Mirrors and Prisms: Refractions of Privilege in a Public School’s Fight for a Voice

Authors

  • Erin Connors Asheville School

Keywords:

Board of education, Public school districts, Information access, Parent teacher organizations, District restructuring, Privilege

Abstract

In the fall of 2015, the Asheville City Board of Education announced plans to undertake a restructuring initiative to accommodate recent significant growth in district enrollment, which is predicted to tax the district’s current physical capacity in the next three to six years. This paper explores the implications and manifestations of privilege in the unfolding of the restructuring conversation in Asheville, where progressive prioritization of equity and a liberal social justice mindset meet entrenched systems of racial and class privilege. Ultimately, the examination reveals the privilege of access to information that comes with membership in the dominant group, and in the conclusion I reflect on my own role in this system.

Author Biography

Erin Connors, Asheville School

Erin Connors is the Academic Dean and a teacher in the Humanities Department at Asheville School in Asheville, North Carolina, where she also writes occasionally for local publications. Recently, she has worked to develop of Global Issues elective, offering students the opportunity to explore issues of privilege, social justice, and activism in their school and wider communities.

Published

2017-04-29

How to Cite

Connors, E. (2017). Mirrors and Prisms: Refractions of Privilege in a Public School’s Fight for a Voice. Understanding and Dismantling Privilege, 7(1), 41–52. Retrieved from https://wpcjournal.com/article/view/16452

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2017): Understanding & Dismantling Privilege

Section

Creative Works & Self-Reflections

License

This journal is an academic publication. Its sole purpose is the dissemination of knowledge to as wide an audience as possible. The journal is free to individuals and institutions.

Copyrights for contributions published in this journal are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal.

Copies of this journal or articles in this journal may be distributed for research or educational purposes free of charge and without permission. However commercial use of the journal or the articles contained herein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the author.


NOTE TO AUTHORS:  
A new model, the Creative Commons approach, with split copyright is rapidly evolving and worth considering.

http://creativecommons.org/choose/