Education and Racism: A Primer on Issues and Dilemmas by Zeus Leonardo, and W. Norton Grubb (review)

Racism can pervade even the most well-meaning educators and “colorblind” policies and actions in school systems. Their main purpose is to address the multiple issues of racism in education, such as school (re)segregation, testing, and curriculum development, by incorporating various approaches and discussions to resolve systematic racism in education. By providing this overview not only for educators, but also undergraduate and graduate students, Leonardo and Grubb aim to change the current nature of the educational system and strive to go beyond reproducing the limited conceptual frameworks of post-racialism and multiculturalism.

Education and Racism examines how education is influenced by the structured mechanisms of racism. In particular, Leonardo and Grubb note how white students are more frequently placed in higher educational tracks or Advanced Placement courses, which often propel them to be better prepared for college and have a broader set of complex skills. On the other hand, the majority of Latino and Black students have limited access to “high-status knowledge” and school materials. These compelling points demonstrate how race can be linked to a student’s success in school and perhaps later in life.

The chapters “Curriculum and Racism” and “Culturally Relevant Education Racism” analyze the inclusion of the perspectives of people of color into the curriculum. While the main goal of this construction is to avoid the marginalization of people of color in the academy, this inclusion can be challenging. As the authors aptly note, one problem is how to represent people of color and their diverse interests in the curriculum and another is how to have them represent their own interests, especially when many sources in the curriculum come from a white or Eurocentric perspective. One solution, according to Leonardo and Grubb, is to have more teachers of color. They also recommend having culturally relevant education for students of color. While these suggestions are not the absolute cure for improving the education of students of color nor will they completely eradicate racism in education, these changes will construct a better educational environment. Leonardo and Grubb encourage educators and students to think about these fundamental challenges by presenting several engaging discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

The theme of marginalization reappears in “School-Community Relations and Racism,” and “Tracking, Segregation, and Racism.” Leonardo and Grubb state that most schools surrounded by families of color are neglected and lack resources for students of color to adequately learn. As such, this perpetuates a system of educational alienation, especially when compounded with a “white racial frame” that deems students of color as “uneducable” and negatively tracks them. One remedy may be special “themed” charter schools, which are Afrocentric or Latino-based. The authors raise many significant questions about how to help students of color, particularly those in a predominantly African-American or Latino neighborhood, and recognize that there are no easy answers to resolving this problematic issue in American education.

“Funding, Resources, and Racism: When Money Matters” and “High-Stakes testing, Accountability, and Racism” build upon two of the previous issues in the text: the lack of resources in schools and the negative impact of racial bias when tracking students on their test performance. One important fact is that higher teacher salaries improve the outcomes of students’ academic performance since schools with more funding can attract and retain the best qualified educators. Schools located in communities with people of color are likely to suffer from a lack of funding and therefore hire inexperienced teachers and have a high turnover rate. These inequalities can partly explain the gaps in the testing and educational systems.

The concluding chapter, “Education and Racism: Future Directions,” emphasizes the key point that racial minorities in education are at a disadvantage and encourages educators to create a color-conscious education. While they recognize this as a great undertaking, Leonardo and Grubb want to expand the discussion on race and pedagogy and create practices that are both beneficial and...