Note to Educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete

Note to Educators: Hope required when growing roses in concrete
Jefferey Duncan Andrade

In this article Andrade explores the concept of of hope. He argues that the enemies of hope are hokey hope, mythical hope, and hope deferred. However critical hope rejects the hopelessness in urban settings.

  • Hokey hope suggests that urban youth can work hard and go to college if they put their minds to it, but it ignores the inequity faced by these youth that hold them back. 
  • Mythical hope says that racism is over because of the progress made in society such as an African American president. It ignores the white privilege that remains in our society. 
  • Hope deferred is a false optimism that society will be reformed in the future and that individual students will "make it out" of urban areas. 
Critical hope rejects these false hopes of Americans. There are three elements: 
  • Material hope is quality teaching for our youth to produce student growth. 
  • Socratic hope requires teachers and students to examine ourselves and the unjust society and learn from this pain. 
  • Audacious hope says that we need to stand together. "Their pain is our pain." Healing cannot be done alone. 

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