We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom

We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom is a 2019 nonfiction book by Bettina L. Love, an American activist and Professor of Education at the University of Georgia. Drawing on data, historical events, and personal experiences, Love advocates dismantling the educational system and replacing it with an abolitionist pedagogy. Grounded in the lived experiences of students, this pedagogy is designed to drive civic engagement and promote social change. The book received the 2020 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. This guide refers to the 2019 edition published by Beacon Press.

Note: Because this text uses the terminology “dark folx,” “dark people,” and “dark children” to describe non-white Americans, this study guide also adopts that terminology when quoting Love.

Summary

We Want to Do More Than Survive comprises seven chapters. Chapter 1, “We Who Are Dark,” introduces readers to several key issues. These include intersectionality, a framework for understanding how different social markers, such as race, gender, sexuality, religion, and class overlap to create different modes of disadvantage and discrimination; abolitionist pedagogy, which promotes social justice, freedom, thriving, resisting, healing, love, and joy; mattering, a concept that humanizes people of color in the eyes of society; and the educational survival complex, which is punitive, profits from the suffering of children of color, and cannot be reformed.

Chapter 2, “Educational Survival,” lays out the problems with the current educational system. Schools teach children of color to survive, not thrive. Bad educational policies, such as No Child Left Behind and English-only instruction, disproportionately impact children of color. Moreover, the racism pervading American schools is crushing the spirit of Black children. Love proposes to do away with the educational survival complex and to build a new educational system based on thriving, civic engagement, and social justice. Proponents of school reform do not address racism, which is the root cause of failing schools and the education gap.

Chapter 3, “Mattering,” addresses the relationship between Black people and society. Black people have always mattered to their families and communities, but not to American society more generally. Abolitionist pedagogy helps children of color matter to themselves and gives them the skills to advocate so that they matter in society’s eyes as well. Grounding school curriculums in the daily realities of students is critical in this regard. Students must be taught about racism, sexism, poverty, drugs, violence, and other social ills. They must also be taught to love Blackness. Schools, alongside recreational centers, clubs, and other institutions, should function as “homeplaces” for youths; they should be spaces of healing where people of color matter to each other. Homeplaces are places of community and are essential for people of color to thrive.

Chapter 4, “Grit, Zest, and Racism (The Hunger Games),” is about the shift from civics education to character education. Schools used to emphasize subjects such as history, law, government, economics, geography, media literacy, and current events. Starting in the 1980s, schools deemphasized civics education in favor of character education, which presents “grit” as a path to advancement. Character education does not acknowledge or combat the systemic barriers preventing children of color from succeeding, instead telling them to work harder. No amount of grit, however, can negate the effects of racism.

Chapter 5, “Abolitionist Teaching, Freedom Dreaming, and Black Joy,” centers on community, activism, and imagination. Love describes two vibrant Black communities: Beacon Hill in Boston and Congo Square in New Orleans. The former was a stop on the Underground Railroad and home to an active community of abolitionists, while the latter was and remains a place for Black community, music, and joy. Love does not provide a curriculum for abolitionist pedagogy. Rather, she asks educators, students, families, and communities to re-imagine schools as places of social justice, activism, civic engagement, love, and joy.

Chapter 6, “Theory Over Gimmicks: Finding Your North Star,” emphasizes the importance of theory in abolitionist education. For Love, theory—especially, Critical Race Theory (CRT)—serves as a moral compass. Theory provides a language to help educators and students interrogate and understand inequality. According to Love, the absence of theory normalizes whiteness, racism, sexism, classism, anti-gay prejudice, ableism, and other forms of discrimination.

Chapter 7, “We Gon’ Be Alright, but That Ain’t Alright,” stresses the importance of wellness. Black people must heal from intergenerational racial trauma, as well as from their own suffering. white people must confront their whiteness, white supremacy, white privilege, white fragility, and white emotionality, while standing in solidarity with people of color. Schools must become sites of healing by attending to the physical, mental, and spiritual health of students. Wellness in schools depends on the wellness of teachers. Free therapy, compassion, love, and healing can promote teacher wellness.