The Author: Rebecca Powell is Professor of Graduate Education at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky. She is the author of Literacy as a Moral Imperative: Facing the Challenges of a Pluralistic Society.

«Rebecca Powell has written a powerful book that transforms the way we think about teaching and learning. ‘Straight Talk’ speaks with incredible honesty and agency; it’s a book about hope, about the potential for transformation, and about what can happen when we work together for change. ‘Straight Talk’ is an eloquent, intimate conversation about teaching and learning and the critical roles our notions about class, race, and gender play in the school achievement of students of color. Powell’s honesty about what it means to be an Anglo educator engaged in the struggle to make schooling the best part of each child’s day is a living testimony that we need not be forever crippled by the insidious destructiveness of racism, classism, homophobia, and gender bias. Rather, Powell critically examines these tough issues as they operate in language, curricula, and social institutions, and thus strips them of their power to distort our vision and to confound our educational and social best intentions. ‘Straight Talk’ offers pragmatic help to classroom practitioners and university faculty. ‘Straight Talk’ is a timely text; it will serve us well in the struggle to walk our talk as we work to transform society into a fit place for human beings to teach, to learn, and to thrive.» (Linda Spears-Bunton, Florida International University)«In an honest and clear, but firm and informed voice, Rebecca Powell addresses issues of teaching multiculturally. Many authors try to soft peddle the concept of multicultural education in an effort to win over select groups. Powell, however, refreshingly confronts issues that surround the teaching of cultural difference in teacher education in a no nonsense manner. She challenges readers to embrace the philosophy of multicultural education and to put its tenets into action. Her discussion of seminal studies as well as cutting edge research is a real plus for the reader.» (Arlette Ingram Willis, University of Illinois)