Restrictions of Education

Overall I thought that the readings for this week were of great importance as educators in an urban environment. In Particular, I was interested by the Enora Brown article and how it dealt with institutional practices which to this day restrict the educational opportunities of many within society. The everyday racial divisions which occur in our society range from a difference in textbook and supply ability due to funding all the way to institutionalized forms of security, which depict students as criminals within the school environment. These differences have caused students to not be able to obtain an education that meets the standards of other schools even within the area, this is especially true under the restrictive funding of No Child Left Behind, but I wont get into that now. The thing is that in order to bring about reform in the educational system, we must find a way to remove these institutionalized differences within schools that are often based on a students race and economic status. Also how can we as teachers best open our classrooms up to be a forum through which students can voice their opinions on these issues?