Consider the role of education in society, in the lives of individuals and communities, and across space and time. Now consider schools as spaces of education. Looking inside the proverbial four walls of the "schoolhouse" gives rise to questions about how a steel and concrete structure is made fit for education – for learning and ongoing inquiry. What are the expectations for learning? Who is teaching and who is learning? What is being taught? Underlying these questions are ones about the culture of a school; subtle yet important ones that inquire into the motivations behind the first set of questions. For example, Do we have the same expectations for learning for students of all ethnicities and races? What are classroom groupings based on? Who is given more responsibility in classes? What is the range and variety of texts – print, video, audio – that we draw on and do these texts reflect the range and variety of our students' experiences? Earlier this summer at the Cornerstone Institute (Veterans' Session), we laid the foundation for a conversation about the social and cultural context of education. The Cornerstone "veterans" collectively engaged in the experience of questioning/reflecting on/listening to/watching an excerpted version of "A Class Divided" (A PBS/Frontline Documentary). We were invited to consider how race is implicated in the educational experience, specifically as it is linked to teacher expectations but also more broadly as it resonates in the journey through schooling. We want to continue this conversation together throughout this coming year, in our face-to-face meetings, regional conferences, "virtual meetings", and especially a first Cornerstone Learning Forum. A learning forum is way of conversing online with a group of people, across space and time. Similar to a bulletin board – but more dynamic, in that we will be able to share a variety of media with each other – this online conversation is meant to support us as we continue to discuss with each other the social and cultural contexts in which education takes place. As we do so, we will take up the questions raised earlier and raise still more questions as we learn with each other. To spark our conversations, we have included in our "Food for Thought" section of this newsletter an article by Peggy McIntosh, titled "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack", in which the author reflects on her "whiteness" and the unseen privileges that she comes to terms with as an adult. We don't necessarily espouse all her deductions or perceptions, but we do believe it is a provocative and evocative article that may motivate us to examine and discuss our own perspectives. You can now go directly to the "Food for Thought" article mentioned above by clicking on the link below and/or you can go directly to Cornerstone's first Learning Forum to get in on that conversation (which also can be reached from the Cornerstone website as well) by clicking on that link. See you (read you) there! Food
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