Social Justice Archives

Living Algebra, Living Wage

Eighth graders finally get what they ask for: an algebra lesson for the real world.”

Do Ask, Do Tell

Two Chicago educators question the premier teacher education accrediting agency’s removal of social justice and sexual orientation language from its standards.

Shaking Foundations

Virginia professors take on the state’s attempt to eliminate Social Foundations of Education” from required course work.”

Money, Schools, and Justice

School funding systems mirror—and reproduce—the inequality we see all around us.

Still Rethinking Our Classrooms

Rethinking Schools rolls out an updated and expanded version of our bestselling guide to teaching for social justice.

Reconstructing Race

“Is Mr. Smith a White Guy?” I then changed the topic, volunteering to be a contemporary example. “OK, so the next question is: Is Mr. Smith a white man? Yes […]

Rethinking Agatha Christie

The strange and offensive history of Ten Little Indians” (Hint: They weren’t always called “Indians.”)

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Students Galvanize for Immigrant Rights

Viviana, who had only lived in the United States for two years, walked nervously to the speaker’s podium at a press conference on the steps of her high school. Although […]

Rhetoric or Reality?

Do small schools change teaching practice?

When Small Is Beautiful

The principal of Brooklyn’s El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice shows how art can connect students with their communities.

Not in Our Name

Reclaiming the democratic vision of small school reform.

Integrals and Equity

An AP calculus class at a prestigious boarding school doesn’t seem a likely venue for student reflection on privilege and wealth. But when I taught a group of academically inclined […]

The Recruitment Minefield

Emiliano Santiago. Not many of our students know his name. But they should. Santiago joined the Oregon Army National Guard on June 28, 1996, shortly after his high school graduation […]

Exploring Our Urban Wilderness

My students’ home terrain consists — at least on the surface — of houses, streets, schools, and stores. Like many urban kids, the bit of unpaved, unfenced nature my second […]

See You When We Get There

Profiling an African American teacher on Chicago’s south side.

Beyond Pink and Blue

A unit on gender stereotypes inspires students to take action.

“The Laptops Are Coming! The Laptops Are Coming!”

Things to think about before the laptops arrive in your classroom.

Rethinking Our Classrooms Among Race and Education Books Censored at Illinois Prison

In late January, authorities at the Danville Correctional Center in east-central Illinois removed more than 200 titles from the prison’s library. One of the books that was confiscated was the Rethinking Schools book Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice, first published in 1994 and edited by Bill Bigelow, Linda Christensen, Stan Karp, Barbara Miner, and Bob Peterson.