Jeff Duncan-Andrade: Growing Roses in Concrete

Summary

Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade argues that schools can better support young people—especially those facing poverty, violence, and other forms of inequality—by recognizing their strengths, addressing the conditions around them, and building relationships that create hope.

1. See young people as roses growing through concrete

Duncan-Andrade opens with a lesson from his mother: life is both “half full” and “half empty,” and what people choose to notice shapes how they respond to it. He connects this idea to Tupac Shakur’s poem “The Rose That Grew from Concrete.” A rose growing in concrete may have damaged petals, but its survival also shows extraordinary tenacity.

The educational lesson is to avoid focusing only on young people’s difficulties. Students may carry real pain and trauma, but they also possess resilience and a will to grow. How adults see and value them affects whether they feel safe enough to trust, participate, and learn.

2. Shift attention from “problem students” to the systems around them

The speaker challenges the assumption that young people are uninterested in literacy or school. He argues that many are rejecting the material and practices schools offer because they feel disconnected from their lives. Schools often blame students rather than examining their own norms, curriculum, and institutional practices.

He presents Tupac as an example of a voice that reaches young people across generations and communities. In his experience, students readily pick up Tupac’s poetry even when they show little interest in traditional texts. The implication is not that schools should simply imitate popular culture, but that they should learn from the messages and voices students already find compelling.

3. Understand inequality and trauma as part of students’ lives

Duncan-Andrade describes inequality as a major threat to health and well-being. He argues that educators should address multiple, intersecting forms of inequality rather than treating one as more important than the others. He also urges educators to understand the specific conditions in their own communities instead of assuming that one solution fits everywhere.

He calls educators to become ethnographers of the communities they serve: to learn about students’ neighborhoods, histories, needs, and daily realities. In his example of East Oakland, violence is a visible part of students’ lives, but he stresses that trauma is not limited to violence. Poverty, unstable housing, food insecurity, unsafe conditions, joblessness, and other chronic stressors can also create severe strain.

The talk explains that ordinary stress is a normal bodily response, while toxic stress involves repeated stressors without enough opportunity to recover. The speaker describes how prolonged stress can affect the body and students’ ability to engage. He argues that schools should therefore be trauma-responsive, rather than simply demanding academic performance as if students’ lives outside school had no bearing on their learning.

4. Make care a shared responsibility

Drawing on research discussed in the talk, Duncan-Andrade identifies a caring adult as a crucial protective factor for a young person experiencing stress. That adult need not be a licensed professional or a formally assigned mentor. It could be a teacher, custodian, bus driver, office worker, cafeteria staff member, security guard, counselor, or principal.

His practical point is to make support an all-hands-on-deck effort. Schools cannot predict which adult a student will connect with, and relationships should be allowed to develop organically rather than treated only as a formal program. He also links the number of caring adults in a young person’s life with hope and their ability to navigate adversity.

5. Treat hope as something educators can build and measure

Duncan-Andrade describes hope as both an idea and an action. Drawing on hope theory, he says he uses a children’s hope scale to assess students’ hope, rather than beginning only with measures such as attendance or literacy. His reasoning is that when students’ hope increases, other educational outcomes are more likely to follow.

He defines hope, drawing on a source he identifies as Lyn at UC Berkeley, as a sense of control over one’s destiny. For educators, this means helping young people believe they can shape their futures—not merely telling them to be optimistic.

6. Practice “critical hope” through three connected forms

The talk presents critical hope as a three-part framework. Duncan-Andrade says all three parts matter; focusing on only two is not enough.

• Material hope

  • Do your job well, whatever your role in the school.
  • Notice whether students have access to basic needs such as food, clothing, housing, safety, and transportation.
  • Help connect students with material resources when those needs are unmet.
  • Make safety broad enough to include emotional, spiritual, and identity safety—not just physical safety.
  • Recognize that students’ basic needs and sense of belonging affect their ability to engage and pursue longer-term goals.

• Socratic hope

  • Make your actions match your words. Young people judge adults by what they do, not only by what they say.
  • Model the values and behavior you hope students will adopt.
  • Build trust through honesty and consistency rather than relying on lectures or slogans.
  • Understand love as the willingness to stay engaged through conflict and difficulty, not as the absence of conflict.
  • Be prepared to keep showing up for young people who have been hurt or who may push adults away.

• Audacious hope

  • Believe that every child can be supported, rather than assuming that only a few will succeed.
  • Create a healing “micro-ecosystem” within a classroom or school, even when broader social conditions remain harmful.
  • Be willing to try, reflect, and revise. Duncan-Andrade emphasizes that educators will not have perfect days, but should keep working toward better conditions for students.
  • Support colleagues, especially newer educators, when they take ambitious steps to serve students.

7. Put students’ basic needs and identities at the center

Using Maslow’s hierarchy as a framework, Duncan-Andrade argues that students need stable foundations—such as food, shelter, safety, love, and belonging—before they can fully pursue self-actualization. He cautions against treating students as broken when they are not thriving; educators should examine whether the conditions needed for growth are present.

He also emphasizes the importance of helping students value themselves, their families, cultures, languages, histories, and communities. He frames ethnic studies as relevant to everyone, not only students of color, because understanding one’s roots and humanity can help people recognize the humanity of others.

8. Reconnect education to community and collective change

The speaker draws on ancestral teachings and the idea of a village raising a child. He argues that schools should cultivate deeper connections among people rather than focus only on individual achievement.

He uses a gardening metaphor: if a seed does not grow, the gardener should examine and improve the soil rather than blame the seed. Educators should “dig where they stand” and shape school environments in which students can grow. Success, in this vision, is not simply helping a few students leave struggling communities; it is supporting them to return, contribute, and help improve those communities.

The talk concludes with a call for a broader change in education’s purpose: not merely helping individuals escape poverty, but working to end poverty and inequality. Duncan-Andrade encourages educators to connect with one another and build collective efforts toward that shift.

Speakers and sources featured or cited

• Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade — principal speaker.
• Unidentified event host — introduces Duncan-Andrade.
• Tupac Shakur — featured in a recording of his poem “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” and discussed throughout the talk. He is also heard speaking in an interview clip about Maya Angelou and her impact.
• Maya Angelou — heard in an interview clip discussing her interaction with Tupac.
• Cornel West — cited in discussions of critique, Socratic sensibility, and love.
• Herbert Kohl — cited for the concept of “willed not learning” and the book I Won’t Learn from You.
• Bruce Perry — cited for research on childhood trauma and the book The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog.
• Bruce McEwen — cited for research on stress and allostatic load.
• Arline Geronimus — cited for research on the cumulative effects of intersecting stressors and “weathering.”
• Charles Snyder — cited for hope theory and the Children’s Hope Scale.
• Lyn (surname unclear in the subtitles) — identified as a UC Berkeley public-health scholar whose definition of hope is “a sense of control of destiny.”
• Abraham Maslow — cited for the hierarchy of needs.
• Other works and institutions referenced: the PBS series Unnatural Causes; Harvard School of Public Health; University of Michigan School of Public Health; and the Teaching Excellence Network.