In the neverending right-wing-led campaigns against social progress, public schools are frequently targeted. And there’s a reason: while battered and underfunded, these institutions are still symbolic of the actualization that we are more than just individual agents or even the sum of our parts; that differences needn’t divide; that a fairer, kinder future for all of us, starting with our kids, is always worth committing to, investing in and being collectively responsible for.
Compassion. Collaboration. Respect. Empathy. Responsibility. To some, these principles are, apparently, terrifying.
And that fear is the tide that public education advocates and progressives continue to hold off, while fighting for a more just and a fairer world for all of us. Even for those who actively undermine the idea that we can do better for each other.
As I write, 2023 is winding down. But the work continues. All my thanks to the authors who gave so much of their time, expertise, and passion for public education in this issue of Our Schools / Our Selves.