Today’s social justice movement: leading urban education reform from the ground up

I stumbled into an Atlanta, Georgia high school classroom almost three years ago as a geometry teacher. I was met with promising kids, an amazing staff and no shortage of seemingly insurmountable challenges. I was pushed to my limits every day—there were multiple evenings when I went home questioning whether I was actually making the impact I had hoped for when I first committed to the job. Nonetheless, the experience was life changing. By the end of my first semester, I decided not to pursue my previous plans to secure a high-paying finance job—instead, I chose to further develop myself as an educator by staying in the classroom for a few additional years.

I currently teach at a public charter school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. I view my job description as three-fold: I must equip my students with a foundation in algebra that will allow them to eventually compete for the most selective post-graduate opportunities in the STEM fields; I must continue to reinforce positive character traits that will allow them to be successful in their personal and professional lives; and, as a black educator teaching black children, I must shatter negative stereotypes that exist about people of color by being a model of intelligence, self-confidence and integrity. On a daily basis, I push students beyond their preconceived limits to bring out the best in them academically. For example, in addition to our jam-packed eighth grade Common Core math curriculum, I am teaching my students the foundations of computer programming because I believe it will make them better logical thinkers and problem solvers.

In addition to pushing my students academically, I take every opportunity to initiate conversations that will make them socially conscious citizens. I conspicuously store my personal reading books in my classroom, hoping that my copy of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “The Souls of Black Folk” might spark a conversation about “double-consciousness,” or Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” might lead to a conversation about institutional racism. During our downtime, my students and I have talked about the impact of Kanye West’s “The College Dropout” on black culture in the mid-2000s and the significance of Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” in hip-hop music today. Since my students do not often find images in the media that affirm and celebrate their identities, I believe that it is critical for them to have a deep internal sense of pride in their cultural background and knowledge of the giants that helped shape it.

Overall, while teaching is incredibly hard work that requires an investment of long, dedicated hours, the experience has been exceedingly more enjoyable and exciting than I could have imagined. However, I am currently thinking about different ways that I can expand my impact beyond the small handful of students that I teach—as such, I am looking to extend my reach outside of the classroom. Because of the vast number of ways that K-12 education is changing, there have never been more opportunities for educators to expand their impact beyond the walls of their classroom.

Whether it be education technology, education policy, teacher training or curriculum design, no space in education is safe from change. There is currently a large urban education reform movement taking place in this country with the stated goal of improving the educational outcomes for our nation’s most underserved students, many of whom are students of color. Unfortunately, there are not nearly enough leaders of color in the education reform movement to help shape the agenda. Just as I provide a relevant and relatable perspective to my students of color, I hope to provide this same perspective on their behalf as a school leader, policy maker and/or entrepreneur. I firmly believe that the education reform movement is a social justice movement. From women’s suffrage to civil rights, all successful social justice movements in the history of this country have been led by the very people who were oppressed. Every single year, decisions are made that not only affect what type of schools our nation’s most underserved kids will attend, but also what and how they will learn when they get there. Thus, more seats at the policy-reform table must be occupied by individuals who share the backgrounds and identities of the kids we seek to serve.

As a black male who grew up in the South, I have had experiences that my white counterparts have not. Moreover, certain aspects of my education prepared me to navigate the professional world as a person of color. In addition, I learned many lessons on my own through failure and/or hardship. Now, I am eagerly working towards the day when I can use my knowledge, experience, and perspective to help shape the public school experience for students of color across this country. When the faces and experiences of the adults making decisions begin to reflect the faces and experiences of the kids those decisions will affect, then we can begin creating a system that truly works for every single child it serves.

Reuben Ogbonna is Trinity ’12 graduate and Teach For America-Metro Atlanta alumnus. He currently teaches at Excellence Boys Charter School in Brooklyn, NY.