"No, Seriously: No Excuses"

Reading this article from the New York Times reminded me of a small group discussion we had in class regarding addressing the "issues" of literacy, including issues of literacy as power and capital and as a manifestation of the dominant culture, in our classrooms. My group had decided that one way to address such issues is to hold all students to high expectation of achievement. This article addresses and defends this approach, stating that we must hold all students and schools, regardless of their socio-economic status or demographics, to a high standard. I thought the idea of all students as "apples" was interesting as well. Although this article might be less related to our recent conversations on critical literacy, I think it is something that can appeal to us as teachers, especially as many of us are teachers in urban schools with minority students from low-income families and neighborhoods. How do we hold these students to the same standards as students from affluent neighborhoods and well-equipped schools? How do we reveal and teach the dominant discourse to these students so that they can compete in today's society without sacrificing their original language, discourse, and culture? An issue from a few classes ago!