The Syracuse University School of Education will welcome Kevin Kumashiro, professor of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, for the 2012 Harry S. and Elva K. Ganders Distinguished Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium.
Kumashiro’s lecture, “Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture,” is part of the School of Education’s Landscape of Urban Education Lecture series. The event is free and open to the public. CART service will be provided, and free parking is available in the University Avenue Garage.
Kumashiro is the former chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies and interim co-director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the primary investigator and project director of the UIC AANAPISI Initiative, funded by $4 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions program. He has taught in schools and colleges across the United States and abroad, and has consulted for school districts, organizations and state and federal agencies. He has authored or edited nine books, including “Troubling Education,” which received the 2003 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award, and “Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning toward Social Justice.” He is the founding director of the Center for Anti-Oppressive Education, and the president-elect of the National Association for Multicultural Education.
Kumashiro’s latest book, “Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture” (Teachers College Press, 2012) takes aim at the current debate on education reform, paying particular attention to the ways that scapegoating public school teachers, teacher unions and teacher education masks the real, systemic problems. It demonstrates how current trends, like market-based reforms and fast-track teacher certification programs are creating overwhelming obstacles to achieving an equitable education for all children. Professor Kumashiro will be available to sign copies of his books following Wednesday’s lecture. “Bad Teacher!” will be for sale at the event.
For almost 25 years, the Ganders Lecture Series has celebrated the legacy of Harry S. Ganders, the first dean of the School of Education. Ganders’ tenure as dean (1930-52) is characterized as one of transition, growth and innovation, and saw the creation of an all-University structure for the School of Education. The series is generously supported by alumni and other contributions to the Harry S. and Elva K. Ganders Memorial Fund.
Since 2005, the Landscape of Urban Education Lecture Series has presented current ideas and strategies for navigating urban educational terrain in the United States. Nationally recognized writers, filmmakers, scholars and educators have been engaged for this series.
