Looking Back to Move Forward: Education in the New Decade
2020 is here. I join the excitement along with so many of you who have hopes and a refreshed outlook for what the new year can bring but also to what the new decade might mean in our important work in education.
I moved to the USA in 2001. This year, I’ll be celebrating 19 years of living in the USA. As an immigrant, I have many stories to tell but today I want to share with you a couple of insights from the last decade that has become the solid ground onto which I’m walking into this new decade.
As I write this, I just came back from Paraguay (where my parents are from) and from spending the holiday season in the heart of South America. While I’m home, there are some of the things I’m reminded that I can do with ease:
saying my last name aloud without spelling it out (like I do when I’m in the USA)
everyone can pronounce my last name
I don’t really stand out because I’m amidst Latinos (although I don’t really sound like Paraguayans, my accent is different).
Even though I’m still very careful about being pickpocketed in public transportation, I don’t fear about my race or ethnicity. I can speak in Spanish freely without worrying if this would be problematic.
I can drink “mate” (a tea that is traditional in Paraguay and Argentina) without getting noticed.
When I travel to South America, I’m reminded of my roots, my traditions, my beginnings. I know that as an immigrant, I’m very blessed to be able to do this trip as not everyone is privilege as I am.
When I’m in the USA, I recognize that I’m privilege in many ways. I can speak, read, listen and write English fluently. I have access to a lot of opportunities because I was a legal resident and now I’m a USA citizen. I can move freely. I drive and I have a driver’s license. I’m a world traveler and every traveling experience gives me knowledge and culture. I have a strong educational background with two college degrees. I have experience working in four different public school districts. I lead a lot of work for the growth of the Latino community in the city I live. However, I still look Latina, sound Latina and my accent will give me away letting people know that : “I’m not from here”. It doesn’t matter how many books I read, how much knowledge and understanding I might have about certain topics, I’m still fighting for a seat at the table. I’m still bringing a folding chair because my opinion might only count in certain opportunities but not for others. After working in the same workplace for years, people still can’t or won’t even try to say my last name correctly.
Why am I sharing this with you? Here’s my point. If I am still fighting to be “seen”, to be acknowledged and I carry these many privileges with me, can you imagine what are some of our English learners are going through that may not have access YET to the full command of the English language? How many of our students’ names are still being mispronounced? How many of our students are struggling to be noticed by their teachers? To be seen as resourceful human beings? How many of them want you to look at them and say, “kid, I see you and I can’t wait to get to know you better.” How many of them are not even in the peripheral vision of the work and decisions we make in schools?
When I go to different classrooms because I’m invited to speak, most of the time teachers introduce me as their “teacher friend” but they don’t say my last name aloud. When I’m invited to speak at a community meeting and I’m being introduced, my “job title”, what I do daily in schools still gets confused. When I use my voice to explain things aloud, to bring another perspective, to explain how a particular situation is not equitable work, I get either justification, or simply uninvited to the next conversation.
All of these are my personal experiences but I’m not writing these down so that people feel sorry for me. That is not the feeling I am hoping to elicit from you. What I hope this blog post does is to start the long journey of self-reflection when it comes to the work we ALL need to do for ALL OF OUR students in the new decade. America has a long history of racism, discrimination, sexism, ableism, classism, and many other systems of oppressions that occur in our schools. We are ALL responsible for this work.
My wish, as we start in a new decade, is that every person who has a role in the educational system in the USA becomes knowledgeable, invested and committed to start writing a different reality for our children. As educators, we must understand why we are here, what got us here, and what is the work that we need to do if we are to truly create equitable classrooms where ALL of our students succeed. There are NO experts in this topic. We are ALL learners. But to do this work of understanding and embracing ALL that our students ARE and BRING to school, we need to start with ourselves. No more blaming the children. The work begins with us. I started this work in the last decade and I’ll continue this work on the new decade.
I’m making it my responsibility to SEEK resources, conversations, opportunities, classes, discussions that involve race, equity, inclusion, culturally sustaining pedagogy, multilingual education, and social justice work in education. I’m making it my responsibility to talk to administrators and educational leaders about where we are in this work, and we might need to do to start this work. I commit to continue to show up even when it gets uncomfortable (this work is not easy), or when I get pushed to the side (oh it will happen. over and over), or when it gets frustrating ( there will be tears. guaranteed).
My 2020 vision: the children. Why else would anybody do this work for? They deserve our self reflection, our learning, our efforts, our trial and errors, our consistency and determination to create spaces where ALL of our children are loved by who they are and appreciated for their past experiences. They deserve teachers that say, “We’ll take it from here kid. We got you.”
Here’s to a new decade in education. I believe.
In the next post, I’ll share a couple of books I read in the last decade and the ones that I’m planning to read in 2020. Here’s to learning and growing alongside our children and youth!
