Too many White parents don’t understand the true purpose of public schools

Public education is the linchpin of democracy

Perspective by Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz

In March, students from Lincoln Park High School in Newark, part of the North Star Academy charter network, walked out of school to protest the “frequent mistreatment of Black students and faculty.” They peacefully marched to City Hall, and when they returned to school, they found themselves locked out of the building. School officials told some student organizers that they couldn’t return in the coming days, either, and would have to study remotely.

School districts and states across the country, enabled by big dollars from far-right political organizations, have moved to make teaching about racism illegal.

While these stories are dominating headlines in 2022, the tactics on display are nothing new. Children of color and the families and communities that support and advocate for them have faced efforts to literally and figuratively lock them out of the nation’s schools for more than a century. In their fight for access to the same education White children receive, children of color and the adults who rally behind them have been the staunchest protectors of public education, defending a system that not only benefits Americans of all races, but our democracy itself. Read the full piece at the Washington Post.