You Can Pay for School, But You Can't Buy Class

Education has been such an important topic as people have been discussing
kids going back to school, but more than that in this episode about what they are
learning when they are there, socially and scholastically. From classroom teaching to
disciplinary measures, our children observe and absorb just as much at school as they do at home. For Black children, some of their first personal encounters with white
supremacy come from teachers, administrators or even their peers. As they age, the way that material is taught has white supremacy baked in in a way that creates and maintains harmful stereotypes about Black people. And even at the policy level we know that K-12 and post secondary education policies can harm Black students and HBCUs. Our guests today have spent time with students in school and extracurricular settings and will be speaking to their experience of what that can look like.

Shanteal Lake is the External Relations Associate at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Prior to joining Equitable Growth, she managed a variety of work streams and policy portfolios focused on eliminating inequities in education with clients such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Collaborative for Student Success, and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. Previously, she served on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce, where she supported the committee’s messaging, media coverage, and digital presence across a diverse range of public policy issues. Shanteal holds an M.A. in political and strategic communication from American University and a B.A. in political science from Spelman College.

Zuogwi Earl Reeves has spent several years working in the nonprofit and education sector, supporting first-generation students primarily from Ward 7 and 8 in the District of Columbia. He lives by the quote “You should avoid hedging, at least that’s what I think. You should be ashamed to die until you’ve made some contribution to mankind” by Dr. Vernon Johns. While working he has managed a total of 4.2 million dollars in scholarship dollars funded by the Gates Foundation, Ted Leonis, Rupert Murdock, and Don Graham. Zuogw is currently  employed in the field of college access and youth development. Zuogwi accepted God’s calling in 2015 and was granted a license to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Thursday, April 6, 2017, at Shiloh Baptist Church. Zuogwi (Zuo) Reeves is the first son of Deaconess Myra Sampson Reeves and the late Rev. Justus Y. Reeves.  Zuo was born in Washington, DC, and is a first-generation Liberian American.