Download PDF We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books

Download PDF We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books



Download As PDF : We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books

Download PDF We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books

Drawing on personal stories, research, and historical events, an esteemed educator offers a vision of educational justice inspired by the rebellious spirit and methods of abolitionists.

Drawing on her life’s work of teaching and researching in urban schools, Bettina Love persuasively argues that educators must teach students about racial violence, oppression, and how to make sustainable change in their communities through radical civic initiatives and movements. She argues that the US educational system is maintained by and profits from the suffering of children of color. Instead of trying to repair a flawed system, educational reformers offer survival tactics in the forms of test-taking skills, acronyms, grit labs, and character education, which Love calls the educational survival complex.

To dismantle the educational survival complex and to achieve educational freedom—not merely reform—teachers, parents, and community leaders must approach education with the imagination, determination, boldness, and urgency of an abolitionist. Following in the tradition of activists like Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, and Fannie Lou Hamer, We Want to Do More Than Survive introduces an alternative to traditional modes of educational reform and expands our ideas of civic engagement and intersectional justice.

Download PDF We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books


"An indictment of the American education establishment, especially as it relates to the classrooms inhabited by "dark" bodies: the author favors the "dark" term as one that includes a wide variety of people who suffer from a history of injustice and oppression. She casts a critical eye on a number of gimmicks that are popular these days: the KIPP school movement, or the idea of teaching "grit" (this was a new one on me, but that particular gimmick certainly sets off my BS detector!). Education nowadays is largely based on perpetuating a culture based on White rage. Instead of gimmickry, she advocates the radical mindset which was typical of the abolitionists of the 19th century: hence the subtitle "Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom." As she says, rather than simply being allies, right-thinking people need to be co-conspirators, willing to put their bodies on the line to overturn the system. A book that won't provide much comfort to any people on any side, but which may get them thinking."

Product details

  • Hardcover 200 pages
  • Publisher Beacon Press (February 19, 2019)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10 0807069159

Read We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books

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We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books Reviews :


We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom Bettina Love Books Reviews


  • This book is a must-read for every educator. It is completely transformative; and most importantly it's a call to action. Not in the gimmicky way that so many initiatives get pushed forward in districts, but in a real, down to earth way that begs and pleads educators to be human. Take a good hard look at yourself, your practices, your beliefs, your understandings, your own implicit bias. Look at your students as the beautiful, strong humans they are and the beautiful, strong, empowered humans they could be when given the tools to reach their potential. It's not about any kind of fix, or initiative, or data survey or test score. It's about humans helping humans.The only way to do that is to ask those same questions of your students. Not in a hypothetical sense where you make up the answers based on the visible, but really talk to your students. Dive deep into who they are and who they want to become. Then consider the power you have to raise them up!
  • This should be required reading for anyone remotely involved with the education of children. Dr. Love inspires the heart while challenging the way one thinks. She defines black joy in a way that makes you smile and concurrently ache...and she unapologetically challenges systems that actively work to break that joy. She affirms those doing the work and calls out those who simply aren’t doing enough. Simply put, the book changes you. If I could give it a million stars, I would.
  • Dr. Love ha written a piece that EVERY EDUCATOR MUST read! Dr. Love shifts the paradigm of educational pedagogy by arguing that education is not enpugh nor the answer to creating transformational change. We need to create a world where black and brown youth are truly seen, celebrated, and provided with the utmost love and respect to thrive. This piece is amazing and a must read! As a high school educational leader and a higher ed professor, I will be using this text to engage existing and pre-professional educators in necessary reflection and the re-envisioning of education for liberation.
  • This book is outstanding! As someone invested in education, it was a illuminating and healing. Thank you Dr. Love for writing this book! Every educator must read it.
  • Amazing and empowering. A must read for all educators.
  • Bettina Love addresses what is needed for people of color in the United States to thrive rather than merely survive. She passionately argues for the need to create new systems and structures for educational, political, economic, and community freedom. While Love as an educator focuses the book primarily on the educational system, she also addresses the challenges that must be confronted in the wider American culture. She recognizes the intersectionality of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationalism, and dis/ability. Love advocates for abolitionist teaching, which is working in solidarity with communities of color to eradicate injustice in and outside of schools. Love defines what abolitionist teaching is and what it must accomplish, but this is not a how-to book providing a specific process for implementation. The strength of the book is to get readers to recognize that those on the margins of society are excluded because of systemic barriers. Educational reforms will be ineffective unless they address the root causes of injustice. Educators are not the only ones who should read this book. Every American concerned about the future of our nation can learn much from reading this volume.
  • An indictment of the American education establishment, especially as it relates to the classrooms inhabited by "dark" bodies the author favors the "dark" term as one that includes a wide variety of people who suffer from a history of injustice and oppression. She casts a critical eye on a number of gimmicks that are popular these days the KIPP school movement, or the idea of teaching "grit" (this was a new one on me, but that particular gimmick certainly sets off my BS detector!). Education nowadays is largely based on perpetuating a culture based on White rage. Instead of gimmickry, she advocates the radical mindset which was typical of the abolitionists of the 19th century hence the subtitle "Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom." As she says, rather than simply being allies, right-thinking people need to be co-conspirators, willing to put their bodies on the line to overturn the system. A book that won't provide much comfort to any people on any side, but which may get them thinking.

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