The Re-Education of Neisha-Anne S Green: A Close Look at the Damaging Effect of "A Standard Approach", The Benefits of Codemeshing, and the Role Allies Play in this work

The intro of Ms. Lauryn Hill’s 1998 release of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill begins: a familiar school bell rings and a teacher asks the students to please respond when he calls their name. “Kevin Childs—Here . . . Alicia Simmonds—Here… Tameka Marshall—Here.” He makes it all the way to the end, “Lauryn Hill… Lauryn Hill…Lauryn Hill!” There is no response. As the intro fades and the teacher begins his lesson the beat drops and “Lost Ones” begins to play. It’s funny how money change a situation, Miscommunication leads to complication, My emancipation don’t fit your equation… The music continues, I bob my head, tapping my pencil against my mac as I think, but in the middle of my thoughts Ms. Hill, in a rhythmic and poetic flow mastered only by her, enlightens that, You might win some but you just lost one. You might win some but you just lost one. You might win some but you just lost one. You might win some but you just lost one… Ms. Hill borrowed her title from Carter G. Woodson’s 1933 book The Mis-education of the Negro for obvious reasons, and I borrowed the title for this piece from them both. You see, I, like so many others, was a lost one and would have continued to be lost had things not aligned based on the choices I made and the people I met and stayed connected with along the way. There are so many other lost ones floating within and outside of the academy due to some pedagogical choices that are slow to change. If our goal as educators is to connect and educate all of the students with whom we come in contact then we need to pay closer attention to the fold. Like Ms. Hill keeps repeating in the background, “You might win some but you just lost one.” As allies we can strive to reach that one.