Chapter 2: “Outsider Kids”: Working Toward the Development of Conscientization

We were both, in our own ways, viewed as outsiders, and were punished for living our identities: working-class, first-generation college student, feminist. Together, we found and continue to find hope through our resistance work. The origins of our resistance work lie in our outsider status. Together, we reflect on our work with outsider kids.

We have both worked in the trenches that are Apartheid schools: educating students who are perceived as urban kids, ghetto kids, thug—disrespectful, and loud. Translation: outsider students. The crime in this trench is that these students are blamed for their nonperformance in institutions designed to fail them. Dispelling these notions is part of our resistance work.