Reflections from NECC - Equity, Diversity, Social Justice
Ed. Policy, Ed. Tech., Equity / Discrimination June 30th, 2008
Something (perhaps some thingS) is (are) rubbing me the wrong way about NECC. I’ll reflect a bit more over time, but for today I want to write a bit about a related set of issues about which I am incredibly passionate. My ed. leadership professorial friends/colleagues and I joke about what we perceive as an over-emphasis on issues of “social justice” “equity” and “diversity” at the annual conferences we attend. Please understand that we all care deeply about those issues; it’s just that it’s gotten to the point where it seems like it’s all that gets discussed at a comprehensive conference. Well, after being at NECC for a few days, I long for some conversation about…”social justice” and “diversity” and “equity.” Hang around the blogger’s cafe for a bit and tell me how much diversity you notice. Sure, there are international folks and that’s awesome. But, racial diversity? Forget it.
I did a keyword search of the program and came up with the following results:
EQUITY - other than the Digital Equity Summit (which I’ve written about before), there are only two other instances of the word “equity” in the program. One is for a session about “[r]ole playing a seventh to ninth grade student, participants will complete an inquiry activity using technology for supporting diverse learners.” The other is about how the addition of interactive white boards have promoted classroom equity in one school district. This is a joke and a crime. Sorry. That’s how I feel.
DIVIDE (looking for references to the digital divide) - appears two whole times in the program. The first reference is for a session about the “digital divide” between what teachers and students can do with technology. Give me a break. The second reference is for a session I’m sorry I missed. The session was about research showing what works for disadvantaged students. Hooray for Dennis Harper, Generation Y with Trina Davis, Susanna Garza and Martha Peet.
JUSTICE (looking for references to social justice) - shows up twice but only because one workshop is being run twice. In what sounds like a really interesting session, participants are asked to “[e]xplore the merger of social justice and technology by creating a podcast on the Civil Rights Memorial Center and learning from student producers.” Nice.
DIVERSITY - Zero. Zilcho. NEVER appears in the program.
I’ve asked quite a few people I’ve spoken with either at the conference or out on the town if they watched Hard Times at Douglass High, the documentary that was all over HBO last week. Not a single person I asked had seen the film. How could that be? How could there be so much attention on books like Here Comes Everybody and Wisdom of the Crowds (the author gave the keynote) and virtually no attention to an important film like Hard Times (and I don’t mean the Ridgemont High version)?
I DARE YOU to watch Hard Times (see preview below) and then to walk through the exhibit hall at NECC. The conditions and consequences of poverty documented in the film stand in complete contrast to the glitz and excess of the exhibit hall.
Please people, how can we continue to talk about the pedagogical applications of Google Earth and how much we need to talk about how to do good presentations and, and, and? And how can we continue to soak in the excess and the free giveaways when so many young people don’t have basic necessities of life.
Tags: diversity, equity, necc08, social justice
[...] blog post is taken from a comment I wrote on Educational Insanity’s blog post, Reflections from NECC - Equity, Diversity, Social Justice. I thought is was important enough to repeat it [...]
I really appreciate your honest assessment of NECC 2008. Although I cannot be there in person (my wife is ready to give birth any day now), I did want to show support for sessions that discuss issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. I’m not sure how to deal with the (perceived?) lack of racial diversity in the edublogosphere or at the Blogger’s Cafe, but I do think that we need to be reaching out. Do you know if Taking It Global (http://takingitglobal.com) is doing a session at NECC. Getting someone from that organization to come into the Blogging arena of NECC would go a long way to ushering in an air of social justice and diversity.
The other question I have is about the diversity of the conference in general. If there is a lack of diversity (or at least a lack of people talking about it), is that because the people that are attending are mostly getting their school districts to pay for it? If a school district cannot buy books (as is the case in the documentary that you just mentioned, which I hadn’t heard of because I don’t get HBO… Is there some other way I can see it?), how can they send teachers to a (fairly) pricey conference.
Talk about equity, the conference should have scholarships for districts that are looking to be forward thinking, but don’t have the funds. (Is this something that is possible.)
I would love to have a larger debate in the edubloggosphere about the issues of equity, diversity, and social justice, but I wonder how valuable it can be for a white folks (of which I am one) to debate the issues without getting some voices outside of the echo chamber to take part. Any ideas?
My unsettled feeling about the lack of diversity here at NECC kicked in at 8 AM Sunday morning. I found your post by way of Ben Wilkoff, who wondered if my organization was presenting here. We failed to put any of the diversity buzzwords in our session proposals (probably for the same reason you and your colleagues joke about them), but completely agree that the social justice conversation needs to be had, and yes, it has to move the usual conversations outside the echo chamber. It’s a two fold problem - lack of representation of all the kinds of people who should be here, but also seriously falling short on the social justice reasons for technology in education. Thank you for getting the dialogue going on this - and would love to be part of moving it forward.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Ben and Emily. I don’t know that I (we?) are the first to raise these issues; I doubt it. So, I’m hoping others will find or be directed to my post. We’ll see. I do have some direct connections to ISTE’s CEO ( I even have his cell #!), so I know I’ll have an opportunity to speak with some high-ranking ISTE folks about this at some point. Unfortunately, I need to get home and won’t be able to attend the Digital Equity Summit today. My colleague will be there and I’ll debrief with him to see what was discussed there. I have a feeling, though, that those conversations will be about the larger policy context (certainly important issues) and not about ISTE or NECC per se. Again, we’ll see.
Please do “stay in touch” and let’s continue to push these issues along.
Let’s be honest… with rising airline fares, etc… it is VERY expensive to get to NECC. How many of us from urban districts or districts with high poverty levels can get here? I wish I had a contingent of School District of Philadelphia people here with us — I wish I had more SLA teachers here. But there is a funding issue around it. It cost $2000 to send Marcie and me here. That’s a budget nightmare for us, but we thought NECC was important for SLA, so here we are. We’re a laptop school with a clear reason to be here. How many other urban schools that are making impossible choices around funding are going to make that choice? How many should?
Fair enough, Chris, but then what? Just shrug our shoulders and accept the status quo? If we accept the status quo, the gap between the haves and the have nots will only grow. Also, how did Chicago Public Schools manage to send a huge contingent here?
So, cost may explain the homogeneity of the population at NECC. But, I’m equally concerned that there are no conversations that problematize the lack of diversity and no conversations about how we might use all of these tools to work with those most in need. Where are the demonstrations of teachers working with students to use technology for social justice purposes?
I could go on. But, I was just walking through the exhibit hall and I have to temper my rage…
Hello. Great conversation for a problem that is so evident, it baffles me how there are not more conversations about a lack of diversity in most educational technology arenas. I think its safe to say that there was 1 african-american for every 10 to 12 whites at NECC. For some reason, I, as an African-American woman, felt that I was outside of all conversations. I wanted to listen, to meet, to converse, to convene and connect, but was not given an opportunity. We as educators have to come together, black, white, hispanic, asian, etc., because like it or not, students like those from Douglas High, who are being left behind, are the people we will be depending on in the near future. They are our future. As a black woman, I have always taught in predominately black districts, and strive to find out what other districts are doing that are successful. It seems to me that alot of those who are big names in technology are really there to pat themselves on the back, while our students are suffering and falling in the widening digital divide. We have to come together, we have to have conversations with each other. Perhaps people were afraid to talk to me, a young black woman, because of outdated stereotypes. I am not a stereotype, I am a woman who recognizes that a problem exists, and I am willing to work with any and everyone to find a way to stop it before it gets out of hand.
I’m white. I teach Native American students. To reach them in order to teach them, I need to care and know them. Their lives make school irrelevant; my content must be authentic. My students are often virtually connected in some way (cell phones, someone with a computer, iPods) so they KNOW what’s out there. It’s a shame in this country that everyone does not have good opportunities to be connected to each other and to the content that others have at their fingertips. It’s not just a lack of equity in schools. I will find a way to connect with my students — virtually and in person. And together we will learn to be ethical and responsible in our efforts. Let’s keep the conversation moving until every blog begins to find an answer. Thanks.
Thanks, Sheri. YES, let’s keep the conversation going. I’m strongly considering writing to ISTE to see if they’re attentive to issues of equity, diversity, social justice, etc.
Well NECC just reflects the digital divide perfectly then. Those that have are here, those that don’t can’t be here and the divide expands. Maybe NECC can offer a scholarship program to bring in people who can’t afford to come but want to present on topics that offer a wider vision of our education community.