Kumashiro was deeply influenced by his mother, who was also a teacher who from a young age instilled her love of teaching into her children. He also gained influence from some of his high school teachers who he grew fond of. Kumashiro identifies himself as an Asian-American who reaches for racial harmony in the classroom. He seeks for educators to understand that oppressive education can go on in unnoticed ways. Kevin kumashiro tries to get educators to question common sense. For instance, just because students score high on standardized tests may not mean that they are properly learning or being properly taught, despite common sense saying that high scores means higher learning. As Kevin Kumashiro states, “I’m trying to get people to question those things that we take for granted, because … maybe they are part of the problem,”
Idea of Education
Kumashiro's idea of education and role of the teacher is to empower the student and be an anti-oppressive educator. The definition of anti-oppressive education according to the Center of Anti-Oppressive Education, founded by Kumashiro:
Anti-oppressive education is premised on the notion that many traditional and commonsense ways of engaging in "education" actually contribute to oppression in schools and society. Furthermore, anti-oppressive education is premised on the notion that many commonsense ways of "reforming education" actually mask the oppressions that need to be challenged. What results is a deep commitment to changing how we think about and engage in many aspects of education, from curriculum and pedagogy, to school culture and activities, to institutional structure and policies. Perhaps more importantly, what results is a deep commitment to exploring perspectives on education that do not conform to what has become "common sense" in the field of education. Anti-oppressive education expects to be different, perhaps uncomfortable, and even controversial.
Through the spread of Anti-Oppressive Education, Kumashiro wants to challenge all forms of oppression in classrooms, both intentional and unintentional.
Kumashiro is a strong proponent for publicly funded education, and his advocacy stems from empowering minority groups such as LGBTQ, low SES, and students of color to have an equal opportunity to become well educated citizens. Kumashiro claims that many of the learning problems that come from public education arise from racial unawareness on the part of the educators. This discrimination can be unintentional as well as intentional. On top of that Kumashiro criticizes that public schools are perpetuating oppressive teaching practices by failing to acknowledge them. He believes that the best way to prevent oppression of minority groups is for educators and educational leaders to ask “How our practices contribute to oppression?” Alongside fellow educators, Kumashiro criticizes public leaders who develop public school curriculum for failing to realize their unintentional discriminative lessons. In his book, “Preparing Anti-Oppressive Teachers in 6 Disciplines”, Kevin Kumashiro dispels the notion that anti-oppressive teaching is limited to social studies such as politics and history.
