Standing Against the Wind

In the wake of an increasingly divisive sociopolitical climate in the United States, there is a sense of immediate urgency among institutions of higher education to speak with a united voice in terms of maintaining the post-civil rights era principles of providing equitable access to educational opportunities for all students. Students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, or socioeconomic status should be afforded equal access to sound educational opportunities. Thusly, the next generation of teachers must be not only instructionally competent in their grade or subject area but also be capable of adapting that instruction to meet the sociocultural and socioemotional needs of the students they serve. From this charge, a larger conversation emerges calling for a change in the existing narrative related to teaching marginalized populations away from political banter towards the release of silent voices that have the agentic potential to engage as voices of authentic change.