ABSTRACT

In so many buildings we call public schools, the spirits of poor and working-class urban youth of color, and their educators, are assaulted in ways that bear academic, psychological, social, economic, and perhaps, also, criminal justice consequence. We write on the devastation wrought by alienating public schools (Delpit, 1995; Hilliard, 1990, 2002; Kohl, 1994; Kohn, 2000; Woodson, 2000, reprinted). Theorizing within and beyond reproduction theory (Anyon, 1983; Aronowitz & Giroux, 1993; Bowles & Gintis, 1976), we seek to understand the psychological and social devastation incited by buildings that are structurally damaged, educators who are under credentialed, and institutions with neither intellectually nor politically enticing projects for youth to undertake.