The banking theory of education originates with philosopher and educational theorist Paulo Freire. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968), Freire argues that most students receive an education in which knowledge flows one way—from teacher to student—and in which students learn only what supports the status quo. Freire believes instead in a critical pedagogy that teaches students to challenge the status quo and be critical thinkers. Coates relies on this analysis to explain why he didn’t thrive as a young student and to encourage his students to challenge the status quo as storytellers and as people engaged in the work of crafting historical narratives.

Critical race theory—first articulated in the 1970s by legal scholars Derrick Bell and Kimberlé Crenshaw, among others—holds that racism is central to the United States from its founding and that US institutions and social relations are responsible for reproducing it. Addressing racism’s negative effects requires identifying the structural aspects of institutions like the law and education that keep producing unequal outcomes. The major aim of the theory is to provide a framework to reform laws and institutions. It is not a theory traditionally taught in K-12 schools, but its insights are threatening to people who accept the dominant