Chapter 1: Inclusive and Empowering Classrooms: An Introduction

Classrooms—and the web of relationships among individuals in those classrooms—will reproduce the world outside of the classroom unless that tendency is intentionally interrupted. As discussed in the introduction, uncritically allowing inequities to flourish in our classrooms and in our teaching practices is the status quo for educational systems. Even teachers who want the best for their students may at times reproduce that status quo, however unintentionally, because going with the flow can seem like an apolitical or neutral alternative to criticality. However, to paraphrase often repeated quotes from Paolo Freire, Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Elie Wiesel among others: if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the powerful.