System Failure: A series of interlogues about emptiness, detachment, and the Chicago Public Schools

Charles Vanover, Rose Thomas, David Dodd, Cynthia Langtiw

Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentation

Abstract

This session uses data from a verbatim play about the Chicago Public Schools, System Failure, to inquire into the confrontation between abstraction and experience. We begin the session with a verbatim performance of a 10 minute excerpt from the ethnodrama: a third grade teacher’s narrative about working with students who failed their high-stakes exams. Audience members will share responses to the ethnodrama before listening to an interlogue by Dr. Rose Thomas that reframes the play in light of a core theme of the teacher's narrative—Buddhist practice. Panelists and audience reflect on this material in view of the concepts of emptiness, detachment, and the miracle of life. We conclude by returning to the racial issues driving the ethnodrama--the teacher's students were African-American; the teacher and the primary movers of Chicago’s high-stakes testing policy were White.

Original languageAmerican English
StatePublished - Jan 17 2019

Keywords

  • Ethnodrama
  • Chicago Public Schools
  • Buddhist Practice

Disciplines

  • Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies

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