Where to begin?

It seems as if recently I've been bombarded with information, readings, and media about how unequal the United States schooling system is. I've read about Indian Boarding Schools, about literacy issues, about how black and white students learn differently, and about the widening achievement gap. The only problem being, I don't see where to begin to solve any of these problem.

If as future educators we are striving to create equal opportunities for all children then we have to start acting now. Even if it's just a small decision, they have to start being made. The problem I keep coming across in looking for a place to begin is this: I am receiving a completely mixed message from my teachers and reading sources. It seems to me as if I keep hearing something like this, "You must treat all students the same, but all students learn differently so teach them differently." How can you treat all students the same but teach them differently?! I can't help feeling that this is the same contradictory message I am hearing over and over and over again.

So, where do I begin? How can I start to help low achieving students if I have to treat everyone the same? How can I take into account different learning styles if I'm supposed to treat everyone the same? How can I have a unified goal for every student when I am supposed to be teaching them differently?

It seems to me we need to stop looking at race and color as a factor in schools. It has been said that color is not something that is invisible, it is a part of every person, but a part of ever person individually. As teacher we need to work on an individual basis. Think Globally, Act Locally. Why aren't we being taught this in our education programs? Why aren't we being taught how to cater to our students needs, as INDIVIDUALS, not as a group of students of color? When we get out into the world, we will be well versed, as Delpit points out, in the negative situations in education. Why not the positive?

So, my question is where to begin? In an educational environment full of negatives and contradictions, how can we know where to start to make improvements? I know there are no definitive answers... but all we need is a place to begin, we can at least move FORWARD from there.