Voice: Sharif El-Mekki
![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Sharif-El-Mekki-Black-educators.jpeg)
Guest Commentary: A Different Kind of Education Promise
The founder of a Black teacher pipeline wonders: Isn’t it time to make a long-term investment in our public school children’s futures?
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/black-students-791x400.jpg)
Guest Commentary: Believe in Black Students
Here are some ways schools can take action and demonstrate a commitment to anti-racism that is essential for reducing pandemic learning loss
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Freedom-Schools-Literacy-Academy-791x400.jpg)
Guest Commentary: Tackling Illiteracy
The first-ever virtual Freedom Schools Literacy Academy models liberation education — and gets results
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/shoemaker-e1472522338568-791x400.jpg)
Guest Commentary: Teaching Black Children is a Revolutionary Act
The director of a Black teacher training program pens an open letter to new educators for their “subversive act of hope”
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/progressivism-overlooking-children-of-color-791x400.jpg)
Guest Commentary: Is Progressivism Letting Down Our Kids?
A longtime educator/activist bemoans the dilemma of progressive cities like Philly, where everyone progresses, except for Black and Brown children.
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/leadership-header-791x400.jpg)
Black Teachers Are Not Enough
A Mastery principal notes that schools also need support to keep those—and all—teachers in their jobs
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Nasihah-Thompson-King-1-791x400.jpg)
Citizen Of The Week: Nasihah Thompson-King
As her Mastery-Shoemaker principal attests, the high schooler benched from basketball because of her hijab is a freedom fighter for our times
By Sharif El-Mekki![](https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/bullet-hole-header-791x400.jpg)
I’ve Known Gun Violence
A Mastery high school principal who is both a gun owner and gunshot victim on why guns in schools makes kids less safe
By Sharif El-Mekki