Enthusiastic Reader’s Reviews > Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools > Status Update

p 194 - "Historian Manning Marable wrote, 'Freedom is first and foremost a public understanding among the members of a society to protect and defend any opinions that are unpopular or at odds with opinions held by those who actually exercise power and privilege.'"

p 192 - "Our goal is to develop schools that girls don't describe as 'jails' or 'prisons.' This terminology has become so ingrained in their consciousness and experiences that it can be difficult for them to consider what a school that is not governed by discipline looks and feels like."

p 191 - "Girls also suggested that the instructors for these courses should possess knowledge of 'street' culture and be willing to share information about how to overcome the common obstacles (poverty, parental drug addiction, etc.) that they have found overwhelming in their own lives." However, a previous felony conviction may prevent candidates from obtaining a teaching license.

p 189, continued - Stripping Black girls of the ability to ask questions and process information through dialogue is culturally incompetent and antithetical to their development as critical thinkers."

p 189 - "Thee girls want to talk, and they need a learning culture that encourages them to talk as part of building community in the classroom or school. They must be allowed to ask questions, to respectfully offer their opinion (even if it differs from the instructor's opinion), and to learn through an extended epistemology that honors their multiple ways of knowing and learning. (continued)

p 186 - "Treating a girl's ideas or 'smart mouth' as violent when they are reflective of her critical thinking is outside the parameters of being trauma-informed."

p 186 - "Ultimately the vandalism of school property or a school-based altercation must be seen as an opportunity to understand and respond to the conditions that underlie this plea for help, rather than just an act worthy of suspension or expulsion."

p 184 - "The protocol should be explicit and clearly define the actions that warrant removal from the classroom, such as fighting or threatening another student or the teacher with physical harm. The category of "willful defiance" should be eliminated by state and local governing bodies, such that schools are required to exhaust all other remedies before removing a child from school for failing to follow the rules."

p 181 - "The crisis of criminalization in schools is an opportunity to focus on the policies, systems, and institutions – in other words, the structures – that place women and girls at risk of exploitation in private and public domains."

p 178 - "In our haste to teach children social rules, we sometimes fail to examine whether these rules are rooted in oppression – racial, patriarchal, or any other form." It's important to note that we should push back against these unjust oppressions, but that in addition, we do need to acknowledge that we need to support students as they move through an unjust world.