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This article looks at the American Dream as a merit narrative to understand how it supports barriers to educational success for educators working to improve the lives of students in urban schools. Hard work/perseverance and individualism are interrogated as components of merit narratives used to sustain the American Dream. We analyze data from six educators who identify as advocates. We conclude that the stories educators tell reify individuals’ hard work/perseverance, rather than dispel myths of meritocracy, thereby blaming the lack of success on students’ inadequate effort as opposed to schools designed to maintain the status quo.

This article explores the challenges of creating an antioppressive, transformative curriculum for hope among practicing teachers. As the authors investigate the impact of their curriculum, they discovered that although the skills of reflection, collaboration, and continuous inquiry led teachers to new insight-even change in teacher practice-it failed to inspire teachers to take an antioppressive stance in remedying oppressive practices in schools. Building on the body of literature related to the African American struggle against oppression, the authors argue that for a curriculum to be transformative, it must encourage a symbiotic relationship between hope and action. The authors conclude that audacious hope-in-action is an essential part of teaching transformatively.

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