Kevin K. Kumashiro may look like an ordinary man, but the ideas that he possesses are redefining the field of “anti-oppressive education”. On Fri .Oct. 2, Kumashiro, Ph.D., dropped by the Harper Center to lecture about his liberal ideas on education, education advancement and how the United States needs to be closing the achievement gaps that are in the education system.
Kumashiro is the founding director of the Center for Anti-Opressive Education (CAOE), associate professor of education, chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Interim Co-Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He discussed “The Seduction of Common Sense: How the Right Has Framed the Debate on America’s Schools” with the two dozen spectators that came to listen to him speak.
“What is the political right doing in the United States?” Kumashiro asked.
The political right has seemed very successful in changing the education policy, according to Kumashiro. He believes that the political right has become a powerful force in changing policies since 1960s and ’70s, when they initiated laws during the Civil Rights movement which changed the education system forever.
Kumashiro wanted the audience to understand that the political right’s ways are the wrong ways, meaning that, as individuals, we must take at face value what we are hearing from the political right.
He also believes that the right has been very successful in convincing the United States that their way is the right way, and he believes that this needs to change and will change. Kumashiro states that the political right has a profound understanding of rhetoric and how to use the English language to capture people’s attention.
“The right is successful because they make things sound like common sense, and things like that are hard to argue,” Kumashiro said.
Kumashiro also talked about his proposal to make the public education system better. He believes that The 65 Percent Solution is the answer. The 65 Percent Solution would make sure 65 percent of the total school’s budget would be used to “educate the students”. Right now, only 62 percent of the total school’s budget is being used to “educate the students”. By just adjusting this slight percent change, one is instantly creating billions of dollars nation-wide to better educate America’s youth.
“I really like his mathematical point about The 65 Percent Solution. I believe that it sounds like a great idea that should be put into effect immediately,” Nema Philip, Arts & Sciences junior, said.
Kumashiro then discussed a pressing subject: success in the education system based on ethnicity. He believes that we, as a country, need to close these gaps in order to succeed and then be able to better educate everyone based on how much they want to learn, not how much money their school district has.
Kumashiro believes that there are such things as “disposable children”, in some school districts. Schools don’t think that these children are their responsibility and do not want them. This could be for various reasons such as learning disabilities, low standardized test scores or lack of care.
“The achievement gap is the tip of an iceberg for our education problem,” Kumashiro said.
One way to change this problem, Kumashiro suggests, is to treat schools like markets. This competition will make everyone try harder, and this will in-turn make the schools “better”.
“I’m not sure that treating a school like a market would be the best idea. Sometime markets fail,” Business senior Sam Zaccone said.
Kumashiro is very excited to see what the Obama administration will do in order to better the public education system, and believes that the political left may be a rising force to contend with in educational affairs.