The crisis in Puerto Rico is complicated and tied to its history with the United States, but educators can address it with students and inspire empathy.
Anthony Godby Johnson is a writer who lives in New York City. His memoir, A Rock and a Hard Place, was published in 1993 (Signet). He writes a monthly column for the Gregory House Gazette, an AIDS care newsletter published in Honolulu.
In classrooms all over the country, posters hang on walls bearing the face of Martin Luther King, Jr. Libraries put out displays of books about his life. Bulletin boards are decorated with phrases from famous speeches. Many will remain up throughout the school year, not just for the federal observance of King’s birthday on Monday.
Jia-Hui Stefanie Wong is a visiting lecturer in Educational Studies at Trinity College and a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an educational anthropologist whose research explores how educational inequities are produced, reproduced, and challenged in K-12 schools. She is licensed as a secondary social studies teacher and previously worked in after school programming.
Paige S. Lindell makes art with K–8 students at the Winchester School in Winchester, New Hampshire. As an artist and teacher, Paige believes that empathy and responsibility for the world begin with careful and loving observation. Paige is committed to transforming art education to become more environmentally responsible. She has worked in classrooms in California, Louisiana and New Hampshire. She is a graduate of the University of Southern California.
Nancy Barno Reynolds is a Doctoral Candidate in The Graduate School of Education at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. and is planning to graduate in May. A former public school teacher for many years, her research now focuses on critical literacy, Democratic education, and the influence of the standardization movement on her profession.