Episode #71

What If We Radically Shift How We Think About Education? A Conversation with Colin Seale

As we think about the kids of this country going back to school (or not) in the fall, we can’t help think about how the educational inequality that was already in place is being further exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19.

However, if you take it back before internet connectivity problems and the lack of computer devices to learn from home on, there has always been a problem with equal and easy access to quality education.

We bring you a conversation with Colin Seale, whose biggest mission centers around providing equal access to critical thinking skills by working with teachers, administrators, and parents alike. Hear how every single one of us can make a difference, and how educational opportunities are so intricately linked to racial justice.

Have questions, comments, or concerns? Email us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com

“There’s no doubt in my mind that our kids have an unbelievable amount of critical-thinking potential all across the board. The question is: Are we going to continue to be okay with a society where genius is distributed evenly, but opportunity isn’t?” -Colin Seale

What to listen for:

Colin’s story of success is based on because of, rather than despite, his upbringing.
How creating schools within schools - regardless of private or public - create separate but unequal access to educational opportunities.
The skills that are necessary to go beyond fixing a broken system, but to re-imagine education as it should be.
How White parents and adults can make a difference today.

For this episode, we spoke with Colin Seale, the founder, and CEO of thinkLaw. Tackling inequity hands-on has always been personal to Colin because the amazing educational opportunities he received in gifted and talented courses and an exclusive specialized high school despite his underprivileged background growing up in Brooklyn, NY made him an exception to a painfully unjust rule. So whether Colin was teaching middle and high school math in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas, NV, applying his computer science degree and Master’s in Public Administration to fight for child safety at Nevada’s largest child welfare agency, or practicing as a business attorney at one of Las Vegas’ top law firms while representing children in foster care, Colin has always dreamed of a world where stories like his were no longer the exception, but instead, all students had an equal shot at being exceptional. Colin created thinkLaw to give all students access to the type of game-changing critical thinking education they need to not only fully understand the way the world is, but to question it and imagine the way the world ought to be. When he’s not serving as the world’s greatest critical thinking evangelist, Colin proudly serves as the world’s greatest entertainer for his two little kiddos and loving husband to his wife Carrie. His new book Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students came out in April of 2020.

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