Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom

by Ranita Ray

A powerful exposé of the American public education system's indifference toward marginalized children and the "slow violence" that fashions schools into hostile work and learning environments.

In 2017, sociologist Ranita Ray stepped inside a fourth-grade classroom in one of the nation’s largest majority-minority districts in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was there to conduct research on the lack of resources and budget cuts that regularly face public schools. However, a few months into her immersion, a disturbed Ray recognized that that greatest impediment to students was the “slow violence” that preys on their minds, bodies, and spirits at the hands of teachers and administrators who are charged with their care.

Slow Violence lays bare the routine indifference, racism, and verbal and emotional abuse and harassment that teachers and administrators perpetrate routinely against the most vulnerable children in our schools. We meet Nazli, a bright, funny Black girl, and math wiz, who loses her baby brother, and is told that “grit” will enable her to rise above her grief. Reggie is a devoted student and curious scholar, but his path to success is derailed when teachers fashion him as a predator after they find him looking at two inappropriate photos on his iPad. There’s Nalin, a shy and determined Filipina who has just arrived in the US, but is ignored based on her educator’s assumption that “Asians” are “good at math.” Her entire journey through school is darkened by this stereotype. And there’s Miguel, a sharp, distracted Latino boy who can’t overcome his teachers’ urge to incorrectly diagnose him with autism.

Bolstered by an empathetic and passionate voice as well as the latest breaking research in the social sciences, Ray goes beyond timeworn discussions about the school-to-prison pipeline, funding, and achievement gaps to directly address what happens behind the closed doors of classrooms, introducing a compelling—and crucial—new perspective into the conversation about our education system.

In the warm, luminous spirit of character-driven books like Invisible Child, Slow Violence allows us to see that the way we’ve tried to make a start in education reform is wrong. To forge new approaches that foster young minds and flourishing generations we have to start with how children experience the classroom. Unflinchingly, Slow Violence tells us—and shows us where to begin.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Education, Audiobook, Society

336 pages, Hardcover

Published August 5, 2025

About the author

Dr. Ranita Ray is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico, where she holds an endowed chair. For 15 years, her award-winning research program has centered on children & youth, education, and gender and racial injustice. She spends long periods of times in places to write about them.

Reviews

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Non Fiction. I read this book by listening to the audiobook, and I found the narrator to be ok. The narrator was easy to understand. This book says "Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom", but this book's writer only wrote about one school in America. I feel that the writer should have gone to other schools throughout America to say something like that. I think there are not so good teachers out there, and my kids have had a few of them. Mostly, My kids have had great teachers. Some, of the best teachers my teachers had is black teachers. I also found parts of this book are just respecting itself. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

[Dona's Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pre-Read Notes:

Racism is alive and well in the US and sometimes the worst perpetrators aren't even individuals, but institutions, like education, medicine, and the voter system. These books are always worth a read, to see the data collected, organized, and made meaningful.

"Not everything is lost. Teachers have agency. When teachers like Mr. B. spoke to children without making examples of them in public view of their peers, without shaming them for what language their families spoke or where they lived, by treating them as human beings with flaws and strengths, and giving them a little leeway for being children, it clearly made a difference. Though, I wondered whether teachers and school officials like Mr. B. and Ms. White— who didn’t erode the children’s spirits but still trusted the same demeaning rhetoric, like all their students came from traumatized families and were traumatized themselves— could harm the children." p273

Final Review

(thoughts & recs) This was a hard book for me to read, because it's brilliant, and achieves this while being about a heart-breaking subject. Ranita Ray directly addresses teachers and administrators' abusive, and maybe worse, thoughtless, behavior toward vulnerable students--Black, brown, and disabled students--that she herself witness while collecting her data. These are teachers who consider themselves good at their jobs and caring of their students, who spend their own money to supply their classrooms, and yet they were also capable of choosing their own convenience over the emotional health of their students, again and again.

Honestly, I hope educators of all stripes pick up this book. It can make a difference.

I recommend SLOW VIOLENCE to fans of expositional nonfiction, social science, and books about social justice.

My 3 Favorite Things:

✔️ "Jahmir had been assessed and scored high. 54 This test, from what I gathered, wasn’t a regular intervention but depended on funding the school district and school received. Teachers and staff at Ribbon sometimes commonly referred to the questionnaire as the “trauma scale” and the teachers thought themselves heavily trained in “trauma management.”" p46 Teachers are not "heavily trained in trauma management". I mean, I'm a daily driver of cars, but that doesn't make me a car mechanic, a design engineer, or a race car driver.

✔️ This book is incredibly well-reaearched, but the pace is a slog because it's dry. I think the author chose to write in this still voice because her subject is emotionally draining -- the harm minority children experience in schools horrifies me.

✔️ This book really fights for these kids, but I resent the suggestion that trauma dehumanizes people. Trauma is so common as to be universally human. I think she meant to suggest that stigma dehumanizes the children the teachers *are diagnosing themselves*, obviously incorrectly. Ray is an extremely good researcher and writer and I wish she had been more careful with her language here.

✔️ "I had watched lively, fun-loving children like Reggie, Jada, and Nazli become dispirited. Destroyed. Even today, as I think of Sophia’s pants going dark with urine when I close my eyes, I flinch. I can feel Andrés’s humiliation and the way his love for Kaepernick was shattered. I shudder when I think of the sock hitting Miguel." Every teacher and school administrator needs to read this book with an open heart.

Notes:

1. Content warnings - racism, institutional racism, ableism, institutional ableism, school shootings (mention), public shootings, shame, humiliation, public and group punishment, trauma, PTSD, mental illness, CPS, armchair diagnosis, emotionally immature teachers, grief, death of a child, death of an infant, systemic oppression

Thank you to the author Ranita Ray, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of SLOW VIOLENCE. All views are mine.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I decided that I needed to plug in some nonfiction in the reading schedule this week. Over the last five days, I have explored sociologist Ranita Ray's thorough account of her observations in a Las Vegas classroom from 2017 to 2020. Of course, her study came to an abrupt halt with the COVID-19 shutdowns. As is recounted in the publisher's description, "She was there to conduct research on the lack of resources and budget cuts that regularly face public schools. However, a few months into her immersion, a disturbed Ray recognized that that greatest impediment to students was the “slow violence” that preys on their minds, bodies, and spirits at the hands of teachers and administrators who are charged with their care."


I am a teacher, but not one in the United States. However, the situations and conversations that Ranita Ray explores throughout her book can also be found here in Canada. I would also concede that there are people in my profession who shouldn't be in the classroom. Some of the teachers that the author gets to know and observe are very emotionally immature. For the record, they are people that I wouldn't want to have lunch with at school. The whole white history month episode. Cringe. I was also curious how much pedagogical instruction teachers in that school district received. Because there are so many resources out there to support classroom teachers. I suppose those questions would have been outside the realm of the author's research.

At the end, when the author provides an update on where all the educators are now, I didn't care. I was relieved; some of them decided to leave the profession. I was more interested in what happened to all those wonderful students that she met in the classroom.

Because the text is heavily focused on the research, the pacing is slow, and it is a little dry, but I am assuming the writer wanted to keep it this way because the subject is emotionally draining.

I do feel like the book ends, leaving me aware of the points the author wanted to make, but not sure of what audience is being addressed here. I have noticed other reviewers mention it would be a great book for educators and administrators. Someone else, I believe, mentioned perhaps people interested in the U.S. education system. I just hope other readers can be receptive to it. It's a taboo conversation, and we need to start having it. Everywhere.








Publication Date 05/08/25
Goodreads Review 05/08/25

[Steve Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a white male school teacher in a Title 1 high school, my opinion on this text may come across as biased. But, I will do my best to be honest about this text.

Are there teachers who do not belong in a classroom? yes. Are there teachers who bully children? yes. Are their teachers who harass kids based on their gender, sex, socio-economic status, etc? yes. All of these things can be true, but the evidence provided in this text is not as clear cut as the Ms. Ray would like it to be.

Comparing the actions of a teacher that is in the same room as the same kids day in and day out to the teachers that have shifting groups of student for a few minutes every day. Neither is high school the same as college (I have taught at both levels and know the difference). While the author followed the students over the years, she did not follow the teachers. So, the author did not see them repeat their abuse. Did the teachers always find a kid to bully, or was the situation unique to that one year?

Also, Ray compares statistical data to anecdotal evidence throughout the text. Statistics of white teachers compared to seeing multiple BIPOC on college campuses is not as rigorous a comparison as it could be.

The argument about changing the nature of the school from academic development to a more holistic education is worth exploring. I acknowledge that teachers can impact a child's development heavily. And that impact may be either positive or negative. And if we can focus on more creative thinking and sound mental health then that is worth exploring.

The stories told about the teachers are compelling and they upset me as a teacher and a parent. But I also feel for the teachers. We are human, too. We make mistakes. And we have to do better about earning that altruistic assumption made of us. It is almost paradoxical that we have up hold a students humanity while denying our own. To err is human.

The lack of a developed solution to the slow violence hurts my appreciation if Ray's work here. Maybe her next text will lay out what an abolished education would look like.

I would recommend any teacher to read the text. And if they got angry at the stories, I would ask why. Are you mad because a teacher was harassing a student? Or are you mad because the teacher being described could have been you? Are you like the teachers described here everyday? Or does the description apply to a day where you lost control?

Interesting read overall.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - “What might it look like to interrogate the logic of schooling? Can we move beyond academic achievement and think about children thriving in all their humanity?”

Big thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a hard read. It chronicled Ranita Ray’s time in a school in Las Vegas, where the majority of the students are BIPOC and the teachers are mostly white. What she finds is a system of racial judgment and children who are being perceived in such a way that it seems to break their spirits. There are moments where teachers openly mock students and comment on how they’re going down the wrong path, but they’re only in fourth grade. Over three years, Ray shows how different teachers affect the same group of kids and it’s truly eye-opening.

It made me think a lot about my own experiences in school and remembering moments like this, even being in a district that, at the time, was mostly white. Students were certainly treated differently for various reasons, but there are racial stereotypes that even the best of us think of in fleeting moments. The teachers at the school in this book seem to mean well, but they don’t realize the impact small moments or interactions have on young children. Some of the comments they made are genuinely shocking.

While the data pool for this book is on the small side, Ray recounts incidents from across the country in her afterword as her time in the district was cut short due to Covid. As kids were attending class through Zoom, parents became witnesses to the way their kids were being treated. This is by no means an attack on teachers, but brutal observations on a system that is broken and should be in place to educate and nurture children. It’s clear that our public school system needs help, and in the current political climate that is going to be difficult.

[Stanjay Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s always a joy to read the work of scholars who are deeply committed to understanding human nature—especially those who strive for meaningful change. Change doesn’t come easily; it requires acknowledging hard truths, sitting with discomfort, studying the issues in depth, and then courageously sharing the findings. In this book, the author examines the concept of slow violence as it manifests in elementary and middle school environments.

She doesn’t just theorize from a distance—she sits in classrooms, observes interactions between students, teachers, staff, and administrators, and enriches her findings with supporting research. I hadn’t encountered the term slow violence before reading this, but when I saw it, I took a guess: perhaps it referred to the gradual physical, mental, and emotional toll on children. And I wasn’t far off.

Slow violence, as explored here, reveals itself in the way children are spoken to, how they’re perceived by peers and adults, and the burdens they carry from difficult home environments into their school lives. These long-term, often overlooked harms can have immediate and lasting effects on a child’s academic performance and overall development.

As I read the firsthand accounts of daily life in these classrooms, I was struck not only by the challenges students face, but also by the emotional weight teachers carry into their workspaces. It’s clear that our school systems must be re-evaluated if we hope to serve both children and educators more justly.

This research is vital. It deserves to be revisited again and again to keep these urgent issues front and center—in our minds and in our hearts. If you care about children, teachers, and the state of education in the U.S., this book belongs on your shelf—and it should be read often, not just owned.

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow Violence is a quietly devastating exposé of America’s classrooms—where the real damage isn’t explosive, but insidious. Ray, a sociologist embedded in Las Vegas schools between 2017 and 2020, brings readers face-to-face with children like Nazli, a grieving Black math whiz urged to summon “grit” instead of compassion; Reggie, a curious boy branded a “predator” over a misstep; Nalin, an immigrant Filipina smothered under math stereotypes; and Miguel, a sharp Latino autistic-suspect (spoiler: he isn’t).

Ray’s prose cuts with empathy and righteous clarity—she reveals how tiny moments become emotional decay, how indifference becomes violence. The teaching force is often well-meaning but blind to its bias, and the system asks students to survive, not thrive.

It’s not the lightest bedside read, but it’s urgently necessary—an uncomfortable mirror held up to education and race, asking: what if the lessons we’re teaching are exactly the harm we should be dismantling?

[Brian Shevory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for sharing this powerful and discomforting book about education, Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom.. Ranita Ray, a sociologist, spends several years following students in Las Vegas schools as they interact with their teachers and gradually experience the kind of institutional violence and power differentials that their teachers apply seemingly to harm rather than help them. I typically enjoy reading books about education, even ones that often challenge our assumptions and understanding of the purpose of schools, such as Eve Ewing’s excellent Original Sins, Aaron Kupchik’s insightful Suspended Education, and Betina Love’s powerful Punished for Dreaming, to name a few recent books. Ray’s book would fall into a similar category of a critical examination of policies and practices that inhibit student success, while also highlighting the kinds of power differentials teachers often wield and their seeming indifference to make change and begin to advocate for their students. Ray writes in her conclusion that “it is difficult for many of us to challenge the perception of universal altruism among teachers,” and I felt this kind of dissonance while reading the book. Not only did her observations and conclusions make me upset, but they also caused me to reflect on my own teaching experiences and those I’ve observed, thinking back to when either I witnessed or engaged in these types of behaviors that contributed to the slow violence that students experience. Although I cannot say that this kind of behavior has never happened, I will admit that after some experience teaching and working with student populations much different from my own background, I became more flexible and understanding in my teaching and approach to accommodations in the classroom. Furthermore, I’ve also been lucky to work with other like-minded colleagues who shared similar educational philosophies and approaches that attempted to be student-centered and supportive of student learning. Nevertheless, I’ve witnessed instances of the kind of slow violence that Ray explains from both teachers and administrators, and not just towards students, but towards teachers and staff who were deemed as not team players or not on board to help students. Although I question some of the generalizability of Ray’s conclusions based on her work in 2 schools in Las Vegas, I can agree that often power, policies, and pedagogy work against students whose backgrounds may be culturally incongruent with teachers and administrators. Nevertheless, there are steps and strategies that schools and teacher education programs can take to help strengthen the teaching corps and better prepare them for the diverse student bodies they will work with in American schools. I know from my teacher education, I was underprepared to work with the kinds of diverse populations in many American schools, and often fell into the apprenticeship of observation, relying on teaching the way I was taught, which is not appropriate for students from different generations and cultures. It wasn’t until I worked with other teachers, observed their classes, and reached out for help about either student issues or teaching practices that I was able to develop some more engaging practices that focused more on student learning and helping to make students feel like they had a say in their learning in our classes.
However, I’m digressing, and Ray’s book offers much to critique and question in her ethnography of these students’ experiences. Ray begins explaining her methods for her research, which took place between 2017 and 2020, right before the pandemic, and her definition of slow violence, which reflects the kind of psychological and emotional violence over physical violence. She also includes an important caveat that the conclusions she drew were based on her observations, conversations, and scholarly knowledge. In the prologue, Ray provides some background about her own experience as a multilingual learner who was threatened and punished for speaking her mother tongue in school. It’s this memory that enables Ray to feel more empathy and understanding for the students she observes than her own teacher, having experienced that kind of power differential and disregard for her identity, interests, and culture that the students at Ribbon Elementary and Doreena Middle School experienced with their teachers and administrators. Although the teachers are presented as seemingly progressive and advocates for diversity and student success, as the school year progresses, we learn, through Ray’s observations, that their motives and actions are inconsistent with what we would think about teachers. Ray offers some further insight into understanding these teachers, noting that for some of them, teaching was a second or third career option, and not something that always took precedence in their future plans. This point about the teaching profession is also an important consideration since there is always a need for qualified teachers, and Ray frequently stresses about the lack of diversity in the teaching corps, which is primarily comprised of white women and men who frequently teach students whose ethnicities, cultures, languages, and backgrounds are different from their own. These differences may allow for biases and assumptions to influence instructional decisions, grades, and even future opportunities for learning. Ray’s observations of the teachers show how they frequently let their assumptions about the students and their families influence the type of work they received and how they interpreted the students’ achievement or motivation in class. Although Ray frequently notes how the school is under-resourced, with as many as 40 students in a classroom and limited access to paraprofessionals and other in class aides, it also seems like the nature of teaching has changed along with the expectations about the roles that teachers are expected to play in students’ lives. While I was shocked to read about some of the assumptions that teachers made about the lives of their students, it also seemed like some of the teachers were unprepared or had no background to possibly support the kinds of challenges that some of their students experienced. For example, one student who is featured as a star student in the class, lost her 2 month old brother, and her disengagement and withdrawal from class and socialization seemed swift and in need of some kind of intervention. Although her teachers reached out, I was surprised that the school didn’t do too much more for her after this devastating loss. Furthermore, I’m not sure how many teachers are able to navigate and support students through this kind of grief. As a teacher who has experienced loss, I think that I can be empathetic to students who also experience loss. However, it would seem like the school or even counselors within the district might offer some support for teachers to then support students. I worked in a school where we experienced the loss of students in close succession, and we basically stopped everything to reach out to students (and other colleagues) and make sure that everyone’s emotions were considered. It just made me think about how teachers do more than just teach—they are often expected to emotionally support students, interpret their feelings, and consider their changes, socially, emotionally, academically, and identity-wise. Although some may view teachers as “instructors”, the work of a teacher is much more complex and demanding, and often requires some skills and attributes that are not always the focus of teacher education and professional development. Beyond this kind of emotional support, teachers are also expected to be something like a technician, where they need to assess students, examine their results, and then devise strategies and supports for their students, especially those who are at opposite ends of the learning curve. I’m not sure how that is possible with 40 students who require varying levels of support and enrichment, but this is part of the new reality for teachers and their work. Regardless, Ray’s observations also made me wonder what happened in the teacher meetings for the 4th and 5th grade teams that she followed. Ray seems privy to some of the teacher conversations in the lounge, where the teachers engaged in disparaging the parents and families of their students, but I wondered whether there was any kind of shared strategies and data analysis that was happening across the teams.
Ray’s observations also made me question the administrators at these schools. In Ribbon, Dr. Geertz seemed almost oblivious to the issues occurring within the classrooms. One of the only male and Black teachers in the school left his 5th grade class after being scrutinized for his harsh treatment of female students. Although I was wincing at the ways in which he responded to and disciplined some of the female students, I also saw this as maybe an opportunity for some professional goals and either the principal or another teacher coach to come in and support this teacher with some strategies and measurable goals for improving his interactions with his students. Although I know that teacher observations do not always happen in schools, I was surprised by how independent and unsupported these teachers were. It seemed like the schools were confirming that assumption that teaching is a isolating job, where teachers shut their doors and just work with their students. Ray also explained that she felt conflicted about not intervening when she witnessed the slow violence in the classes she observed, and as a researcher, she’s correct not to step in. Not only would it influence her research conclusions and potentially damage her relationship with these teachers, but as an outside observer who was in the school to observe the students, I’m not sure that the teachers would have accepted her observations or suggestions. If anything, it seemed like the entire culture of the school was deviating from the messages and slogans posted around the campus. I wondered whether the school leadership was aware of this, and whether they participated this kind of slow violence through their own assumptions as well.
Ray’s observations are descriptive and detailed, and she provides some useful connection to research when necessary, which helps to situate and understand the behaviors and consequences we read about in the book. I really appreciated this aspect of her scholarship and analysis, since it allowed readers to see that much of what we are reading about in this school is not necessarily an isolated incident, but is potentially happening in other schools and to other students in the US. Still, I was shocked to see how some of the teachers didn’t really understand basic elements of teaching or connecting with their students. For example, in 5th grade, the teacher planned a unit around Civil Rights in the 1960s, reading a recent book that takes place in Alabama in the 1960s. The students made their own connections with the Colin Kaepernick and other events in 2017, but the teacher seemed to disparage these astute connections the students were making. Rather than listening and questioning them to explain their connections further, she dismissed their connections. It was really unclear what the focus of the lesson was, and whether the students were working on reading skills, history, or what the objectives for the lessons were. I can only imagine how confused the students must have felt. I wondered whether this teacher knew about learning objectives and how to structure a lesson. Furthermore, I was shocked to read about how many teachers used candy to motivate students. This 5th grade teacher apparently kept a candy stash and used candy as a reward, which I’ve always viewed as something teachers should not do. Not only are extrinsic rewards like this something that will eventually demotivate students (or make performance contingent on these kinds of rewards), but also giving sugar to students seems unhealthy. The schools I’ve worked in along with my kids’ schools never allowed candy for students, but it seemed like a regular practice for these schools. Some 5th grade students organized a distraction to snatch some of the candy from the teacher, and when she found out she basically held it against these students for the rest of the year, assuming that they were criminals. Another teacher in the middle school seemingly gave candy to students no matter what they did, even when they disobeyed him or gave incorrect or off-task responses. I just wondered about what message he was offering for his students. It was incredibly shocking to read about this kind of reward for academic work. Why not offer some praise or positive feedback? Why not try to acknowledge their students’ efforts by noting what they did well?
Also of concern was the kind of deficit approach that many of the teachers took about their students that seemed to be informed by their biases and assumptions and was further fed by their interactions and gossiping in the teachers’ lounge. I learned pretty early in my teaching career that the lounge was not a fun place to be, and that it was often a site of complaints and commiserating rather than any kind of productive work. I think this could be true of much work, not just education. However, it’s more personal and emotional since teaching is such an emotional and time investment. However, I think I’ve always learned that it’s important to identify what students bring to the classroom and not what they are lacking. Identify their strengths and interests, utilize their experiences and skills, rather than harping on what they are missing. It’s a simple lesson that any teacher education program should emphasize for their pre-service teachers—do not take the deficit approach. Nevertheless, it seemed like these teachers all assumed that the students lived in poverty, had nothing, and the parents were often standing in the way of progress (although they never offered any examples or evidence). Parents who were interested in their students’ learning were chastised for being too involved, while other parents who maybe worked multiple jobs or had other responsibilities like child or elder care were deemed indifferent to their children. There were assumptions running wild, and while it is natural to want to draw conclusions and make attributions about reasons for involvement or lack thereof, again, this seemed like a place where the administration should step in and offer suggestions and methods for involving more parents in a proactive way, whether it is through hosting parent/child activities, or finding ways for parents to be involved in the class (which there were). Regardless, I was shocked to read about how much the teachers assumed the students were in trauma, and that this trauma was the main reason why students were not succeeding or achieving. Mr. B, the 6th grade teacher, seemed to be a self-appointed trauma expert (he wrote his thesis on student trauma), and based on Ray’s observations, appeared to lower expectations for students due to their collective trauma. Furthermore, the principal also acknowledged students’ trauma and how it influenced their learning. This led to both a humorous and terrifying assembly in 6th grade where I didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe at the message and assumptions that kids are bad whose friends will eventually lead them to destruction. Yet all of the teachers seemed amazed at the message.
As Ray notes, this is not an easy book to read mainly because it challenges our own assumptions and cherished beliefs about teachers and the work they do. While I’ve known some teachers who engage in this kind of slow violence, thankfully, I’ve known and worked in schools that tend to be more supportive of both their students and teachers. That’s not to say that this kind of slow violence doesn’t happen. I agree with Ray’s conclusions about the need to diversify the teaching corps and prevent the kind of slow violence she witnessed. No student should experience that kind of bias and incongruity in their learning. However, I couldn’t help but question some of the conclusions about the teachers’ own motivations in this book, especially since Ray drew these conclusions based on observations and overheard conversations and not necessarily based on interviews with the teachers or asking about their methods or instruction. Furthermore, it didn’t seem like she interviewed students to ask about their own experiences with learning or school either. I wonder if she may have reached some different conclusions about her observations if these data were included in the analysis. In her “Afterword”, Ray notes that there is a difference between schooling and education. This distinction reminded me of Ewing’s book in particular in that schools in the 20th century were often sites of assimilation and control, a means to shape, condition, and train future workers for the kind of manual labor that was needed in the early 20th century. As society and the economy began to change, other’s views and philosophies about school also shifted, with some viewing education as the potential for a social equalizer. Although we are still a long way off from making this aspiration a reality, it’s still possible to support this idea and reinforce it with pre- and in-service teachers. While reform has taken education down some wrong paths, I agree with Ray’s idea that we need to “insist on a more honest conversation about the stark power differential between teachers and students”, and especially those “power relations that oppress Black, brown immigrant and trans people coincide with this fact that teachers have absolute authority inside the classroom and students…have close to none.” While it may not completely address the entirety of this situation, providing more student-centered approaches to learning that also engage students in positions of leadership and responsibility within the classroom are a way to start. Ensuring that teacher education programs, whether they are for undergraduates or alternate route candidates, stress these kinds of democratic approaches to education and acknowledge these power differentials is a good place to start. Furthermore, ensuring that teachers are supported and have regular observations and quality professional development that focuses on culturally congruent teaching strategies and methods is another way to support teachers in supporting their students. While this is challenging and at times disturbing book, it is a necessary and important read, especially for educators, but also for the general public.

[Leigh Phillips Rustom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a lot of mixed emotions about this book. Despite spending three years in Las Vegas public schools, Ray doesn’t seem to “get it” when it comes to the stress and demands of teaching. However, as a white educator of minority students, I have to consider whether I have a self-defense bias to her message.

[Stuart Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book definitely worth reading...whether you have kids or not...

Very illuminating...the darker side of education...

And Ranita Ray does an excellent job writing this...for you...

Highly Recommended!

[Kara Sandoval · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 78 of 100

Slow Violence: Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom by Ranita Ray

Narrated by Lipica Shah

Nonfiction • Education • Sociology • Social Justice

Why I Recommend This Book:
This book is not an easy read, but it is an honest one. Ranita Ray exposes the “slow violence” that happens every day in American classrooms, the small, nearly invisible acts that, over time, do lasting harm to children. As someone who has worked as a substitute teacher and education assistant, I recognized so many of the behaviors she describes.

I have seen incredible teachers who manage their classrooms with patience and grace, never letting their frustrations fall on the kids. I have also seen teachers who single out the same student over and over, turning that child into a scapegoat or, worse, a punching bag. Most of my experience with teachers has been positive, but there are those who are in the classroom for the paycheck, or because their own dreams did not pan out. Those teachers make an impact too, but often not a positive one.

Ray does not villainize all educators. She shows the complexity of a system where some teachers uplift while others inflict harm. And she is unflinchingly honest about her own role, admitting the times she stayed silent out of fear of losing access or not being welcome back. I connected deeply to that, because I too kept quiet at times, worried that speaking up would cost me my job.

This book makes clear how dangerous it is when someone enters education without understanding the importance of their role. Teaching requires patience, endurance, and the ability to let go of your ego so a child does not have a bad day just because you are. As Ray reminds us, what feels like a bad day for a teacher can turn into a bad year for a student.

Audiobook Note:
I both read and listened, and I loved Lipica Shah’s narration. She delivers the text in a way that feels faithful to the writing, honest, steady, and powerful without unnecessary dramatization. Her interpretation made the book even more engaging and impactful.

Favorite Quotes:
“Slow violence is the accumulation of harm over time, the damage of ordinary practices that go unrecognized until the harm is already done.”

“What feels like a bad day for a teacher can turn into a bad year for a student.”

Final Thoughts:
Slow Violence is called controversial by some, but really it is uncomfortable. It forces us to face what many do not want to admit: students are not treated equally, and the myths we tell about universal teacher heroism hide a more complicated truth.

For me, this book was validating, painful, and necessary all at once. It made me think about the incredible teachers I have known, and also about the moments where students were hurt by the very people meant to protect them. Ray’s honesty about both the systems and her own silence made me feel less alone in my experiences.

If we can confront these truths, we can begin to imagine classrooms where students are not just managed, but truly seen and nurtured.

Trigger Warnings:
Racism in schools
Teacher and student bias
Emotional harm in classrooms
Student grief and trauma

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction book that focuses on systemic racism that exists within the US school system. I am a Black woman who grew up in Detroit and a proud graduate of the Detroit Public School system. I'm extremely familiar with how racism and the school to prison pipeline functions.

This is a heartbreaking aspect of how racism and white supremacy function in the US school system in general. A multitude of scientists studies documenting racism in US schools already exists. The author of this book is a sociologist and was looking at this phenomenon in depth using as a focus for her research a school in Las Vegas, Nevada. Initially the author was originally looking at how budget cuts impact the school. The author herself adjusted the focus to the impact the systemic racism has on the students which the author labels 'slow violence'. The author uses her deep dive at this school to extrapolate truths about how racism functions in the US school system.

This is an important and sobering read, especially for white educators. I was myself the victim of the slow violence of white educators and so was my daughter. I've even witnessed the violence of systemic racism in the school system with my grandkids. It's a huge driver of inequality and marginalization in the US.

This audiobook is narrated by Lipica Shah. This is a harrowing subject matter and I find that hard subjects are easier to consume on audiobook.

Please excuse my tardy review. My mom's health declined sharply before she passed and this was unfortunately due during that difficult period. I stopped requesting new books but still fell behind in my already requested reviews.

Thank you to Ranita Ray, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

[KDub · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 🌟 rounded down

After sitting with this book for a few days, I ultimately had to rate it a 4 instead of a 5. This was mainly because while I found the information presented to be very important for everyone, the ending was frustrating.

Slow Violence is described as "A powerful exposé of the American public education system's indifference toward marginalized children and the 'slow violence' that fashions schools into hostile work and learning environments." And it is just that. Ranita Ray spent years observing students in classrooms within a Las Vegas school district, refraining from interference. What she witnessed was quite shocking, yet not surprising.

The school has a predominantly minority student body, but a majority of the teachers are white. Most of these teachers have a white savior complex and don't seem to realize or care about their own biases and inappropriate behaviors towards the students. Some of the quotes Ranita Ray witnessed were abhorrent. I saw some reviews mention that she should have gone to different schools, but I disagree. She would not have seen the level of 'slow violence' against the students had she switched schools frequently.

My frustration stems from the book's ending. I realize Covid-19 interrupted Ray's research (amongst millions of other things), but you're left high and dry at the end. She has no follow-up with any of the students today, even though they're now 18+ years old. (Surely she could have figured out how to contact at least one of them?) There are a few teacher updates, and thankfully, many of the worst ones ended up leaving the profession.

But that's it. The reader is left wondering...what the hell are we supposed to do with this information? This all seems terrible, but I have no idea how to fix any of these issues, or even where one would begin to do so. Paying teachers more is a good start; maybe then they'd be less stressed out and less inclined to take out their frustrations on innocent students.

Lipica Shah does the narration for the book and does a great job. She has a clear speaking voice. I would listen to other books narrated by Shah.

Recommended for anyone interested in the concept of "slow violence" in our public school systems, educators, administrators, etc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

[Jaime K · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Physically, this is an easy read, despite some odd phrases at times, some repeated information in the same chapter, and some random cliffhangers in the middle or end of a chapter like "little did they know...". Unlike other books I've read, the endnotes were much less of a distraction and actually added to the story (or provided context). I usually read each chapter's endnotes first without feeling lost.

Emotionally, it is a tough read. As an ethnography, the book focuses on a few particular students, but also considers how too many teachers act around students. I have been teaching for 15 years and I have only heard one teacher speak so negatively about students, and it was a retired teacher I replaced. I have heard hearsay of maybe two or three others, but I am absolutely appalled at how too many educators behave towards children or others. I don't get it.

I also don't understand how too many teachers join the profession for a stable income and retirement. I have worked at a few different schools, private and public, and have never heard anyone say that. Even alternate route teachers chose it because they realized they enjoyed teaching or helping others.

I don't understand how skipping to a board is not appropriate for fourth grade.
I don't understand how the hell there were more supports for teachers but not students through grief. I have only ever experienced the opposite.
Too many teachers are petty.

[Maria-Veronica Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brave. Such an important truth exposed for all of us to see. We need to invest in an educational system that puts forward growth while respecting the natural curiosity, joy and love of learning that children inherently have. Thanks for this book Dr. Ranita Ray!

[Kalli Herpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow Violence is a heartbreaking yet essential read for educators everywhere. Ranita Ray does an amazing job of exposing how communal narcissism and the white savior complex quietly erode the well-being of marginalized students in our schools. This is one of my new favorites ❤️

[Haley Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Slow Violence by Ranita Ray tackles deeply important issues in the American public school system, shining a light on the emotional and psychological harm marginalized children face every day. The stories of students like Nazli, Reggie, Nalin, and Miguel are heartbreaking and revealing, and Ray’s dedication to amplifying their experiences is commendable.

That said, the book just didn’t pull me in the way I expected. Despite the powerful subject matter, I found the writing to be dense and not very engaging. I often had to put it down and take breaks—it felt more like reading an academic article than a narrative-driven exposé. I was hoping for something that would grip me emotionally and intellectually, but instead, it was hard to stay focused.

This book has a powerful message and a necessary perspective, but for me, the delivery made it a bit of a slog. Worth reading if you’re deeply interested in education reform or sociology, but probably not the best fit if you’re looking for something more accessible or story-driven.

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for an ALC. I don’t even know what to say about this. In many ways it made me feel better about my own teaching practice, as some of the things that happened here were truly abhorrent. At the same time, it made me question my own unintended behaviors and comments, and how those things can affect children.

[Katrisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is an important book for educators to read. I have read quite a few book on how education has, over the centuries, been used as a tool to enforce cultural/racial divisions and about the school to prison pipeline etc. This book is different though as it follows a cohort of students over several years (cut short by the Covid Pandemic). What I appreciated about this book is how the author acknowledges when the educators (both admin and teachers) try to show up for their students as well as when things go so wrong. It is heartbreaking to see how the classroom slowly sucks the joy and life out of some of these students in the book. As a teacher myself, I am well aware of the many challenging aspects of teaching and Ray is sympathetic to those challenges too. But ultimately educators need to realize that our charges are children and it is our responsibility to foster their growth and joy. Another point that this book brings up is that educators in "at risk" areas often rush to judge the communities and families that they serve with a broad brush. This is something educators should be aware of. An excellent and informative book by Ranita Ray and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this book for review.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am hovering between a three and four for this book, but I’m feeling generous today. I worked in education for years as a white woman in a special ed position, and I definitely hear what she’s saying for a lot of these things though she also seems to be looking primarily for the worst in everyone. She doesn’t report on good days as much. Also in collecting data, I would like to hear what the teachers say more about their jobs and needs, and why they behave a certain way. Now that the children are adults, if they can reflect back on those experiences in school, I would love to know if they affected them as much as the author believes that they did . While school definitely is a pivotal part of every student’s life, it is not the whole picture, and family and friend influence also shapes responses, including for the author.

[Jeff Matlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

“Slow Violence” is about the US public education system, particularly as it relates to lower income children of color. The general premise is that the racism and bias within the school system slowly demeans children and destroys the belief in themselves and their opportunities to succeed in life.

The author, a sociologist who sat in classrooms to follow a group of students from 4th to 6th grade, is a woman of color. The study took place in two schools from 2017 to early 2020.

This is a really compelling read if you’re interested in the education system.

My mother was a teacher, my wife was a teacher and is now a school administrator. I agree that there is racism and sexism and other -isms in the education system with some teachers.

I don’t agree that it’s every teacher.
Though the author gave data that supports her premise (eg the prevalence of white teachers in non-white schools), it is tough to make the leap from stories of one school to a critique of the entire public school system.

Without spoiling anything, the end of the book (the afterword) took a surprising turn. The author brought up a compelling premise that wasn’t mentioned anywhere else in the book. I wish it was.

Regardless, it’s a worthwhile read, especially for teachers and administrators.

#netgalley #slowviolence

[Bethany Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the exemplifies the notion that small offhand comments can alter the course of someone’s life. It’s a must read for teachers and parents.

The author gained a rare inside look into classrooms by sitting in on classes. She saw first hand how teachers treat children. The book focuses on a handful of students as they progress from fourth grade to the pandemic. It details their personalities, their brilliance, and their social interactions. It also details comments made by teachers both to their faces and when they think nobody else is listening.

The book is well written. The narrator did a wonderful job. It’s well worth the read or listen.

*Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC in exchange for an honest review*

[Kelly {SpaceOnTheBookcase] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ranita Ray is a sociologist who followed a group of students from 2017 to early 2020. These students were in 4th grade when the observations started and Ranita Ray used her time in the classroom to document what she saw. With unfiltered access Ranita Ray uses her experience and notes to pen a book about what bias looks like inside a classroom, even when the school is provided extra resources and training so that it can combat the trauma experienced by its students.

Let me preface by saying this, I believe in the principals of public education. I am the product of public education and I chose to send my daughters through public education. I am a relatively average white woman who lives a middle class lifestyle. Our local school district is predominately white as is the 9,000 teachers and staff across 86 schools. With that out of the way, I'm going to need Ranita Ray to be a whole lot louder.

The experienced felt by these students; from being too much to how one bad choice influences the way your teacher treats you, to having students mirror the bullying of the teacher to racism and sexism. It all exists in our world, we have got to stop pretending like it doesn't exist in our schools. With the students starting in the 4th grade I have to admit I was a bit triggered; my eldest daughter (who is white and privileges) was placed with a teacher who academically abused her because of her dyslexia. That same child is now going into her junior year of high school and still lives with the scars of that year---even with a parent who volunteered 1,000 hours a year, even though I had her pulled and moved before the school year was over, even with all of the extra help and privilege, it only took 1 teacher to cause self doubt and self hatred. And she was white; I can not imagine how much worse it would have been for her if she wasn't. As I said, I was an active parent in her education and the things Ranita Ray witnessed inside the classrooms were the same things I saw from my role as a parent volunteer.

One might ask why I kept my kids in public education and to be honest, that is a question I still ask myself. If I had to go backwards would I have still done it? Maybe.

Public education suffers from a lack of funding. Teachers suffer from a lack of support. And our most vulnerable students come to school with a mountain already on their shoulders. Slow Violence will be controversial and teachers will take it as an attack on a profession that is getting beaten and battered by right wing conservatives. However, the system needs an overhaul, because our children---out very future---deserve better.

Every teacher isn't bad, but as shown in Slow Violence, it only takes one bad teacher to alter the life of a student.

Thank you SMP for the gifted ARC.

[Mary Ressner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for any parent of a non-white child in any Public School in/or connected to the U.S. ( There are American schools overseas.)
Until fairly recently, the social science shelves in bookstores and libraries nationwide have been crammed with the works of white ( often male) authors who have churned out book after book about black and brown people. Rarely have any of these tomes been seriously challenged and if so, often, challenges come too late after the harm has been done. “Slow Violence” is exceptional in that it is at the forefront of works that contribute to a more balanced view. Ms.Ray writes from inside the cultural space and not as a voyeur or alien. In short: no victims are blamed here.
Avid readers will find this a very engaging, easy read about a specific set of elementary school students in a specific school that could be any minority child in any school at any given moment. While much has been written about the school to prison pipeline: its beginnings are here on the “educational plantation” where so few minority students will ever see fully empowered minorities as teachers or administrators. Implicit bias plays a huge role, daily, in hindering minority children’s quest for knowledge. Ms. Ray documents this in depth.
(If, in fact, the adult brain does not start functioning until age 25: why would any parent feel comfortable with inexperienced teaching staff under that age?)
The fact that teachers are so universally trusted and championed across the board is in itself suspect. They are as human and fallible as anyone else. Ms.Ray highlights this. The inference is that “white is right “
if indeed 90% of teachers are white and the majority of them are female. American history supports the fact that white female slave owners were more vicious in their treatment of black slaves, even if their husbands were the actual owners. (Ms.Ray does not touch on in-school policing which may not have been a factor at the school she was embedded within.)
The most glaring aspect of the book is how very comfortable all the teachers and administrators felt when indulging in conjecture and sometimes vicious gossip about school age children. How absolutely confident they were that they were the “ Saviors” of these; their unfortunate charges. These are not, nor can they ever be,
attitudes that foster equity or inspire learning: this is amply illustrated throughout the book.
At the dawn of the “ machine age” perhaps AI will remediate some of these issues. Keep hope alive.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a hard one to read for many reasons, not the least of which is Ray's analysis of public school teachers (using Clark County in Las Vegas, Nevada where she did her sociological research).

Her book title refers to the distress teachers and school districts cause students generally white teachers teaching in underserved school districts with little resources and the majority of students who are from marginalized groups. There's animosity, frustration, and demeaning behaviors. There are little resources, exhaustion, and even fewer avenues to pursue. While it's not storytelling, but academic, it is about telling all the details which makes it feel plodding.

For any educator, it's a hard lens to view the system with. I am the type of teacher Ray writes about, a white woman teaching in a district to students who do not look like me. I would be hard-pressed not to reflect of my practices and thoughts. We all have bias, and it's in confronting that bias that we can start to pave the way. But I also recognize that Ray presents the book in a way that nothing really changed for her because she had that view going into her research. We all know that every family, every workplace has toxic people or culture- it's what we do with it that makes the difference. This is not a feel good book. And ironically, the pandemic which completely derailed public school education is where the book ends. And for that reason I'm also a little annoyed- Ray talks about how her plans were to continue to follow her third, fourth, and fifth graders hopefully up to high school but then like the teachers who abandoned their jobs, she also abandoned her post and decided to write with what she had. I do want to be defensive, for a brief moment, that this is life. People's situations. Education. We're all in it together and this is a call to action that we can do better. Be better.

[River riveeden Styx · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an emotionally hard read which is exactly why I think people who work in the educational system should read this- especially if they are a white teacher or staffer. Part of what made this book such an emotionally painful read was that I had done some reflecting on the slow violence I committed through my work in residential treatment and their own schools.

Slow Violence is a sharp and realistic look at how racism, pity, and dehumanization play out in our schools every day.

The content of the book is well laid out with each chapter following specific relationships or events between the children and their teachers as well as how those relationships changed over the school year. That made it much easier to follow and see the slow violence play out on the children than if a whole school year was presented at once.

I have not read anything narrated by Lipica Shah before but plan to seek out other books read by her in the future. A warm and clear voice that presented the information clearly while also slightly changing her voice for various adult and children’s lines. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA.

*Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review

[Yari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confronting Dark Truths in the American Classroom by Ranita Ray (book cover is in image) exposes how marginalized children in the public school system are impacted by the prejudices and behaviors of those who are charged with caring for them.

While this book only covers one case study in a single school, I hope it opens up a conversation and more research on how Ray explains "slow violence" experienced in by students in schools impacts the development and success of our children.

The narration by Lipica Shah was so well done that I finished this book in one day. The writing by the author was accessible, and the book and audio were so well aligned, I could easily move between the two.

Thank you, @stmartinspress, @macmillan.audio, and @netgalley, for the opportunity to read the ARC and listen to the ALC. All opinions are my own.

Pub Date: Aug 05 2025
Rating: 4 Stars

#StMartinsPress
#MacmillanAudio
#SlowViolence
#RanitaRay
#LipicaShah
#Education
#NonFiction
#yarisbooknook
#netgalley

[EmJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for anyone working in education. The author writes in an easy to read style that draws you in. It makes it easy to read and process quickly. On the other hand this book can take awhile to read because the stories are so painful. This book is basically a case study that follows several students through 4-6th grade. The author shows the damage even well meaning teachers can do when they fall into the trap of racist and trauma tropes. If this book makes you uncomfortable or defensive then you need to read it.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[R.Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Ranita Ray monitors Las Vegas classrooms in elementary and middle school to witness the interactions between students and teachers. What she learns is both subtle and shocking. The teachers and students accept her presence in their classrooms over the years, as she sits quietly watching their behavior with and among one another, and even think of her as a friend. Yet Ray finds that the racially mixed classrooms, with their mostly young white teachers who are not dedicated to teaching as a career path, often disparage students they find troublesome and have little empathy for the parents who love their children and want the best for them. The title Slow Violence is appropriate.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough listen about the author's in depth research project that exposed bullying and racism by staff in an elementary school. I think it's an important study, but I found myself wanting some type of resolution that felt lacking. I'm not sure that teachers who are guilty of the same types of bullying and microaggressions would recognize themselves or their behaviors from reading the book.