Yasuko Kanno

“A unique feature of the policy center we’re building at BU is our commitment to elevating the content expertise and qualitative research of faculty like Yasuko within the policy conversation; both independently as well as alongside and on even-footing with the quantitative analysis that often grabs the spotlight,” WEPC Executive Director Meagan Comb said. “We are so fortunate that she has decided to join WEPC and I am really excited to see the impact of her efforts, particularly within our state partnerships.”

Why Wheelock Educational Policy Center?
I work on English learner’s access to college and I do some secondary data analysis– but I’m basically more of an ethonographer and qualitative researcher going to schools, working with students and teachers, and looking at the system. No matter what projects I do, I end up finding systemic issues that really stratify student access to college and really reduce postsecondary options for English learners. In other words, no matter what I do, it all comes back to policy.

What do you think is the most pressing issue in education today?
The education system in the United States is such an unequal system. And it’s not just individual students’ efforts or families’ efforts that make a difference–I mean they do make a difference–but there are limits. I think that’s really the one single most critical challenge in our education system. Everybody’s trying to do the best they can and yet the system itself ends up discriminating against certain populations. I’m an immigrant myself and was an English learner in another country, and the idea that which language you happen to speak becomes the basis of your educational opportunities–that’s just mind-boggling to me. I think I come back to that again and again; why is it that what language you’re born with has to make such a huge difference? 

What inspired you to do this work?
As an English learner, I happened to be in a boarding school in the U.K.and it was such a monolingual place, in hindsight. Given that it was an international school, that was astounding. I always carry that experience and now question why it had to be that way. Why can’t we aim higher: aim for bilingualism and multilingualism? And that’s the other side of the equation as I work with linguistically marginalized students; the pendulum can swing the other way sometimes. Some will say “Let’s preserve their first language”–that’s extremely important but sometimes I feel like then we aren’t giving students the opportunity to develop English proficiency. Human beings are absolutely capable learning and speaking multiple languages. Why can’t it be both? 

What is your favorite way to connect with the Boston community?
I find that the teachers and educators in this region are incredibly professional, so I really do enjoy that aspect and that’s what keeps me professionally connected in Boston. I have a network of really trusted colleagues, not just at BU Wheelock, but in the region like educators in local schools, that I really look up to and trust. This isn’t something that I had before and I value that tremendously. 

Name a book or other media that you love to recommend to people.
The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work by Linda Babcock–this book trulymade me about and reflect on the different kinds of work we, female faculty and staff members, do. It also talks about promotoable work versus nonpromotable work: Promotable work is the kind that promotes your own career and nonpromotable work is these tasks that your institution needs you to do but doesn’t do anything to promote your own career. I highly recommend it to any female professionals or students. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.