I was took the moment to take this time to read Keith E. Benson’s and Leah Z. Owens’s Professional Development Research Paper titled “Unpacking the Shortcomings of ‘College and Career Readiness’ as an Educative Approach in Urban Schools as Preparation for Tomorrow’s Economy.” While the concept of college and career readiness has a positive value, the authors of the article support that the concept has many flaws that relate to the pre-existence of urban education’s systemic inequities and discrimination in education. Although some believe that by preparing students to be able to go to college or enter the workforce, there is still a significant issue of inequality that will remain in place until there is true equity in our education system.

The reading was a summary of what should not be an inherent issue with the educational system, as students in college and the workforce should not have to continue encountering systems of inequality after their formal education has ended, and therefore supports that the focus of an educational system should be both the academic success of students after graduation, as well as the social realities, students will experience after graduation. Overall, the reading encouraged me to consider whether schools support both the development of an individual student for their future and the development of a just and equitable society today and in the future.