Of Note: A Place for Justice

Teaching with Conscience in an Imperfect World - An Invitation, by William Ayers
Teachers College Press, April 8, 2016

Bill Ayers' newest book is refreshingly provocative and reminds us why we teach. Part of the Teachers College Press Teaching for Social Justice Series, this small book for teachers, parents and policy makers expands on three main themes. First, Ayers believes, as Dewey did, that the way we educate our children is a true and unwavering reflection of society as it is, and that there is no better route to societal change than through the teachers in our schools. Second, Ayers knows that conditions for good learning require social justice to be a focus of each day and every decision. And third, Ayers has written an invitation. Releasing us from received wisdom and conventional thinking, the entire book invites us to imagine and embrace what our schools can be. It also delineates obstacles with a clarity that rings true. We are encouraged to avoid simply swatting the flies away from the truths we know keep us from achieving broader social justice in our teaching. And we are implored to gather up the seeds of desire, effort, desperation, willfulness and enthusiasm and to begin planting a more fertile place for justice to prosper.