Teaching Uptown: Dr. Jose Vilson on Math, Race, Class, the War on Public Education & the Kids Who Deserve Better

This episode was recorded on Wednesday, June 25, 2026 — the first full day after Darializa Avila Chevalier's historic defeat of Adriano Espaillat in NY-13. The energy in the room is palpable from the first moment.Dr. Jose Vilson is a Dominican-Haitian educator, author, sociologist, and social media impact leader who spent fifteen years teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade math in Washington Heights, serving over a thousand students at a school so deeply rooted in the neighborhood that its history was married to the history of Uptown itself. He holds a PhD in sociology and education from Teachers College, Columbia University, is the author of This Is Not a Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education (Haymarket Books), and has a second book on math and teaching coming in October.He's also the person who got his blog banned from every single computer in the New York City Department of Education under Bloomberg and Joel Klein — and then wrote a bestselling book because of it.In this episode, Dr. Vilson and hosts Led Black and Octavio Blanco cover the full landscape: what the Mamdani tsunami and Darializa's win mean for Uptown's kids; the anti-Haitian smear campaign and what it revealed about Dominican identity and representation; what Darializa can actually do for education in District 6; why seventy percent of a child's test score is determined by out-of-school factors; the difference between discipline and harshness in the classroom; why New York City's schools are as racially segregated as Mississippi's — in a very specific and important way; the crisis of social media and what it's doing to middle schoolers' sense of self; what professionalism really means for teachers of color; why he spent $800 a year of his own money on classroom supplies; and why education has always been — and must always be — political.He closes with the Knicks. Of course he does.⏱ TIMECODE CHAPTERS00:00  Cold Open  —  Dr. Vilson on the difference between discipline and harshness — and what students are really seeking00:53  Welcome: The First Day of the Mamdani Era  —  Led and Octavio open on the morning after Darializa's historic win — introducing Dr. Jose Vilson01:30  Who Is Dr. Jose Vilson?  —  Led corrects Octavio: it's Doctor. Octavio doubles down on 'social media impact leader.' Both are right.03:00  The Night Before — Mamdani, Darializa & a Personal Victory  —  Jose on walking Dyckman with water bottles and Jamal Bowman last June; meeting Darializa at the National Action Network with Espaillat in the front of the room04:50  Five Hours of Sleep + a Graduation This Morning  —  Jose's son graduated this morning. Led and Octavio celebrate.05:00  Processing the Mamdani Tsunami  —  Led asks how Jose processes the anti-Haitian campaign that backfired — and what it means as a Dominican-Haitian06:02  Representation Is Not Enough  —  Jose on 15 years teaching in Washington Heights as a Dominican and Haitian: you have to put in the work. The campaign slogan can't just be 'I'm Dominican.'08:15  The Community That Rejected the Ugliness  —  Octavio on Mamdani calling out Pimentel; Jose on Uptown Community Democrats, Joanna Garcia, and the quiet progressive Dominican majority that finally got loud11:17  Why Jose Became an Educator  —  From computer science at Syracuse to NYC Teaching Fellows to District Six — and the moment he realized he wanted impact, not a coding job13:42  The Teacher Who Changed His Life — Mr. Connolly  —  The Harvard-grad eighth-grade teacher at Nativity Mission School who gave Jose a 9 out of 10: 'You're not Dr. Martin Luther King Junior'16:01  What Can Darializa Do for Education in District 6?  —  Jose's framework: help parents stress less; fix the principal-to-politician relationship; get kids out of testing mode and into the neighborhood — the Dyckman Farmhouse, El Museo del Barrio, the Cloisters20:10  The Hispanic Society Nobody Knows About  —  Led and Octavio on how many neighborhood kids had never heard of the Hispanic Society — a block away21:01  Teaching in Washington Heights for 15 Years  —  What it was like walking into that school in 2005: the kids who just needed a hug, the boys with only rage or elation as emotional options, and what he learned about his own limits25:29  Middle School Is a Fox  —  Octavio on teaching 6th-8th grade — thirty kids who each showed up with two personalities. Jose on social-emotional health and why Takis and quarter waters set kids up to fail by 9am27:47  Discipline vs. Harshness  —  The most effective teachers Jose saw were the calmest ones — firm, kind, expectation-setting. 'Most of my work wasn't teaching math. It was getting students to believe they could do it.'29:39  Social Media and the Generation He Watched Change  —  Jose started teaching in 2005 — right as social media arrived. What he saw: Snapchat in the bathroom, cyber-bullying without evidence, self-image crises, and the sex ed parallel33:47  'I'm a Big Problem' — Origin Story  —  Octavio on Jose's pinned reel; Jose on growing up darker-skinned and overweight in Dominican culture, learning to read Spanish from the Bible at four, the stepfather, and learning to take up space39:30  Taking Up Space as a Man of Color  —  Octavio on shrinking in professional settings; Jose on coming into rooms with mayors and congresswomen as an equal — Cam'ron's mirror affirmation and the introvert who turns on when the lights come on42:24  Abbott Elementary and the Resource Desert  —  Led asks; Jose reveals he spent $800/year of his own money on classroom supplies — markers, paper, printing — because his school never gave him a dime. No Donors Choose when he started.44:24  Teachers Are Rich, Right? And They Get Summers Off  —  The bit. (Jose does not let it slide.)44:41  Jose's PhD: Professionalism, Race & Why Teachers of Color Leave  —  From being told he was 'unprofessional' to Teachers College Columbia to surveying 100+ teachers across all five boroughs: teachers define professionalism by preparation, dedication, and motivation — not dominant norms49:16  Microaggressions in the Workplace Aren't Micro  —  Octavio on the lexicon used to push teachers of color out; Jose on explicit bias, how Black teachers are rated lower than white teachers using identical behaviors, and what the best principals actually do52:35  This Is Not a Test — The Book  —  The Toni Morrison rule: write the book that hasn't been written. Getting banned on every DOE computer. Twelve rejections. Haymarket Books. Bestse...