Abstract
Comedian George Carlin's politically charged act “Life is Worth Losing” contained a segment on the American dream. Carlin provided an extensive summation of education within a three minute and fifteen-second monologue. A summation of education using politically charged rhetoric ending with laughter asserts that a refurbished education is essential. Carlin's explicit content regarding education argued that the sole purpose is to produce “obedient workers” without critical thinking. Implications of Carlin's Freirean approach to this pedagogical perception opened a rhetorical analysis of “why education will never be fixed and why it will never be better,” The purpose of this chapter is to personify and present CRT as a concept on trial, shifting to ideas provided for educators to enhance the social and political consciousness of learners for the future of social justice and equity in education.
TopMain Focus Of The Chapter
George Carlin's statement about, “why education will never be fixed and why it will never be better” highlights the pessimism of a future democratic society of PK-12 education. Carlin’s reference to producing “obedient workers” discloses the disruption to social justice and equity in PK-12 education. Carlin's act almost 16 years ago forcibly challenges society to examine the changing path of education. The changes of this path include the Biden-Harris administration's American Rescue Act, in which school districts across the country received millions to billions of economic recovery funding directed towards equity (U.S. Department of Education, 2021). However, the term equity not only included the financial recovery for PK-12 education, but also embraced the social, cultural, and political equity of its educators and learners. Therefore, the Carlin inquiry into education circumvents recent media in which the ban of CRT taught in PK-12 education is now on trial. Implications of CRT in education as a concept that is “taught” indicate the assumption of a procedural method that educators will implement in the “I do” “we do” and “you do” release model of lesson planning (Fisher & Frey, 2013). CRT in education is a framework that should be used in school curricula to serve as the driving force for educators to teach to society; however, the framework has been implicated in the crime of countering colonized narratives in which diverse learners' experiences are absent. Student learning disrupted from critically interrogating historical contexts and societal issues answers the Carlin inquiry of “why education will never be fixed and why it will never be better” but also references to “obedient workers” to assemble knowledge as linear and not divergent.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Diversity: An inclusive practice of including multiple intersectional identities such as race, gender, ethnicity, class, culture, age, language, disabilities, and sexual orientation.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954): The landmark Supreme Court Decision that deemed segregated public education as unconstitutional.
Social Justice: A view or framework used to actively address exclusionary or discriminatory practices within education, health care, criminal justice, economics, law, and/or social work.
Critical Race Theory: An analytical approach to examine race, racism and its manifestation throughout institutions and other power structures.
Humanizing Pedagogy: Framework of teaching where methods of instruction include holistic approaches of students as an integral part of the learning process.
Brown v. Board of Education (1955): Supreme Court Decision that ordered schools to integrate “with all deliberate speed”.
Inclusion: A practice of policy of equal access of opportunity.
Equity: An initiative use of impartiality where students are provided access to resources for successful learning outcomes.