I thought it was a good idea at the time

Like, obviously we start with Alanna and SOTL, which is all about pure access. The question here is very simple: should girls get access to the education system? And the answer is equally simple: yes, obviously. This is a book about proving that these girls who have been denied access to the system can, in fact, succeed if given a chance. That girls are just as capable of doing well as boys are, and that they deserve the same opportunities as boys do. We are shown that with enough determination and support from the people close to her, Alanna can push through and beat these people at their own game.

Then we have circle of magic, where we are instead asking ourselves: what about kids who aren’t able to succeed inside that system? Not every kid is Alanna. Some kids are never going to be able to brute force their way through the system as she did. Not because they’re not as smart as her or as determined, but because they’re different. The system is never going to work for them, so the only way forward is to remove them from the system. And in doing that, these kids find success no one in the system ever dreamed possible for them.

Then we get to Kel and protector of the small, and we finally get to ask what in my mind are the real questions. Rather that a pure question of whether she has access to the system, Kel is also questioning the value of the system itself. How it treats the people inside it and those supporting it, like Lalasa. She is looking at the system and instead of accepting it at face value, she asks why it works the way it does, and if it hurts so many people and privileges bad behavior, is this the right way? And if it’s not, what does a better way look like, and what does it take to change it?

Observe

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