“Those teachers who imported politics from elsewhere, who recognized that educational work is political work that to talk about or not to talk about economic arrangements is to do political work, took as their individual and collective responsibility a curriculum that included critical examination of social and economic issues and a pedagogy that attended to the multiple perspectives and ideas inside their classrooms.” (Fine, 35)

Fine demonstrates a keen awareness of the socio-political and ideological implications of teaching through her discussion on silencing and naming in school environments. Fine defines the resulting responsibilities of teachers on an individual and collective level, offering both descriptive and normative responses to actualize those responsibilities. In doing so, Fine presents a context through which culturally and socially relevant teaching can be carried out in order to not only protect against drop-out but also to bolster educational outcomes.

Fine discusses many domains where silencing occurs. While all are important, I believe silencing that disenfranchises the social identity or the cultural background of a student is most detrimental, particularly when dealing with “at-risk” student populations whose backgrounds often align with non-dominant ethnic groups and social identities. On page 21, Fine discusses how critical classroom discourse about social inequality is often perceived as a threat to the teacher’s control (Fine, 21). I argue that culturally and socially relevant teaching aims for such a loss of control. By centering the student’s lived socio-cultural experience and personal expertise, the typical power-relation that favors the teacher is destabilized in ways that can empower those who are typically voiceless.

Fine insists upon the place that such critical discourse has in curriculum and instruction (Fine, 29). In doing so, she challenges educators to conceive of themselves as socio-political agents who carry out political work in every aspect of their professional lives, from planning to delivery. It is the individual responsibility of teachers to examine their own practices for opportunities to be more socially and culturally responsive, as well as their teaching community to identify where and how these perspectives are being silenced and negatively effecting the educational outcomes of at-risk youth. As an English educator, it is important for me to incorporate texts that invite and structure critical discourse of social issues so that students may examine their own social contexts and employ lessons from their liberal arts to effect their own lives and communities.