Reddit reviews Urban Education: A Comprehensive Guide for Educators, Parents, and Teachers

i'll agree that the "yeahs!" to that point stuck out, and it definitely wasn't as poignant as the other complaints they were making (and probably falls under the larger theme of criminalizing behavior). but we've also got to account for the idea of youth alienation in spatially unjust cities and large schools.

>Schools as hierarchical, routinised and highly structured environments contrast with the world ‘beyond’ school, with which young people interact (increasingly through Information Communication Technologies), which is obviously complex, layered and presenting constantly changing challenges. (McGregor, "Space, Power and the Classroom")

think about how kids connect with others in the modern city. even walking down the street, people are isolated on phones or with headphones. cell phones give teenagers access to people and media. we can change the way they think about social connection, but we have to understand what social connection means to them first.

>As educators it is imperative to understand the inequity, loneliness, and disconnectedness that many youth face in large, impersonal urban schools. How can we infuse just practices into our education system? How can we redesign and restructure schools so kids don’t fall out of the system? What can we do as educators and community members to commit to and connect with our youth? (Sanchez & Eddine, "Big Cities, Small Schools: Redefining Educational Spaces in the Urban Contex")

i agree completely, however, that a walkout is counterproductive. i think they should be really Occupying--taking over the space and creating a democratic dialogue about the injustices they see. a teach-in, perhaps. but that would take the guidance of a facilitator who can help them make larger connections and target the right places for praxis. i think without students learning to protest in a productive way, you have these kinds of what i call unconscious, muted Occupations that just arise out of the youth's alienation from the city they know is unjust--but that they learn in school is guided by universal rights, liberties, and freedoms. i mean, this is America, right?