Politically Speaking: Carceral Practice in the Classroom

Speak only when spoken to or when the teacher acknowledges your raised hand. Ask to use the bathroom–except during a test. Follow instructions and limit your questions–unless you want to be labeled a “problem.”

These are some of the lessons millions of students learn in public and private school institutions where behavior is prized over meaningful learning. The outcome is that many students feel imprisoned in their classrooms. Yet classroom practices mirror the controlled social engagement found in our nation’s carceral system in more ways than we fully comprehend.

Join Christopher “Talib” Charriez, Christopher Etienne, and Lacey Hunter on September 28 at 6:00pm(ET) for a virtual conversation on recognizing and challenging these patterns and fostering learning through new strategies.

Teaching Against Erasure is funded by the Center for Politics and Race in America (CPRA) at Rutgers University-Newark and the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice (ISGRJ).