ABSTRACT
The above vignettes, while dramatic and shocking, represent the real stories of real children who suffer indignities, marginalization, prejudice, and exclusion on a daily basis. They have names; they have faces. They have hopes and dreams; but too often they dry up like a “raisin in the sun” (Hughes, 1951). They often suffer in silence, fearful that speaking up or speaking out will draw more unwanted attention to themselves and their families. They are only a few of the thousands of children for whom, on a daily basis, schools fail to provide hope and the promise of a better future. The fi rst two struggled to succeed. Their families made sacrifi ces for the possibility of a better future for their children, but the chips were still stacked against them. The third will likely drop out of school before tenth grade, becoming another statistic in an international crisis of school failure, believing (all too correctly) that school is not really for the likes of him. Another 100 million children worldwide are unlikely ever to be able to attend school at all.
