Dear White Colleagues, Youth of Color Need Our Attention Now
by Zach Wilson, Educational Services Director
At School’s Out Washington, we are regularly engaged in rich dialogue about the services youth receive in and out of school. I appreciate that I am surrounded by trusted friends and colleagues that help me see outside my own perspective. This blog is in response to some recent conversations we’ve been having around education reform and the impacts on youth of color.
| We are in the midst of an education crisis with multiple perspectives on reform efforts. With a clear need to rethink the education system, we must not lose sight of the needs of youth of color right now. It is difficult to balance the re-creation of a system and the immediate needs of youth, especially with the current definitions of “success” focused on a narrow set of outcomes. How can we ensure that youth of color, facing longstanding inequities and unjust disparities within the system, have a clear path of hope? Educational attainment beyond high school is critical and the thought of revolution and rethinking the whole shebang definitely resonate with me. I also wholeheartedly believe that increased pressure on standardized testing is not the long term solution to our education crisis. | When rethinking the education system, we must not lose sight of the needs of youth of color right now. |
It’s important to note that as a white person I have occasionally gotten lost in thinking about big ideas that sound great, while losing sight of immediate needs. When I look at undoing and reestablishing the system, I can easily fall into a biased thought process without even knowing it. I admire leaders who contend with a keen urgency to make reform efforts happen and who encourage youth of color finding support now.
As is blatantly clear, youth of color continue to face a very difficult journey to success as we currently know it. Time is a huge hindrance to reform efforts – consider the amount of time it takes to get buy-in from our country as a whole or find consensus within our government. I do not have the answer to this barrier of change.
The purpose of this blog, however, is to encourage white leaders focused on reform efforts to truly listen to the perspectives of leaders of color. I also hope to encourage critical conversations about how we reshape our country’s education system. One thing we can continue to do now is strengthen partnerships between school and community leaders providing the broad set of supports youth need in and out of school. Let’s continue to push back on what isn’t working within the system, but more importantly let’s not lose sight of the current realities facing our young people.
Zach leads the annual Bridge Conference. In 2011, Bridge strongly focused on racial equity. Read more about School's Out's work in racial equity.
Thanks for highlighting that white folks need to step up by stepping back and allowing people of color to be heard in these very critical conversations.
