Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

This term describes a difference in educational performance between groups identified by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity. Original Sins examines the achievement gap between white students and those of Black and Indigenous heritage. Ewing cites the achievement gap as the primary problem addressed during her time as an educator, partly because testing creates data, making such gaps quantifiable. Ewing argues that because the achievement gap relies heavily on the results of often biased or otherwise flawed standardized testing, it is inherently misguided analysis.

The American Dream is the myth that any citizen of the United States—regardless of race, religion, gender, or socioeconomic status—can attain success and wealth, primarily through hard work. Ewing argues that the American Dream’s insistence on individual rather than communal effort promotes the values of a capitalist society. In reality, hard work does not provide “equal access to a good life” in the US (4); for instance, the broken education system prevents Black and Indigenous students from achieving success regardless of the amount of effort they exercise.