RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Education for Everyday People: Obstacles and Opportunities Facing the Obama Administration
JF Harvard Educational Review
JO herp
FD Harvard Educational Press
SP 345
OP 359
DO 10.17763/haer.79.2.p55341pmq0822713
VO 79
IS 2
A1 Ladson-Billings, Gloria
YR 2009
UL http://harvardeducationalreview.org/content/79/2/345.abstract
AB In this essay, Gloria Ladson-Billings describes her reaction to Barack Obama's election and her desire to share these historic moments with folks she considers "everyday people." She then looks to the future of education in the United States and highlights obstacles to the Obama administration's meaningful engagement with education issues. Ladson-Billings uses the frame of interest convergence to suggest that this new administration has the opportunity to engage in pragmatic politics and to put forward polices that simultaneously promote both the interests of public school students—particularly those from disenfranchised communities—and national interests. She illustrates this argument through a chronicle imagining a future discussion among the president's cabinet. Finally, she closes by describing the power of the president's inauguration for uniting diverse communities and broadening the definition of everyday people.