Cutting School by Noliwe Rooks

CUTTING SCHOOL by Noliwe Rooks is a valuable resource for our students who are interested in investigating inequality in education. In the Foreword, notable education expert Diane Ravitch comments that “the fundamental argument of this book is that public education for Native American, Black, Latino, and poor youth is being purposefully unraveled...” Rooks, the director of American Studies at Cornell University, focuses on what she calls “The Segrenomics of American Education” and provides damning data and statistics to illustrate that inequality.  One of the most disturbing chapters has to do with virtual/online education. I feel personally very fortunate to have participated in synchronous, online graduate school lectures at multiple universities in Illinois and to have happily supported Stanford’s EPGY (Education Program for Gifted Youth) so it is truly shocking to learn of the dismal progress (aside from profitability for investors) which Rooks describes for other forms of online education (in states like Florida and South Carolina) during the last decade. Rooks’ voice is strident and like Eve L. Ewing's Ghosts in the Schoolyard, deserves more of a hearing.  She argues for the need for more integrated education opportunities; sadly, it seems that the current pandemic will only heighten differences, as shown in the New York Times article: “The Class Divide: Remote Learning at 2 Schools, Private and Public.” We obviously can do better; why don’t we?