What Does That Mean?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

State and federal guielines have been pushing school systems to show measurable results in student performance rights. For more elite, mostly white schools, the competition is about showing that your students excel. And for poorly funded schools an black and brown communities, that relentless pursuit of higher test scores really is about survival.

In most American schools, children *hear about* democracy, but don’t get to *practice* it. What would a more engaged brand of civics education look like?

Story reported by Ben James, with host John Biewen and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Interviews with Arielle Jennings, Hilary Moss, and Nikole Hannah-Jones.

The series editor is Loretta Williams. Music by the Summer Street Brass Band, Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.

Photo: Stephen Buckley, Jelicity Mercado, Bella Goncalves, and Angelica Pareja, eighth-grade students at Pyne Arts Magnet School in Lowell, Massachusetts, with their award at Civics Day in Boston, December 2019.