Open Society

They know the weight of a mattock and the effort required to swing it 100 times. They know the value of time and how quickly it dissolves in the rush to meet deadlines. They know what it means to be trusted and trustworthy. To work with real tools. To make decisions, not unimportant ones, real decisions, which carry real consequences. They understand the challenge of placemaking and how breathing life into neglected and unused spaces impacts a community.

While we are proud of what these children have created, it is the process, the unseen effort, that is the real story. This is how we transformed our play spaces with no money, no time, and no idea what we were doing.

I believe it is possible to design meaningful and memorable experiences that impact community and cover the curriculum. We can learn and make a difference in the lives of others. Co-designing the project with students was vital to developing a sense of connection with the learning; each other; and the community.

The guiding principle in Mr. Trump’s government is to turn the politics of white resentment into the policies of white rage

White resentment has long thrived on the fantasy of being under siege and having to fight back, as the mass lynchings and destruction of thriving, politically active black communities in Colfax, La. (1873), Wilmington, N.C. (1898), Ocoee, Fla. (1920), and Tulsa, Okla. (1921), attest. White resentment needs the boogeyman of job-taking, maiden-ravaging, tax-evading, criminally inclined others to justify the policies that thwart the upward mobility and success of people of color.

That white resentment simply found a new target for its ire is no coincidence; white identity is often defined by its sense of being ever under attack, with the system stacked against it. That’s why Mr. Trump’s policies are not aimed at ameliorating white resentment, but deepening it. His agenda is not, fundamentally, about creating jobs or protecting programs that benefit everyone, including whites; it’s about creating purported enemies and then attacking them.

In the end, white resentment is so myopic and selfish that it cannot see that when the larger nation is thriving, whites are, too. Instead, it favors policies and politicians that may make America white again, but also hobbled and weakened, a nation that has squandered its greatest assets — its people and its democracy.

That white resentment simply found a new target for its ire is no coincidence; white identity is often defined by its sense of being ever under attack, with the system stacked against it. That’s why Mr. Trump’s policies are not aimed at ameliorating white resentment, but deepening it. His agenda is not, fundamentally, about creating jobs or protecting programs that benefit everyone, including whites; it’s about creating purported enemies and then attacking them. In the end, white resentment is so myopic and selfish that it cannot see that when the larger nation is thriving, whites are, too. Instead, it favors policies and politicians that may make America white again, but also hobbled and weakened, a nation that has squandered its greatest assets — its people and its democracy.

In America’s four-and-a-half-centuries-old relay race, the phrase “white privilege” does not mean that Caucasians can’t run fast; it is just a matter-of-fact acknowledgment that they got a head start.

Instead of hurling the term “white privilege” around as an imprecise catch-all to describe everything from police brutality to Pepsi commercials, perhaps its use as a definable phrase will make people less resistant. Maybe if they saw the numbers, they could acknowledge its existence. It is neither an insult nor an accusation; it is simply a measurable gap with real-world implications. It is the fiscal and economic disparity of black vs. white.

White privilege: n. The quantitative advantage of whiteness

And what a privilege that is: To be completely wrong, and yet suffer no consequences for it.

It’s ten years on now, and I continue to call bullshit on this. I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and I’ve been in the middle, and in all of those economic states I still had and have systemic advantages that came with being white and straight and male. Yes, being wealthy does make life less difficult! But on the other hand being wealthy (and an Oscar winner) didn’t keep Forest Whitaker from being frisked in a bodega for alleged shoplifting, whereas I have never once been asked to empty my pockets at a store, even when (as a kid, and poor as hell) I was actually shoplifting. This is an anecdotal observation! Also, systemically, wealth insulates people who are not straight and white and male less than it does those who are. Which means, to me, I put it in the right place in my formulation.

Here, a desire for compliance with social norms and expectations involves ignoring obvious autistic joy and play, and equally ignoring obvious autistic fear. Given how widely reported fear is among autistic people, we need to recognise that people who are constantly frightened and yet are carrying on with life and dealing with things are showing a lot of courage as well as determination.  Frightened or not, making the effort to perform so as to fit in is often exhausting and likely to be at the expense of other capacity  (see discussion of monotropism at www.autismandcomputing.org.uk and see Colored spoons… and social codes where there is a version of ‘spoon theory’ which also builds on the idea that there is a limited supply of processing resources).

Ecstasy and awe also appear to be emotional states associated with monotropism.

Play emerges from a sense of safety. Even the most playful animal won’t play when frightened or angry.

I am proposing that neurotypicality is distinguished by the early appearance of the theatrical imagination

What I am here calling theatrical imagination is, I believe, identical with what in Lorna Wing’s original diagnostic criteria for autism is referred to as “social imagination.”

"There's a lot of things that kids built," he explains, looking around at the playground. "It's not adults doing work; it's kids doing work!"

There is nothing more human than play.

Access and time for play are children’s rights issues. It's also a racial justice issue.

The research is clear, but truth be told I feel no need to justify allowing my students to play. Simply the fact that they so clearly want to play is sufficient for me. The joy it brings is more than enough. We have only one childhood. When what should be a play-filled period of life is gone, it is indeed ‘lost’. And that’s the loss I am worried about. So when we talk about restoring humanity in education, I can’t think of a better place to start than in play, especially with our youngest learners.