"the revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people..." - Gil Scott-Heron

Rhonda Thomason wrote a great piece in the new Teaching Tolerance mag, and I'm excerpting some here. But you can, and should, read the whole thing. I wish for all of us who are involved in growing children to keep our hearts open with imagination.



I want a revolution of hope....

Imagine such a revolution.

Imagine an educational system in which educators invoke standards of compassion, empathy, action and reason as they question the deep regularities that suppress achievement.

Imagine the power of educators valuing dissent and affirming what students can achieve rather than magnifying what they can't.

Imagine educators giving ourselves permission to be vulnerable learners acknowledging that our judgment might be biased. Imagine us inviting troubling, courageous conversations that have the power to move us beyond our confidence and challenge our own assumptions and biases.

Imagine listening deeply to parents and students willing to help us get to know the "inside" of their experiences. Imagine unveiling ingrained stereotypes in order to create communities of belonging, abundance and trust.

Imagine competent educators who deserve and command autonomy and respect — and then use it to create classrooms of equality and sharing where all students find their cultures reflected in the stories teachers tell, the languages they speak, and the facts textbooks reveal.