Dear LREI Community,
As I mentioned in our summer/fall meetings concerning LREI’s class placement policy, late in the August I was interviewed for the WBUR/NPR show, “Here and Now.” My segment aired on Tuesday. On Wednesday afternoon “Here and Now” aired an interview with Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria And Other Conversations About Race and former president of Spelman College. The links to these two segments are below.
The host, Robin Young, asserted in her introduction to our conversation that LREI changed the implementation of our placement policy due to objections from the “parents of the minority students.” I am not sure what in her research led her to characterize my decision in this manner, and to use the term “minority” which we avoid. It is important for you to know that the reasons for my decision to return to the way in which we made placement decisions for many years in the past were more complex and nuanced than she suggested. As always, happy to discuss this issue.
