Punished for Dreaming

In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this week's review covers firsthand accounts of the negative impact of public school system reforms on Black children and advocates for educational reparations.

Posted on January 20, 2025 in Reviews of the Month

Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal

Love, Bettina L. St. Martin’s, 2023
352p bibl index, 9781250280381 $29.00, 9781250280398

Punished for Dreaming is a critical examination of how educational reforms from the Reagan administration to the present have marginalized Black children. The book is split into 12 chapters focused on different topics, individual stories, and the historical contexts for how policy has affected Black children and needs to change to repair the educational system. Love (Columbia Univ.) uses people’s stories to give context to Black children’s experience with the policy changes that have further punished them. These stories give voice to generations of Black folks whom the education system has failed. Punished for Dreaming finishes with the case for educational reparations to the Black community. This volume would fit well in any course about educational policy, urban education, race in education, or conversations around school reform. Each chapter can be used individually to deconstruct the narrative of Black children in education, or the entire book can be used to give a different view on school reform and its effects on the Black community.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals.
Reviewer: Z. Price, Towson University
Interdisciplinary Subjects: African and African American Studies, Racial Justice
Subject: Social & Behavioral Sciences – Education
Choice Issue: Apr 2024

Punished for Dreaming

In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this week's review covers firsthand accounts of the negative impact of public school system reforms on Black children and advocates for educational reparations.