One of my favorite education-related videos over the last ten years is Richard Culatta’s “Rethinking Digital Citizenship.” It explores how and why we teach our students from a young age the dangers and prohibitions associated with technology, but now the proper ways to use technology for good, nor praise them for their good uses. It is an amazing deconstruction of why, as a society, we have determined that students can only understand technology in terms of the evils it can perform.

I first encountered the term “Imposter Syndrome” just after starting my graduate degree from a professor friend. I was describing how I felt a bit odd teaching college courses. I explained that I had just left my undergrad behind less than six months ago and I was now in charge of a course of undergrads seeking writing instruction. She tried to assure me, but I was obstinate that it felt weird and a bit off. “Imposter Syndrome,” were the next words out of her mouth.

There was a point reading Education Nation where all I could think about was Spring/Fall 2020. Milton Chen wrote Education Nation over a decade ago when many of the ideas he espoused (personalized learning, technology driven learning, blended learning) were radical. In fact he points, like Sir Ken Robinson, to the idea that ‘alternative’ schools should be the norm; meaning skills based, deep learning based instruction should take the place of traditional teacher as lecturer instruction. I would like to think that these radical ideas are now normalized and used nationwide to create the titular ‘Education Nation’. However, one lesson I took away in Spring/Fall 2020 was we are working to build our capacity for these ideals, but we are not quite there yet. The book ends on a optimistic note by examining what a potential future would look like where the practices he discusses are integrated into schools. Although that optimistic chapter was based in the 2020 school year, I agree that the picture he creates is one that educators are working towards and building capacity for.

One of the most striking things about Our Kids is just how honest it is about the conditions facing students, 1950s-2000s. Many times while reading through the myriad narratives and individual case studies I saw myself. Many of the narratives suggested hardships brought on by the internal and external issues facing the family structure, whether a familial loss, a lack of training for careers, drug/alcohol issues, and mental/physical illness. While reading I would drift a bit to think about the issues in my own life and my will to succeed, but I would also think about individuals that I grew up with and built communities around in my early life: were these the struggles they faced as well? Do they understand the prevailing winds in our US economy and history that may have influenced their success?