Books › We Want to Do More Than Survive
We Want to Do More Than Survive
200 pages
An urgent, impassioned manifesto that challenges superficial school reforms and demands radical, systemic change for students of color.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like sitting in on a masterclass in radical educational justice. It moves with a propulsive, urgent energy, driven by an impassioned critique of a system that profits from the suffering of children of color. The mood is both challenging and deeply empowering, refusing to settle for the superficial survival tactics of grit labs and test-taking skills. Instead, the prose is direct and persuasive, grounding its arguments in the lived realities of urban schools and community activism. The emotional journey shifts from a stark confrontation with systemic oppression to a righteous, hopeful demand for sustainable change. It is an essential, fiery read for educators, parents, and activists who are ready to dismantle the educational survival complex and build something truly transformative.
- Mood
- righteous
- challenging
- empowering
- Tone
- urgent
- impassioned
- critical
- persuasive
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- systemic oppression · educational justice · radical civic change · moving beyond survival · community empowerment
- The writing
- Direct, persuasive, and grounded in both personal experience and critical research.
- The arc
- Moves from a stark confrontation with systemic suffering to an impassioned call for radical, sustainable change.
- Who it's for
- Educators, parents, and activists who are frustrated with superficial school reforms and crave a radical framework for true educational justice.
Content notes
- racial violence
- systemic oppression
- child suffering
About the book
>Drawing on her life’s work of teaching and researching in urban schools, Bettina Love persuasively argues that educators must teach students about racial violence, oppression, and how to make sustainable change in their communities through radical civic initiatives and movements. She argues that the US educational system is maintained by and profits from the suffering of children of color. Instead of trying to repair a flawed system, educational reformers offer survival tactics in the forms of test-taking skills, acronyms, grit labs, and character education, which Love calls the educational survival complex.
Description from Open Library.
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