 12, I didn't see the story of my ancestors anywhere in books or lessons at the schools I
attended and sadly, no one ever asked.
As I reflect on that week's events, I am thankful that the
story of the students who look like me has appeared via the faces of the
Filipino teachers, counselors, and administrators, through the Filipino
language classes in our district and through the activities that are planned
for the community by our group of dedicated SUHSD educators. (Shout out to Magkaisa
and Karangalan committee members!) But we still have a ways to go. Still, I am grateful that we have a
Superintendent who has the foresight to create a position in our district that
will center on Equity, Culture, and Support Services. I am excited to see where
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Joe Fulcher will bring us and look forward
to witnessing the results of well-intentioned, well-planned actions. We are on the cusp of these important,
critical conversations. I am starting this 16-17 school year with a renewed
sense of HOPE and a commitment to acknowledge and integrate our students' stories. I HOPE it starts a movement.
