We Want to Do More Than Survive Abolitionist Teaching & the Pursuit of Educational Freedom

Educator Bettina Love argues that the U.S educational system is maintained by and profits from the suffering of children of color. Reformers offer survival tactics in the forms of test-taking skills, acronyms, grit labs, and character education which she calls the Education Survival Complex. To dismantle the educational survival complex and to achieve educational freedom--not reform--educators, parents, and community leaders must approach education through the imagination, determination, boldness and urgency of an abolitionist. Drawing on her experiences as a student and teacher, Love highlights young community leaders, artists and activists who are advocating for social change and inclusion. She 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 concludes by showing how young leaders are expanding our ideas of civic engagement and intersectional justice by using the playbook of abolitionists like Ella Barker, Bayard Rustin, and Fannie Lou Hamer.

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.