Social Justice In Schools

With more events disputing over a child’s enrolment in taking social justice positions learned in school, it is hard for society to decide whether social justice should be apart of the curriculum. Cynthia Reynolds, author of Maclean’s article Why are schools brain washing our children, explores the topic of social justice in our education system.

Some research suggests that treatment of Kentucky youth of color results in educational opportunities that are lost and limits successful maturation to adults. (Grieshop et al, 2009)

Education and economic justice were two forms of systemic inequalities that make inequality difficult to talk about. Education is a requirement if someone wishes to have a better life, but not everyone has access to quality education. In the U.S there has always been a battle, people of color have fought to be able to access quality education, (Philips, 2016: 130) they are constantly attending inferior and ineffective school where there are many distractions for students to be fully successful in the classrooms. Often these schools where children of color attend lack quality facilities, educational resources, and qualified teachers. Someone can’t help to notice that in general such unqualified schools are mostly in color people’s neighborhoods.

I chose to read the article “Leveraging Conflict for Social Justice: How “Leadable” Moments Can Transform School Culture” by Enrique Aleman, Jr. The article discusses how an elementary school principle implements her vision of success within a school district that has a diverse group of students with low socioeconomical status. She envisions an environment where faculty, staff, students and parents are working together to create an idyllic school atmosphere. Whenever conflict manifests itself between key stakeholders the principle capitalizes on the instances as “leadable” moments associated with social justice. This case describes how a principle is tested by a teacher’s response to racist and bigoted language, and the implications surrounding the parents and district concerns regarding diversity and equal education opportunities for all students involved (Aleman, 2009).

A school setting provides opportunities where issues of social justice, oppression, and discrimination can be addressed. According to Bemak and Chung (2009), students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. These disparities in academic

How to minimize the hurts of non-white children once their belief on the theory of a society is fair and equality is completely collapsed when the reality is happening in the opposite. In the reading “Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color” Mildred Boveda, an assistant education professor at Arizona State University, said: “I will admit that it sometimes felt risky to tackle these difficult conversations, but this [research] underscores why we cannot equivocate when it comes to preparing our children to face injustices.” I agree with her opinion. Because finding the proper solutions to fully empower and equipping the best knowledge that can help children cope better is not easy, but it is the responsibility of the family, the school, and society. The three elements need to act and work together in an effort to dare to speak about the truths mentioned above.

Who we are and how we are treated as children is directly correlated to who we will become as adults. Spoken by Lyndon B. Johnson, “Until Justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.” These words are echoed throughout the educational system that is put in place today. Jonathan Kozol, an award-winning writer and public lecturer who focuses on social injustice in the United States, reverberates these words in his article, “From Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”. Kozol proves his mastery in persuasion by the facts he provides and the personal anecdotes from teachers and students.

The first article I read was titled “What Does Teaching for Social Justice Mean to Teacher Candidates?” I learned that its not the gap between age of the student and teacher, but the main problem is the teachers entering the field have limited to no experience or understanding of different races, backgrounds, culture, and class. Because of this, teachers are having a harder time working with diverse learners, and its common to see teachers holding grudges on these students or having poor attitudes towards this population. In this same article, they talk about this gap a little bit more in depth by saying “The academic achievement gap among different racial, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic status groups of students is exacerbated by inequitable educational opportunities and resources, access to highly qualified teachers, and access to proper pedagogy and pedagogical resources.” From this reading, I have learned its very important to know my students and get to know a little about bout where they come from and their backgrounds to better be able to

The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children by Gloria Ladson-Billings was a great resource in thinking about how I would work toward influencing my staff, and the school community as a whole, to engage in discussions about equity. Most notably, she advises us to “acknowledge the race and culture of your students and try to weave it into your teachings” and to “foster a sense of community”. I am lucky to work in a school that was founded and lead by a woman of color for the last 6 years, so equity conversations are not as awkward as they may be in some other schools. In light of recent travesties of justice that have occurred in the US over the past year, these conversations have the potential to become more high-stakes

These children reminded me of the problems I too faced growing up poor in Baltimore. One consistency within these students’ stories was the lack of diversity and positivity in regards to their perceptions of the average man of color. Comparing these students’ stories to my own tribulations as a youth, I began to realize that there is a pattern of deficiency in quality representation within low income communities. Understanding that I have a gift for education, I sought to help fix this problem not only for the students in Justice for Juniors, but also many others. Since then, I have been dedicating to myself to developing my craft as an educator and continuing to educate and mentor those in lower income communities. To gain more experience, I joined Terrapin Teachers at the University of Maryland which is a program designed to teach STEM majors how to become effective teachers. Through this program I learned key organizational skills and teaching techniques such as; inquiry based teaching, investigative questioning, how to facilitate classroom discussions, and classroom management

Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States and the president who signed the Civil Rights Act into law, once said, “Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.” Many are unaware of how well a person can receive their education when their race differs from the dominant white majority of the U.S. Whether it’s ignorance or the deliberate choice of not giving other races the same opportunity to succeed, we don’t know, but that is what we have set out to find. Throughout all of our literature, we can see examples of people not getting the same choices or opportunities as other citizens

Unjust and racist housing policies have created a segregated neighborhoods. In turn, due to school zoning being organized by proximity, schools across the nation consequently are segregated as well. This segregation hinders racial identity development of African American children and adolescents, racially socialized African American children in a defensive manner and perpetuated negative and false stereotypes to non-African American students. Moreover, this segregation hinders the obtainability of liberation as promoted by Black Liberation psychologists, and moves degrades the social justice that many Civil Rights leaders fought against in the Jim Crow Era. To make a larger impact on the causes of school segregation, the dismantling of racist housing polocies would allow for more integrated communities and inturn create more integrated schools. However, for a more immediate and direct effect on the segregation of public schools would be to do away with proximity school zoning, and to allow for students to have choice in the schools they attend. It is through simple steps like these we can further the vision of leaders like Wells, Houston, and Marshall, and ensure a opportune future for all, regardless of

To be an inclusive society, a community must accommodate all children, providing them with the resources to accomplish their utmost desires. The barriers established by prejudice of past must be surmounted, as ethnicity does not define the principles of a person. The impoverished shall have their necessities satisfied, without the burdensome stigma from pompous individuals. This exemplifies the flawless utopia, a society brimming with bliss and opportunity. Yet, to a perplexing reality, while strides have been accomplished in involving minorities in superior programs, there is an underlying layer fear: the unease of success. Currently, less minorities are attempting to pursue higher classes, as they see these opportunities as being reserved

The term social justice is normally used when referring to the ideas of equality and providing equal opportunities to pupils within school, regardless of their background, history or circumstances. Views of social justice can change depending on who is discussing the topic.

Over the last eight weeks, we have visited and deeply discussed many topics that surround social justice in the classroom. These topics have ranged from social justice in the world to how to create a socially just classroom and everything in between. In class, there has been a few times where it has been uncomfortable because the topics can bring out many opinions in the room. Many people in the room shared their opinions, including me, which brought up many other discussions. In this essay, I will be discussing our navigations through the social justice issues that classrooms face by talking about the key points of our class throughout the last eight weeks.