Reclaiming Urban Education: From Miseducation to Liberation Through Critical Race Curriculum

• In Event: Part 2: Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Urban Education: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Abstract

This paper examines the role of curriculum in urban schools across time, tracing how it has served as a tool of oppression and a potential site of liberation. I begin by briefly tracing the evolution of curriculum as a tool of control, showing how pre-Brown segregation established patterns of mental colonization that persist today in tracking systems and standardized testing regimes. I then discuss current inequities, documenting how students experience curriculum violence while demonstrating remarkable capacity for critical consciousness development. Next, I present Yosso's critical race curriculum framework as a systematic approach for transformation, followed by practical implementation strategies. I conclude with strategies for teacher resistance and a call for education as the practice of freedom that breaks mental control chains and opens possibilities for genuine liberation.

Author

• Margarita Bianco, University of Colorado - Denver