The war on schools: NCLB, nation creation and the educational construction of whiteness
Abstract
The study of whiteness in education is receiving increased attention. This essay argues that the No Child Left Behind Act is an example of color‐blindness par excellence. NCLB’s hidden referent of whiteness makes a casual pass at racial explanation that sidesteps race as a causal explanation for educational disparities. In this sense, NCLB is an ‘act of whiteness’ and perpetuates the innocence of whiteness as a system of privilege. It is a form of whiteness as policy. Its white common sense deems racial disparities as unfortunate outcomes of group competition, uneven social development, or worse, as stubborn cultural explanations of the inferiority of people of color. The essay argues for a color‐conscious perspective that problematizes the otherwise race‐neutral discourse of NCLB. It ends with a discussion of the future of whiteness by engaging the debate between the abolition and rearticulation of whiteness.
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The racial ideology rewards those in power who ignore race.
“In fact, as Leonardo (2007) noted, the racial ideology rewards those in power who ignore race,”
From Conceptualizing color-evasiveness: using dis/ability critical race theory to expand a color-blind racial ideology in education and society (2017) · cites this paper as Leonardo 2007
Cites
Césaire, A. (2022) · Postcolonlsm · doi:10.4324/9781003101406-19 · Cited by 3,705 · see citing works
White Women, Race Matters: The Social Construction of Whiteness
Frankenburg, R. (1993) · doi:10.4324/9780203973431 · Cited by 3,308 · see citing works
White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2001) · doi:10.1515/9781685850272 · Cited by 897 · see citing works
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Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability
Annamma, S. A., Connor, D., & Ferri, B. (2013) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/13613324.2012.730511 · Cited by 1,272 · see citing works
Annamma, S. A., Jackson, D. D., & Morrison, D. (2017) · Race Ethnicity and Education · doi:10.1080/13613324.2016.1248837 · Cited by 738 · see citing works
Bertrand, M., Perez, W. Y., & Rogers, J. (2015) · Education Policy Analysis Archives · doi:10.14507/epaa.v23.2068 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Dialectics of race criticality: studies in racial stratification and education
Leonardo, Z. (2014) · A Companion to Research in Education · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6809-3_32 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Leonardo, Z.
- Affiliations
- University of California System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Leonardo, Zeus
- ORCID
- Leonardo, Zeus
- Venue
- Race Ethnicity and Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2007-09
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 261-278
- ISSN
- 1361-3324 (ISSN-L)
- 1470-109X
- OpenAlex
- W2095742088
- Cited by
- 187
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 11.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Race Ethnicity and Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Critical Race Theory in Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Education Discipline and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Education, Philosophy, and Society
- Keywords
- No Child Left Behind Act, whiteness, color vision deficiency, color consciousness, education policy, racial inequality in education, nation-building, white privilege
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