Changing Systems or Relationships? Responding to Neocolonial Violence

Abstract

As I read the story of the students in the Punishing Room that Frank Margonis describes in his thoughtful presidential address, “Opting Out of Neocolonial Relationality,” I can’t help but be moved by their plight. Reading how marginalized students are held responsible for their own behavior in a school context that exhibits so little care about these students is deeply disturbing. An individual model of responsibility in a structurally unjust society is inherently problematic. Reading this story, I was reminded of Jonathan Kozol’s harsh critique of “the high officials of our government” 1 who subject the children of “apartheid schooling” in the United States to soulless, skill, drill, and test educational practices that deny them both meaningful learning and any sense of joy in schools. Kozol argues, “There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child … accountable for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam” but that does not hold those in power accountable for denying her access to what the children of the privileged already receive (sometimes in abundance) as a foundation for their success: high quality preschool, small classes with qualified teachers, engaged learning activities, welcoming school