Gangtas, Wankstas By Jeff Duncan-Andrade: An Analysis

In Gangstas, Wankstas, and Ridas, Jeff Duncan-Andrade provides vivid examples on how teachers who ultimately allow for their physical and emotional health to be secondary in order to benefit their students are more prominent to seek academic success within urban schools. These teachers are known as "ridas," as they "risk deep emotional involvement with the great majority of their students" in order for the students to obtain academic achievement (Duncan-Andrade, 2007, p. 623). As many school systems isolate individuals of color within urban schools, Ridas create safe and secure educational policies that seek to give these individuals a "second-chance" of acquiring academic success (Duncan-Andrade, 2007). Ridas are essential for obtaining success within urban communities

By learning such knowledge, the students from these urban and low-income communities become more likely to "change the world"(Duncan-Andrade, 2007 p. 625). Duncan-Andrade (2007) asserts that by developing an educational curriculum for urban students that is engaging and implements critical thinking skills, they are more likely to obtain academic success. As students are supposedly receiving the same educational curriculum as to students in privileged schools, many of the urban school students cultural background and outside experiences have damaged their ability to acquire specific knowledge and information (Camangian, 2015). Ridas understand and are aware of the forces that can affect a student's academic attainment (Duncan-Andrade, 2007). To combat this systematic form of oppression, Ridas incorporation of