Chapter 9: You Can’t Teach Where You Don’t Know: Fusing Place-Based Education and Whiteness Studies for Social Justice

Place-based education is a powerful pedagogical tool that helps students understand how social ideas can impact their local communities. Through the study of place education gains meaning and relevance by addressing tangible content that is not separated by time or space. In contemporary practice, using the place as content is a viable means for increasing student achievement, increasing community involvement, and shifting the focus of education away from testing.

Another important aspect of place-based education is that through this type of study, students are encouraged to examine and respond to the needs of their communities while gaining understanding of how local institutions function and social relationships shape experiences of privileged and marginalized groups. Place-based education locates educational practices in familiar contexts where students are not only encouraged to critically examine relationships and institutional practices but also to create actions that stimulate change. Grandiose political platforms can set agendas and contexts for change, but substantive change happens at the local grassroots level. Immersing students into these grassroots contexts and connecting learning to the needs of the community actively engages students with clear, achievable goals and fosters the connection between academic standards with specific needs. Although efforts students may take as they move forward in their projects have the real possibility of not coming to fruition, engaging in the process creates a space in which students can see the interaction of ideas, actions, and the community.