What we teach

Abstract

What We Teach is a linked collection of nonfiction essays. The two major figures that appear throughout the collection--a domineering father and an underperforming high school in rural Mississippi--initiate explorations of power, violence, and the role of individual choice. A man copes with his upbringing as a bigot while teaching in a school attended almost exclusively by black students; a father and son consider ending their relationship after years of turmoil; a teacher struggles with his aversion to violence in a school filled with fights; and a young couple becomes romantically entangled amidst chaos. The collection draws on the literary nonfiction traditions established by authors such as George Orwell, JoAnne Beard, Eula Biss, Richard Rodriguez, and Anne Lamott. Informed by a sense of displacement and structured around compelling scenes, the essays investigate what we teach our children at home and in our schools.