Stealing an Education: On the Precariousness of Justice

Autor/inn/en	Joldersma, Clarence; Perhamus, Lisa M.
Titel	Stealing an Education: On the Precariousness of Justice
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 122 (2020) 2, (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0161-4681
Schlagwörter	Equal Education; Mothers; African Americans; Enrollment; School Districts; Justice; Access to Education; Courts; Public Opinion; Court Litigation; Disadvantaged; Racial Discrimination; Social Discrimination; Educational Policy; Ohio + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Mother; Mutter; Afroamerikaner; Einschulung; School district; Schulbezirk; Gerechtigkeit; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Court; Gerichtshof; Öffentliche Meinung; Rechtsstreit; Racial bias; Rassismus; Soziale Benachteiligung; Soziale Schließung; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik
Abstract	Background/Context: This article examines a 2011 court case in which an Ohio state court convicted and jailed a poor, single, Black mother of two school-aged children for "stealing an education." Using a false address, the mother, Kelley Williams-Bolar, enrolled her daughters in a public school district that was more privileged and amply resourced than their home district in order to provide her children a "better education." The court's ruling and public opinion on this case (as illustrated through media) serve as the context of this article's analysis. Purpose: Employing Judith Butler's concept of precarity, Jacques Derrida's theory of justice to come, and Hannah Arendt's and Walter Benjamin's ideas about state violence, the article offers a conceptual framework of the precariousness of justice to analyze the implications of this case. Through the precariousness of justice framework, the article examines the ways that racial and class societal inequities manifest themselves through the judge's juridical determination and journalistic expressions of public opinion. The purpose of this article is to explicate the intimate and structural connections between racism, classism, educational policy, and the U.S. court system. Research Design: As a conceptual analysis, the article theoretically examines the Williams-Bolar court case as a demonstration of the ways in which the juridical apparatus of the state (the court system) and mainstream media (public opinion) divide people by race and class within inequitable societal structures. The article uses the theoretical framework of the precariousness of justice to examine the political implications of the court's ruling on educational policy regarding school districting. Conclusions: Findings include that school district enrollment boundaries create borders around people by race and class, and that these educational enrollment borders can lead to people "border-hopping" in an effort to equalize educational access. The court system plays a role in reifying race- and class-based educational boundaries and borders. The concluding analysis situates this case within the context of both state violence and hope. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01