Impacting Educational Reform thru Social Change

“Impacting Educational Reform thru Social Change”

by Ken Magdaleno

Addressing issues of race, culture, and equity can be a messy business. It would be much easier to focus on the area of mentoring, the subject matter which first engaged my thinking as it pertains to equity while a doctoral student at UCLA. And yet, this morning I read in the New York Times that another 2.6 million people “slipped” into poverty in the United States last year. How can one “slip” into poverty? If I were one of those 2.6 million, I’m sure it would seem like a “free-fall” rather than a “slip.” According to the Times, Minorities were hit hardest. Blacks experienced the highest poverty rate, at 27 percent, up from 25 percent in 2009, and Hispanics rose to 26 percent from 25 percent. For whites, 9.9 percent lived in poverty, up from 9.4 percent in 2009. Asians were unchanged at 12.1 percent. For educators, this means that more children and young people are coming to school hungry and although breakfast and lunch are provided by the school system, learning is more difficult for children who may not have enough to eat outside of school.   Read more...