Bettina L. Love, Ph.D.
William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University
Ganae McAlpin-Toney
Director of Equity for Evanston Township High School D202
Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal
BONUS BOOK GIVEAWAY! We are giving away copies of Punished for Dreaming to randomly selected Zoom attendees. Details on the webinar registration page.
In Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal, Bettina L. Love, Ph.D. argues forcefully that, with the release of the 1983 report “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform,” Ronald Reagan’s presidency ushered in a War on Black Children, pathologizing and penalizing them in concert with the War on Drugs. New policies punished schools with policing, closure, and loss of funding in the name of reform, as white savior, egalitarian efforts increasingly allowed private interests to infiltrate the system. These changes implicated children of color, and Black children in particular, as low performing, making it all too easy to turn a blind eye to their disproportionate conviction and incarceration.
In this prequel to The New Jim Crow, Dr. Love, the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, serves up a blistering account of four decades of educational reform through the lens of the people who lived it. Punished for Dreaming lays bare the devastating effect on 25 Black Americans caught in the intersection of economic gain and racist ideology. In a recent interview, Dr. Love stated that “these interviews are more than data points or individual grievances about a bad school experience; they represent generations of pain, trauma, and loss inflicted on Black children by America’s public school system.” With input from leading U.S. economists, Dr. Love concludes the book with a road map for repair, arguing for reparations with transformation for all children at its core.
Dr. Love will be in conversation with Ganae McAlpin-Toney, the Director of Equity for Evanston Township High School D202 and the facilitator for the second-year induction program. Ms. McAlpin-Toney is a mother of two, educator, coach, and facilitator dedicated to fostering relationships among people of different races, socio-economic status, and sexuality.
This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded and available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.
Event Sponsors
- The Alliance for Early Childhood
- The Avery Coonley School
- Baker Demonstration School
- Barrington D220
- Beacon Academy
- Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School
- Catherine Cook School
- Chicago Jewish Day School
- Compass Health Center
- Connections for the Homeless
- Countryside Day School
- The Cove School
- Evanston Scholars
- Evanston Township High School D202
- The Family Institute at Northwestern University
- Family Service Center
- Foundation 65
- The Frances Xavier Warde School
- Francis W. Parker School
- Glencoe D35
- Gorton Center
- Haven Youth and Family Services
- Hyde Park Day School
- Illinois Student Assistance Commission
- Kenilworth D38
- Lake Bluff D65
- Lake Forest Country Day School
- Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools
- Latin School of Chicago
- Leo Catholic High School
- Magnetar Capital
- Mindful Psychology Associates PC
- New Trier High School D203
- New Trier Parents’ Association
- North Shore Country Day
- Northwestern University Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations
- Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy
- Rebel Human
- Regina Dominican College Preparatory High School
- Resurrection College Prep High School
- Rogers Park Montessori School
- Roycemore School
- Sacred Heart Schools
- Santa Clara University School of Law
- Science & Arts Academy
- Stevenson High School D125
- University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
- Winnetka-Northfield Public Library District
- Wolcott College Prep
- Youth & Opportunity United (Y.O.U.)
Upcoming Events
America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., Ph.D.
James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University
Imani Perry, JD, Ph.D.
Henry A. Morss, Jr. and Elisabeth W. Morss Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute
ON ZOOM
Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
David Epstein
Science writer and best-selling author
Megan Twohey
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times
Evanston Township High School Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
Post-event reception in ETHS’s Alumni Hall, open to all.

Churn: The Tension That Divides Us and How to Overcome It
Claude M. Steele, Ph.D.
Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Emeritus, at Stanford University
Marcus Campbell, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Evanston Township High School D202, Evanston, IL
Evanston Township High School Auditorium
Note: Event start time is Central Time (CT).
NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED.


