Bettina Love's book We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom dismantles the notion that American schools are broken by design. Instead, the book argues that public education works precisely as intended: to produce compliant workers while maintaining racial hierarchies.
Too many reform models focus strictly on test scores and survival metrics. Love introduces abolitionist teaching as a framework that shifts the goal from mere survival to civic dignity, self-determination, and joy.
Understanding the Spirit of Suffering and Educational Debt
Standard school metrics measure deficits rather than acknowledging systemic causes. When districts underfund urban and minority schools, they accrue what Ladson-Billings termed an educational debt. This debt compounds over generations through under-resourced classrooms, over-policed hallways, and curricula that erase history.
Surviving a broken system isn't enough. Students need spaces where they don't just cope with oppression, but actively question and dismantle it. Abolitionist teaching requires educators to reject colorblind ideology, which ignores systemic racism under the guise of treating everyone the same. Ignoring race in the classroom actually ignores the daily injustices students experience outside it. Further analysis by Bloomberg delves into similar perspectives on this issue.
The Roots of Abolitionist Teaching
Today's freedom struggles in education trace directly back to the Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1960s, these alternative schools weren't just about catching up on reading or math. They taught citizenship, critical consciousness, and political agency.
Abolitionist teachers channel that exact lineage. They treat classrooms as sites of liberation rather than factories for standardized testing.
- Rejecting Compliance: Traditional schooling values quiet obedience over critical thinking. Abolitionist educators encourage students to question authority and interrogate societal structures.
- Centering Joy: Survival-focused models drain students of energy. Abolitionist classrooms prioritize student joy, creativity, and emotional well-being.
- Honoring Community Knowledge: Neighborhoods and families hold valid, rich histories that deserve validation as core academic currency.
Practical Shifts for Classrooms
Translating abolitionist theory into daily practice takes intentionality. Teachers must look closely at their classroom management styles, grading policies, and reading lists.
When you rely heavily on zero-tolerance discipline policies, you feed the school-to-prison pipeline. Abolitionist practice replaces punitive measures with restorative justice and community building. It asks educators to examine their own biases before attempting to correct students.
Curricula also need a radical overhaul. Surface-level diversity—like reading one token book during Black History Month—falls short. Culturally sustaining pedagogy integrates diverse perspectives into every unit of study year-round.
Common Pitfalls in Educational Reform
Well-meaning educators often stumble when trying to implement justice-oriented frameworks. Recognizing these traps helps prevent superficial changes that fail to shift real power dynamics.
- Performative Allyship: Adopting slogans or changing social media bios without altering daily teaching practices or grading equity.
- Saving Complex: Approaching marginalized students with pity rather than respect for their resilience, agency, and brilliance.
- Neutrality Trap: Pretending that classrooms are politically neutral spaces. Education is never neutral; it either reinforces existing hierarchies or challenges them.
For more insights on educational equity and historical context, explore resources from the Zinn Education Project and research publications by the Annenberg Institute.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main argument of We Want to Do More Than Survive?
The book argues that standard educational reforms focus only on test scores and survival, trapping marginalized students in oppressive systems. It calls for abolitionist teaching, which uses education as a tool for civic freedom, joy, and systemic liberation.
What is abolitionist teaching?
Abolitionist teaching is a framework developed by Bettina Love that fights against injustice in schools. It rejects compliance-driven models in favor of critical consciousness, student dignity, and community empowerment.
How does educational debt differ from achievement gap?
The achievement gap blames students and communities for low test scores. Educational debt looks backward at the historical, economic, and political decisions that systematically underfunded and underserved those same communities.
Why does the author critique colorblind pedagogy?
Colorblind teaching pretends race doesn't matter, which erases the lived experiences and systemic barriers faced by students of color. Acknowledging race is necessary to address and dismantle inequality in the classroom.
