Race and Racism in Education with Dr. Marvin Lynn

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by Rafael Otto

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01.21.2022

Join us Sundays at 4:30pm for new episodes of The Early Link Podcast. Listen live at 99.1 FM in the heart of Portland – or online anywhere at PRP.fm

This is a special segment, because it marks the 75th episode of The Early Link Podcast!

Here, host Rafael Otto speaks with Dr. Marvin Lynn who most recently served as the dean at Portland State University’s Graduate School of Education. He has served as dean and professor at universities across the country, and started his career as an elementary and middle school teacher. Also, he has conducted research that explores the work and lives of Black male teachers and the impact of teacher beliefs on Black students. He is an internationally recognized expert on race and education, serves on the board for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, and an elected member and vice chair of the Tigard-Tualatin school board. Additionally, he is an editor for the recently updated Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education.

 

Guest:

For nearly three decades, Dr. Marvin Lynn has worked as an elementary and middle school teacher and has served as a professor and administrator in institutions of higher education for the last twenty years. He is a nationally recognized expert on race and the education of BIPOC learners. He has published dozens of research articles, book chapters, opinion pieces, and an edited book on these topics. He serves on several state and national boards including the Carnegie Project for the Education Doctorate, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Providence Hospitals’ Oregon Community Ministry Board, the Oregon Educator Advancement Council, and the Oregon Educator Equity Advisory Group. Dr. Lynn resides in the Bull Mountain area and is married to Adwoa Lynn who is a Registered Nurse at Providence St. Vincent. They are parents to three academically successful and athletically involved boys: Kwabena, Naasei, and Sidney.

 

Summary:

In this segment, Dr. Lynn gives us an update on his sabbatical and his further work on Critical Race Theory (CRT), and discusses the concept of creating an anti-racist lens in the education world. He also covers some of the data on the achievement gap that affects not only students of color, but educators of color in the current system; and how this can be addressed in the early childhood sphere. Additionally, Dr. Lynn speaks to why diversity in this particular workforce is necessary for all, and the current direction of the education profession on that front, and gives his thoughts on what he believes is going on in a national context around CRT. He also talks about his contribution to the the handbook of critical race theory and education (that has recently been updated), and his hopes for the future of education and for our kids in this country.

 

Additional Resources:

 

Critical Race Theory: A Brief History

Transcript

[00:00:00] Rafael Otto: Welcome to the Early Link Podcast on Rafael Otto. Thank you for listening. You can catch us on 99.1 FM in the Portland Metro on Sundays at 4:30 PM. Or Tune in at your convenience, wherever you find your podcasts, including iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music. This is a special segment because it marks the 75th episode of the Early Link.

And I want to thank all of our listeners here in Oregon, across the country and internationally for tuning in today. I’m speaking with Dr. Marvin Lynn, who most recently served as the Dean at Portland State University’s Graduate School of Education, has served as Dean and professor at universities across the country, and started his career as an elementary and middle school teacher.

He has also conducted research that explores the work in lives of Black male teachers and the impact of teacher beliefs on Black students. He is an internationally recognized expert on race and education, serves on the board for the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, and as an elected member and vice chair of the Tigard-Tualatin school board .

He is also an editor for the recently updated Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education. 

Marvin, it’s great to have you on the podcast today. Welcome.

[00:01:19] Marvin Lynn: Thank you for having me.

[00:01:22] Rafael Otto: I know that currently you are on sabbatical and I just thought we could start there. Uh, what does that look like today? And I know that you’re spending your time focused on your scholarly work.

So give us an update.

[00:01:34] Marvin Lynn: Yes. So, you know, it couldn’t have come at a better time because just as I was going on sabbatical, the firestorm around critical race theory began nationally. Right. And I remember as, as I was talking about the transition out of the Dean role, I was starting to get some communication from the media about CRT and its existence in the schools.

And I was saying, no, no, no, it’s not really happening in schools, and not paying much attention. I mean, it was like clockwork. As soon as I became professor on sabbatical, I started to get all of this communication from all these major news entities: Fox News, the BBC and Christian Science Monitor. “Hey, what’s going on?”

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