Vol. 2 No. 1 (2018): Raising the Next Generation: The Parent/Caregiver and Educator Connection

Authors addressing this issue's theme, “Raising the Next Generation: The Parent/Caregiver and Educator Connection,” provide readers with interestingly different but complementary perspectives on how and why effective partnerships between educators, parents, and students are so essential. Two invited guest columns, one from a parent leader and another from a university professor, provide wisdom and insights about some of the opportunities and responsibilities that come with “raising the next generation.” Stories are told, too. A young woman describes  her experience of school through the lens of poverty; a single father reflects on the joys and challenges of learning to be both dad and mom for his children; a qualitative researcher shares her participants' experiences as mothers navigating systems and careers in education. Several articles in this issue emphasize the critical importance of high quality care and education for the youngest of children; others develop the shared theme of what happens when families are highlighted and honored as the powerful partners they are in educating students of all ages, from preschool through college. A final theme is about “microaggressions." This is a term taught explicitly through a video on common misunderstandings about Middle Eastern people, geography, and cultures and the unintended insults they can create. The term is also illustrated in other articles (e.g., on "invisible disabilities" and poverty) which reveal the unintended hurts that many minority students experience regularly at the hands of uninformed, sometimes uncaring, peers and adults. May all readers see ourselves not only as probable committers of microaggressions in one form or another, but also as champions for justice, learning how to recognize and correct them as we work together in our many villages, raising the next generation.