Lessons in Social Justice……
During the past several months, I’ve avoided most chats except the occasional pop in for a question or response that intrigued me. As I scrolled through Twitter last week, I stumbled upon a chat which posed a question about a favorite social justice lessons and I had to respond:
Did you know social justice is our educational system? Yes, our educational system is a embodiment of social justice. Social justice relates to how rights, privileges, money, and opportunities are distributed within a society. Education is a textbook example of social justice. Education is a civil right that all students have not and are not equitably afforded. So if you are an educator, you are upholding injustices through your pedagogy, practices, and instruction or not. It’s that simple. Social justice like equity is also multi-faceted, but at its root, social justice is heart work. The condition of our hearts greatly impacts our ability to be social justice advocates both in our lives and classrooms. Social justice is not and will never be just a lesson or unit. It should not ever be a one and done event, but is instead embedded and interwoven in our lives outside and inside the classroom. That’s a huge blindspot for many educators with privilege and power. They misunderstand and misconstrue social justice, cheapening it to a buzzword or thing to do rather than a way of operating and living. When educators decide to…
