LEARNING TO RELEARN

Author, advocate, and educator Sarfo-Mensah uses scholarship in sociology, race and ethnic studies, and pedagogy to challenge the ways in which schools are failing nonwhite students.

For generations, systemic racism has been an underlying social arbiter in American classrooms. Per the author, despite progress in the realms of equity and social justice (including school integration and civil rights), modern schools still fail to support an increasingly diverse student body. To complicate matters, Sarfo-Mensah writes, a contemporary trend in criticizing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, saber-rattling over the use of critical race theory in school curricula, and the proliferation of book-banning has made educational reform near impossible. For the author, a Black male educator and product of the American school system, this is a deeply personal issue. He points to the insidious issue of white supremacy as the root of a myriad of pedagogical failures, such as the prevalence of Black students (like him) getting enrolled in special education classes despite their achievements (“the principal insisted that I be placed in a special education class because I came from Africa”), the erasure of Indigenous experience and voices in education, and the well-meaning intentions of white educators positioning themselves as educational “saviors” of nonwhite students. Sarfo-Mensah offers not just a semester’s worth of scholarly work in race and ethnic studies (condensed and comprehensive for educators of all levels); he also provides resources and strategies to extend readers’ experiences and take concrete steps toward becoming “co-conspirators.” QR codes direct readers to specific articles and multimedia resources that address issues discussed in the text; reflection questions at the end of each chapter create meaningful learning opportunities. The author’s commitment to sharing information and resources knocks down the proverbial ivory tower of academia to make this scholarly work accessible to readers not affiliated with a university.

A vital resource—this text confronts systemic racism in schools and offers strategies for equity and justice.