'I am protecting them from whiteness': Why this mom chose to take her kids out of public school | CBC Radio
'I am protecting them from whiteness': Why this mom chose to take her kids out of public school
Akilah Richards' daughter was told by a white girl at school that she was scary because she's black.
For Richards, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, it echoed personal experiences she had growing up. It also reminded her of broader racism she's seen in public education since she was in school
"Not much has changed, unfortunately," she said. "There are all these same issues that we see that continue to happen now with how students of colour are policed differently, or over-policed in school. Or how girls of colour in particular are sexualized in school.... Your goal is to essentially assimilate and succeed. That layer was always present. I didn't understand it the way that I understand it now."
After seeing her children experience similar struggles as she had, Richards took her two daughters, now 12 and 14, out of public school and began a form of self-led education called "unschooling."
She said the concept falls under a larger umbrella that focuses on "non-coercive, equitable, partnership-centered relationships between adults and children."
For Richards' daughters, learning happens through life experiences and through the structure that emerges rather than the structure that already exists.
"I am protecting them from whiteness," she said, "This idea that they have to figure out how to make sense inside of whiteness as opposed to figuring out themselves, developing what we call confident autonomy, and then using that to navigate varying systems including pervasive whiteness."
'I am protecting them from whiteness': Why this mom chose to take her kids out of public school
Akilah Richards' daughter was told by a white girl at school that she was scary because she's black.
For Richards, a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, it echoed personal experiences she had growing up. It also reminded her of broader racism she's seen in public education since she was in school
"Not much has changed, unfortunately," she said. "There are all these same issues that we see that continue to happen now with how students of colour are policed differently, or over-policed in school. Or how girls of colour in particular are sexualized in school.... Your goal is to essentially assimilate and succeed. That layer was always present. I didn't understand it the way that I understand it now."
After seeing her children experience similar struggles as she had, Richards took her two daughters, now 12 and 14, out of public school and began a form of self-led education called "unschooling."
She said the concept falls under a larger umbrella that focuses on "non-coercive, equitable, partnership-centered relationships between adults and children."
For Richards' daughters, learning happens through life experiences and through the structure that emerges rather than the structure that already exists.
"I am protecting them from whiteness," she said, "This idea that they have to figure out how to make sense inside of whiteness as opposed to figuring out themselves, developing what we call confident autonomy, and then using that to navigate varying systems including pervasive whiteness."
just like Malcolm said
