Reviews

We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina Love

mitskacir's review against another edition

2.0

I was really excited about this book, but was severely disappointed. Perhaps this is a case of my expectations not aligning with the actual objective of the book, but even so it was hard for me to appreciate it. This book is disorganized and rambling - I could not understand the flow of thoughts and the section headings were uninformative (ex: "Starbucks"). Some of the content was interesting, and I did learn some things (the data on household income was particularly impactful for me). However, most of the information was repetitive and wasn't followed by any actionable steps that teachers can take to address issues in (or outside of) the classroom. Most data was followed by "this is caused by..." and then a random (and oft-repeated) collection of words like homophobia, racism, xenophobia, ablism, Islamophobia, patriarchy, colonialism, etc., leaving me without a lot to go on. One of the most frustrating things for me, as a non-black teacher, was her emphasis that dark teachers make a huge positive impact in the lives of dark students and insistence that non-dark teachers must improve (true!), but complete silence on HOW non-dark teachers can improve themselves for their dark students. While I can accept that I can never fill the role of a dark teacher in terms of representation and understanding my student's experiences as dark people, it made me feel that I can never be even a good teacher for dark students.

If you are interested in understanding the causes of issues that face dark youth in America, I think there are other much more informative and coherent books, for example [b:The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness|6792458|The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness|Michelle Alexander|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328751532l/6792458._SX50_.jpg|6996712]. The examination this book gives any topic is too cursory to be useful for anyone trying to deeply understand these issues.

lambethyst's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Such a good book. Love uses clear and accessible language while including compelling anecdotes about her life experience. I related to a lot of what she discussed in this book.

maximum_moxie's review against another edition

4.0

A beautiful and important book--but as a white woman, this book was not written for me, which is Love's entire point. More a manifesto than a book of pedagogical theory, it does the "freedom dreaming" work it advocates for rather than outlining specific strategies. While I found it moving and radicalizing, this is not a guide to abolitionist teaching so much as it is a galvanizing force to look into such teaching and be humble in my own approaches in the classroom.

senquezada29's review against another edition

4.0

Recommended to me by Sophia Carrillo. Great book. A very concise description of the "Educational Survival Complex," an education system built on the suffering, criminalization, and commercialization of students of color. She goes into great depth about how we got to this point, but I was hoping for more on how to combat it. Still, she makes some great points about how even well-meaning educators today are on perpetuating this system and what they need to do to self-educate themselves about Whiteness and the reality of the experiences of their students of color. I definitely recommend, especially if you are an educator.

samanthasshelf_'s review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

highly informative and a must-read for educators. a challenging but accurate look at the school system and a powerful call to action

mdkeillor's review against another edition

5.0

Let’s stop reforming education and redo education so it meets the needs of ALL students!

hopelessromantic97's review

5.0

I would recommend this book to all Educators. 

amandan981's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

fezsibanda's review

challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

ninakeller's review against another edition

5.0

This book was a joy to read, and I’m so sad it’s over that I just may read it all over again. Bettina Love is tough and compassionate, and she urges and empowers the reader to embrace an abolitionist lens to any profession or simply to be human. Her story is powerful and her knowledge makes compelling reading.