Dive Brief:

• In a new interview with the Huffington Post, Dr. Yohuru Williams, an activist from the Badass Teacher Association and Professor of History at Fairfield University, details how he and his peers "are not buying" U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's approach to education reform.
• In the interview, Williams details his issues with corporate education reform, specifically alleging that current "reform" measures actually re-segregate schools, push out qualified teachers, and over-emphasize the value of high-stakes tests.  
• The interview includes a call to action from Dr. Williams for more teachers to become activists and push back against the "war on public education."  

Dive Insight:

Education activist M. Shannon Hernandez decided to interview Dr. Williams because she was particularly moved by his words as keynote speaker at the Teachers Occupy event last month, held outside of the U.S. Department of Education. For that reason, she also weaves pieces of his speech thoughout the interview.

Both the interview and speech broach topics such as Teach for America ("Teach for America is not the solution to America's education problem; rather, the solution lies in creating environments and pay structures which support and encourage highly qualified and dedicated teachers."), Charter Schools ("The abuses associated with some charter schools and the hyper-segregation they encourage has been well documented. Teachers must continue to draw public attention to the zip code apartheid made worse by policies pursued by the DOE."), and high-stakes testing ("Mr. Duncan, you have made everything about the collection of data--reducing our youth to test scores. If only you would take the time to see our students as we do. They are first and foremost children, students and scholars who pursue divergent interest.").