What ‘white folks who teach in the hood’ get wrong about education – Kenya Downs / PBS

Columbia University associate professor Dr. Chris Emdin says the “white hero” narrative is setting up both teachers and students for failure.

“There’s a teacher right now in urban America who’s going to teach for exactly two years and he’s going to leave believing that these young people can’t be saved,” says Dr. Chris Emdin, associate professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “So he’s going to find another career as a lawyer, get a job in the Department of Education or start a charter school network, all based on a notion about these urban youth that is flawed. And we’re going to end up in the same cycle of dysfunction that we have right now. Something’s got to give.”

Read more here