Yesterday I was informed that we are no longer referring to students as “at-risk students” now the term is “high-need students”. The language that is viewed as appropriate ways to discuss students, which are really simply a reflection of those who soon will be called simply citizens or members of society.

What is meant when people refer to “high needs students”  – really it means students who are rollercoastering along the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

What other terms are used to make our crisis in society sound better:

culturally competent – not a racist and is willing to learn about how other people do things

normative practices – getting everyone to do the same thing, although not the same things for “high needs students” nor under the assumptions that all cultures are the same. just a tad of cognitive dissonance.

accountability systems – ways to tell people they suck at their jobs and ways to get them out of those jobs

under-performing – schools where something is going seriously wrong.

There are many more, but these were just the ones I heard in a meeting this morning.