{"id":283,"date":"2018-05-18T14:57:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T18:57:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/?page_id=283"},"modified":"2018-05-18T16:35:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T20:35:14","slug":"reflections-true-grassroots-in-an-era-of-neoliberalism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/reflections-true-grassroots-in-an-era-of-neoliberalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections: True Grassroots in an Era of Neoliberalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Defining an organization as grassroots can be challenging.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What comes to mind when you think of a grassroots organization? Is it a group of people marching with signs and chanting catchy slogans? A charismatic leader making an inspiring (or over-the-top) speech to a crowd of hundreds? How about a sit-in or a walk-out? While these are all significant parts of organizing, my research on communities of color in education has shown me what the full spectrum of grassroots organizing looks like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_284\" style=\"width: 238px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-284\" class=\" wp-image-284\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/73bd4367651d4f259a5d8d70d186048e_18-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/73bd4367651d4f259a5d8d70d186048e_18-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/73bd4367651d4f259a5d8d70d186048e_18-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/73bd4367651d4f259a5d8d70d186048e_18-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/73bd4367651d4f259a5d8d70d186048e_18-624x351.jpg 624w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/73bd4367651d4f259a5d8d70d186048e_18.jpg 999w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 228px) 100vw, 228px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-284\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/08\/protests-vigils-decry-white-supremacism-170813232011259.html<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_285\" style=\"width: 227px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-285\" class=\" wp-image-285\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/king-speech-306478e25e6e24acaefb2441bc27b0b7c6d5dea6-s900-c85-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"217\" height=\"163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/king-speech-306478e25e6e24acaefb2441bc27b0b7c6d5dea6-s900-c85-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/king-speech-306478e25e6e24acaefb2441bc27b0b7c6d5dea6-s900-c85-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/king-speech-306478e25e6e24acaefb2441bc27b0b7c6d5dea6-s900-c85-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/king-speech-306478e25e6e24acaefb2441bc27b0b7c6d5dea6-s900-c85-624x467.jpg 624w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/king-speech-306478e25e6e24acaefb2441bc27b0b7c6d5dea6-s900-c85.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-285\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2010\/01\/18\/122701268\/<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Archetypal Grassroots Organizing<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>I have learned that the work of grassroots organizers in education is far less glamorous than the this archetype.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Instead, it often looks like a group of teachers, parents, students, and other community members simply talking to each other. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Organizers take up seemingly mundane and menial roles that are just as \u00a0important as making televised speeches or holding a rally. Community organizers:<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Expand their social networks and strengthen the connections within the community<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> through simply engaging with each other. When oppressed people share their experiences&#8211;their successes, failures, dreams, and fears&#8211;they participate in what Paulo Freire calls \u201c<\/span><b>liberation education<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">,\u201d and learn how they are connected in a racist system (Martinson &amp; Su 2012, p. 66). With this comes communal resilience. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Learn about and actively become part of school and local politics. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0They sit in on school board meetings, read about policy, and even run for local positions. They get involved in education: Parents may help their children do their homework, volunteer in the classroom, or join the PTA. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Build Coalitions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: they connect to other groups organizing around similar or divergent reasons, identifying how systems of oppression link different communities and interest-groups. They may build connections with local institutions (schools, houses of worship, colleges, local governments) to strengthen their impact. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, on top of the nitty-gritty, grassroots organizers will still hold rallies and make publicized speeches. However, this project has taught me to look into the small-scale work of community organizers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_289\" style=\"width: 369px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-289\" class=\" wp-image-289\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/community_organizing-300x96.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"359\" height=\"115\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/community_organizing-300x96.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/community_organizing-150x48.jpg 150w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/community_organizing-768x247.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/community_organizing-624x201.jpg 624w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/community_organizing.jpg 781w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-289\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What grassroots community organizing often actually looks like (http:\/\/www.apano.org\/programs\/community-organizing\/)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My research has taught me carefully to consider if an organization actually fits into the category of \u201cgrassroots,\u201d and to look at what type of impact a group has. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Some groups that are positively affecting change aren\u2019t necessarily grassroots<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u00a0For example, one group I researched is Encuentros Teachers Academy, an annual program hosted by CSU San Marcos to inspire and to assist high school-aged Latino boys in embarking on the path to becoming teachers. While the organization succeeds in putting these young men of color on the track to becoming educators (93% of their participants go on to earn college degrees), it was unclear to me whether or not the organization was grassroots or simply an education non-profit (Warth 2017). On one hand, the institute\u2019s leadership and membership is made up of teachers and school faculty at the high schools that participate in the program; on the other hand, it was founded by a professor at a university with university funding (Warth 2017). While I believe their work should be celebrated as inciting social change, it ultimately does not fit into the category of a grassroots educational organization.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_293\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-293\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-293\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/NYCMT-1-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/NYCMT-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/NYCMT-1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/NYCMT-1.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-293\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">https:\/\/nycmenteach.org\/<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through my research, I learned about <\/span><b>organizations that compete with grassroots groups to \u201csolve\u201d the systemic injustices in urban education<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Neoliberalism<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8211;the idea that privatization, competition, and choice yield excellence&#8211;often infiltrates the realm of urban education when wealthy philanthropists pour money into what they see as \u201csolutions\u201d to urban issues that do not target systemic injustices \u00a0(Lahann 2011). <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, I researched<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/1000x2025.org\/about\/\">\u00a0The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice<\/a>. This Philadelphia non-profit has helps men of color become teachers&#8211;something that seems good on the surface. However, at the same time, it supports charter schools, which take power away from communities of color (to read more about the problems with charter schools, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/answer-sheet\/wp\/2014\/05\/20\/a-dozen-problems-with-charter-schools\/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.345306da37a0\">click here<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">). This is unsurprising, considering that the organization receives its funding from the philanthropic wings of large corporations. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neoliberal reform perpetuates the myths of the economic status quo:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that those with the most money rightfully earned that money<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that those with money must be smart and therefore have the solutions to society&#8217;s problems<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">that those with money should keep making money because they are so generous to those without money<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Meritocracy\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bTDGdKaMDhQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><b>Astroturf<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Then there are organizations that pose as grassroots (Barkan 2012). These lobbying groups often take money from well-funded interest groups, and chanel their influence to shape the narrative on social problems and their solutions&#8211;ultimately preventing the true grassroots from having their voices heard (Barkan 2012). While I couldn\u2019t find evidence of an astroturf organization that speaks specifically on the issue of a lack of teachers of color, many exist in the realm of education, and threaten to shape the narrative on systemic injustices. In doing my research, I had to keep my eyes peeled for organizations like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.all4ed.org\/\">Alliance for Educational Excellence<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0that promote neoliberal ideas like standardized evaluation of teachers&#8211;which hurt teachers of color. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rachel Maddow On FreedomWorks: Grassroots Or Astroturf? (HQ)\" width=\"625\" height=\"469\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0W8BbJXjda8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">True grassroots organizations have a lot to go up against; not only must they work to fix the problems their communities face, but they must also fight those who implement \u201csolutions\u201d to these problems that only work to perpetuate systemic injustice. <\/span><b>We must learn about and honor the work of grassroots organizers, who often do the nitty-gritty work of social change in the shadows of flashy neoliberal reform. <\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_291\" style=\"width: 399px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-291\" class=\" wp-image-291\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/PG-Pic-3-300x152.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"389\" height=\"197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/PG-Pic-3-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/PG-Pic-3-150x76.jpg 150w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/PG-Pic-3-768x390.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/PG-Pic-3-624x317.jpg 624w, https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/213\/2018\/05\/PG-Pic-3.jpg 926w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 389px) 100vw, 389px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-291\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">https:\/\/www.therenewalproject.com\/the-power-of-role-models-how-male-teachers-of-color-can-make-a-difference-in-young-mens-lives\/<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Works Cited<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Barkan, J. (2012). Hired Guns on Astroturf: How to Buy and Sell School Reform. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dissent Magazine<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, (Spring 2012). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.dissentmagazine.org\/article\/hired-guns-on-astroturfhow-to-buy-and-sell-school-reform<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lahann, R., &amp; Reagan, E. (2011). Teach for America and the Politics of Progressive Neoliberalism. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teacher Education Quarterly,<\/span><\/i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">38<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(1), 7-27. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/23479639<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Martinson, M., &amp; Su, C. (2012). Contrasting Organizing Approaches: The \u2018Alinsky Tradition\u2019 and Freirian Organizing Approaches. In M. Minkler, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Organizing and Community Building for Health and Welfare<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (1st ed.). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Warth, G. (2017). Why young Latino men don&#8217;t think of becoming teachers. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The San Diego Union-Tribune<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Retrieved from http:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/education\/sd-me-latino-teachers-20170713-story.html<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Defining an organization as grassroots can be challenging. What comes to mind when you think of a grassroots organization? Is it a group of people marching with signs and chanting catchy slogans? A charismatic leader making an inspiring (or over-the-top) speech to a crowd of hundreds? How about a sit-in or a walk-out? While these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":653,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-283","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-2272-spring-2018-mfriedl2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}