Additional Findings on Social Justice
Newton
"Introduction"
o However, it may well be that educators should take a look at the other end of the spectrum (Newton, 1972, 138)
That is, a glance at what may be appropriately called the dilemma of the suburban-disadvantaged (Newton, 1972, 138)
• Those students of middle oriented backgrounds who receive all the so-called aspects of a formal education, but are denied a “total” education because of limited or no contact with materials of educational of social significance concerning varied sub-cultural groups within the society. (Newton, 1972, 138)
o No one can deny that the scars and wounds in the inner-city are quite overt. (Newton, 1972, 138)
The wounds have been remedied to some degree by various educational and social forces including the implementation of compensatory education programs which have provided additional experiences vital to the development of the child in the inner city. (Newton, 1972, 138)
The Case of Mrs. Z
o She loved her job and continued for the next two years. In her third year of teaching Mrs. Z received the “Teacher of the Year” award. (Newton, 1972, 138)
o However, in her sixth year of teaching Mrs. Z was informed by her paranoid principal that she was going to have a young black boy in class and to “keep on the lookout.” (Newton, 1972, 139)
In the back of her mind Mrs. Z was convinced that she was not prejudiced, but her husband might be since he had on occasion expressed his hatred for “niggers” and related it to a skirmish ha had some years ago. (Newton, 1972, 139)
o At lunch time Joey sat by himself. The kids stared at him. (Newton, 1972, 139)
Some asked him questions such as: “Are you from Africa?”; “Do you make chocolate mild? HAH! HAH!”; “He’s too big to be a raisin”… (Newton, 1972, 139)
• Joey didn’t like it. When he came in after lunch he was upset and told Mrs. Z what had happened. (Newton, 1972, 139)
o Mrs. Z explained to Joey that he should behave himself and not bother the other children. (Newton, 1972, 139)
o At recess he was usually alone. The name-calling was too much for him, and he was becoming more and more aggressive. Mrs. Z didn’t know what to do (Newton, 1972, 139)
Mrs. Z didn’t know what to do. She wrote a letter home to Mr. and Mrs. Joey explaining how hostile he was to other students. (Newton, 1972, 139)
• His parents could not understand. They had hardly any problems with Joey before. (Newton, 1972, 139)
o His reports were very poor. (Newton, 1972, 139)
It seemed that Joey was a little below average in everything…(Newton, 1972, 139)
o Joey began explaining his book entitled: Stranger in the Classroom. (Newton, 1972, 140)
Mrs. Z was shocked. Joey’s mother had explained to her at the last conference that joey was a slow reader but took to heart what he read. (Newton, 1972, 140)
o Mrs. Z came into class with some Standardized Test for determining I.Q. (Newton, 1972, 140)
Much to Mrs. Z’s surprise Joey received the top score of 142. (Newton, 1972, 140)
o Every year the school had the annual talent show (Newton, 1972, 140)
Joey had been taking lessons with the trumpet and decided to try out for the show. (Newton, 1972, 140)
The students really liked Joey’s trumpet playing and voted him in to perform in the talent show (Newton, 1972, 140)
• Mrs. Z was antagonized again. (Newton, 1972, 140)
"Ending"
o It is probably more typical than atypical of the die-hard suburbanite who refuses to see hope for the ultimate realization of the illusive “American Dream” for those other than themselves. (Newton, 1972, 140)
The perpetuation of this kind of attitude form teacher to student looms as a major battlefield in the conflict between the determination of Black American sand the backlash of resentment among whites in attitude-forming positions such as the classroom teacher. (Newton, 1972, 140)
The author believes that everyone focuses on the disadvantaged in big cities while they ignore those who are on the flip side of the coin – the disadvantaged in small cities and towns.
Urban schools have been dealt with because it is very apparent that there are issues in them. It is a very visible issue. However, because nobody thinks of these issues taking place in the suburbs, it is practically invisible to policy makers, so they don’t try to fix anything.
Mrs. Z assumes that she won’t have to worry about herself being prejudiced. However, whether she is or not, she cannot help the thoughts in the back of her mind that she’s accumulated from society and those around her, as we see later in the story.
Remember that whole white privilege thing? Yeah, that. Mrs. Z is assuming that Joey is the one in the wrong because of her preestablished prejudices towards people of color, whether she realizes it or not.
People like Mrs. Z tend to fall victim to prejudice because they focus only on their own struggles and what they need to do to succeed rather than being empathetic towards what others must do to reach the “American Dream”
Seider
"Introduction"
o As activist Marian Wright Edelman (2001) once noted, “A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back—but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you” (p. 29). (Seider, 2009, 2)
o There is great value, then, in considering how educators in privileged communities can heighten their students’ awareness and concern for society’s less fortunate members (Seider, 2009, 2)
o Drawing on surveys, interviews, observations, and student work collected from these teens, I offer here three important (and surprising) lessons for K-12 educators committed to teaching privileged youth about social justice (Seider, 2009, 2)
• Lesson #1: Knowledge Can Be Overwhelming
o In a unit on world hunger and poverty, the 83 teens learned that thousands of men, women, and children die each day in the developing world from malnutrition and other treatable diseases. (Seider, 2009, 3)
o Unexpectedly, however, by the end of the unit, a majority of these teens had become dubious about the feasibility of combating global poverty. (Seider, 2009, 3)
As one student, Dan, explained, “It’s just the way life is, I guess. Like some people are more fortunate than others. Sometimes there’s something you can do; sometimes there isn’t.” Another student, Liza, characterized world hunger as “a huge issue” but also as “something that’s uncontrollable.” (Seider, 2009, 3)
• They needed more support in envisioning what solutions to global poverty and world hunger might look like, and how they, personally, could play a role in addressing these global challenges (Seider, 2009, 3)
o For educators outraged by the injustices about which they are teaching, it is tempting to deluge students with statistics, sermons, and stories about all that is wrong with the current distribution of wealth, health, and resources across the globe (Seider, 2009, 3)
It is crucial, then, for teachers to design lessons and utilize curricula that not only deepen their students’ understanding of social problems, but also help them to envision what solutions to these problems might look like (and how they can be a part of these solutions). (Seider, 2009, 3-4)
• Lesson #2: Fear Can Impede Social Responsibility
o Unexpectedly, however, this goal became overshadowed by the teens’ heightened fears about one day experiencing poverty themselves (Seider, 2009, 4)
Such fears could be a useful emotion if they resulted in heightened outrage over the challenges of ‘getting by’ in America. (Seider, 2009, 5)
o Learning about the challenges of poverty as well as the disparities between affluent and poor communities actually increased these teens’ protectiveness of their own privilege. (Seider, 2009, 5)
The majority became less supportive of policies that would equalize schooling between affluent and poor communities, and more defensive of their own right to receive a superior education (Seider, 2009, 5)
o One possible response by educators, however, is to take advantage of students’ fears through exercises in perspective-taking (Seider, 2009, 5)
Ask students to imagine themselves (and to write about) growing up in a housing project or a homeless shelter. (Seider, 2009, 5)
• What challenges would they face? What kinds of support would they need to make it to adulthood, to graduate from high school, to go on to college? What could parents, teachers, schools, communities, and government do to give them the best chance at ‘making it’? (Seider, 2009, 5-6)
• Lesson #3: ‘Radical’ Arguments Can Be Counterproductive
o In this essay, Singer argues that individuals have a moral obligation to donate all of their surplus wealth to hunger relief organizations. (Seider, 2009, 6)
He argues that, “You shouldn’t buy that new car, take that cruise, redecorate that house or get the pricey new suit. After all, a $1,000 suit could save five children’s lives” (Seider, 2009, 6)
o Reactions like these are predicted by recent scholarship on ‘do-gooder derogation’— the tendency of individuals to react with suspicion, trivialization, or resentment when they feel threatened by someone else’s moral behavior (Seider, 2009, 7)
o Monin and Minson explain that such reactions are “an attempt to defuse this perceived threat by putting down the would-be judge and therefore making the judgment embedded in their choice irrelevant” (Seider, 2009, 7)
o Rather than convincing these teens of their obligations to the less fortunate, Singer’s ‘radical’ assertions triggered their suspicion, resentment, and desire to trivialize his perspective (Seider, 2009, 7)
o Such a strategy is a reasonable one; however, these ‘radical’ perspectives may not be the most effective means of influencing students’ attitudes towards the issue at hand. (Seider, 2009, 7)
• Conclusion
o Teaching privileged teens about societal inequity and the interplay between dominant and marginalized groups is a tremendously complex endeavor (Seider, 2009, 8)
o Recall the assertion by Marian Wright Edelman with which I began this paper: the challenges facing our world are too large and too pressing to simply wait for another Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come along (Seider, 2009, 8)
o I believe that deepening the commitment of privileged youth to social justice must come about, in large part, through the aggregate tiny pushes of many committed educators (Seider, 2009, 8)
These students don’t believe that they can change the world – it is how it is. That’s just how the world is supposed to be otherwise it wouldn’t be the way it is.
This is the purpose of education – especially social studies. Examine things from the past in order to make informed decisions for the future. Look at how things have been changed in the past and change them now
Just like we learned about concept change, the more you try to change someone’s mind, the more defensive they get and the more the sink their claws into their old belief.
Once again, students need to come to their own conclusions with the information provided to them. Just outright telling them how it is and that their thinking is wrong will make them defensive, so they won’t be willing to learn new information.
Edelman is saying that we look back at all of the great civil rights leaders of the past century and praise them for what they did, yet we don’t want to move towards change today. We can’t revive these greats to do the work for us – if we want that kind of change now, we must do it ourselves.
This article says you should start arguments because people get defensive and don’t want to change their concepts. While they won’t change their concepts, do they need to?
This article says that you must include social justice in lesson plans to change students’ thinking, but at the same time they say you can’t change their minds – it’s problematic. What should we do?
Simmons
• Students may watch racy movies, enjoy soft-porn music videos, and post revealing photos on Instagram, but for the time he or she has their attention, the teacher acts as the surrogate guardian of virtue.
o The classroom should be one place where teenagers are forced to have something besides sex on the brain.
• I understand why parents want to protect their children, but a properly contextualized conversation about sex in literature class might be the best protection they can hope for.
• Yet, these books, despite their fantastical elements, represent reality.
o Among their lessons: Sex can be an expression of love or violence, and relationships that don’t feel awful can be profoundly unhealthy.
• Running away from the tough questions does an injustice to the material; failing to use them to make meaningful connections to the students’ lives does an injustice to the students.
• In December, the Los Angeles-based charter school company Green Dot Schools fired my friend and former grad-school classmate Daniel Yoo from his job at Animo Venice High School.
o When nearly 600 students marched out of class to protest the firing, local media identified a parent’s complaint about a poem as the catalyst, although, according to Yoo, no parent complained to him.
o For another ninth-grade English class the previous year, for example, Yoo designed a mock trial focused on a rape case; the trial had been a big success when he’d taught in South Korea.
The mock trial case both improved students’ persuasive speaking skills and permitted a student-driven conversation about consent.
o He asked his students to write personal narratives and perform them in front of peers, parents, and faculty. One student touched on abuse. Another used the words "boob" and "ass" in her monologue.
o But according to the school administration’s report, Yoo "utilized instructional content ... with controversial topics focused on sex and rape," and "permitted students to use inappropriate material in performances."
• Connected to identity, gender, and their relationships with their bodies and others, sex looms large in the lives of students.
• Good teachers also have another untestable imperative: to encourage students to become confident young citizens.
o To be bolder, braver, smarter, and safer, they need to be able to talk and write about their reality.
• Most students receive some degree of formal sex education—typically sex broken down in terms of biology and personal health.
o Narratives in which characters negotiate sexuality give students roadmaps for their own lives. Of course, with such lessons, teachers should tread carefully, having parents sign release forms at the beginning of the year, for example.
• One story, "Ask Me If I Care," concerns a group of San Francisco teen punks stumbling toward adulthood in the late 1970s. Jocelyn snorts coke and runs off with Lou, a middle-aged music producer, while Rhea watches her best friend disappear and searches for an authentic sense of self.
o Students read about the unbalanced, repellant relationship growing between Lou and Jocelyn
His relationship with her is about power—and his efforts to remain youthful despite the inexorable passage of time.
o I asked my students what they thought the teenage characters wanted out of their first relationships. Trust, love, common interests, affection, security, and comfort, they said.
o Later on, the students wrote letters with advice to one of the three characters.
Some scolded Lou ferociously as if they were enraged parents
Students pleaded with Jocelyn to practice safe sex, eschew hard drugs, and reconsider her devotion to such a doomed relationship.
• It's okay if reading a work of literature triggers something in a student—literature is supposed to encourage empathy, identification, and fresh perspectives
o The most tortured moments in literature affect humans because they reflect a reality that can torture us, too. Talking and writing about it is a blow against secrecy and shame.
• According to Juana Rodriguez, a professor of women’s and gender studies at UC Berkeley, young people need to learn how to be "good sexual citizens."
o "Sex education is developing the ability to communicate about our own sexuality within our culture," he said. "Desire, gender, identity—there’s no end to it. It needs to be in grammar school, high school, and retirement communities. We’re not comfortable talking about [sex]. Anything that opens that up and gives us skills is extremely valuable."
• If students don't have literature to help them think about unhealthy relationships and why physical pleasure plays the role it does in human life, they risk getting their clues from inferior sources.
• Students have been taught narratives about sex and relationships since they were little kids.
o "Kids get the idea that you do anything for a loved one," Rodriguez said. "If someone loves you, they can never hurt you. If you love someone, you can trust them with all your heart."
• But the consequence of that mindset, according to Rodriguez, is that kids subsequently miss out on the more nuanced narratives of love and hurt, trust and betrayal
• Parents want to shield their children from stories about sex, but kids are force-fed powerful narratives about physical attraction a decade earlier
The job of educators is to create connections between course content and real life so that students use the information in their everyday lives. If teachers can’t do this, they are failing their students and depriving them of vital information. Teachers aren’t talking about sex and are missing opportunities to do so effectively.
This teacher was attempting to provide an area of no judgement – a safe space for all topics and discussions. Students already know about sex and are figuring themselves out, so talking about it will help with self-discovery and individuality.
Sex education in schools today is preaching abstinence and talking about how the act of sex is evil. They never talk about emotions and sexuality. Somehow, these human feelings are not allowed, but you can show herpe covered dicks? Come on. I have a friend that was the one other gay at my high school and when he saw a vagina in sex ed he fainted. That is what we call a platinum gay.
The purpose of schools is to make students into citizens – prepare them for all of the trials and tribulations of life. Without providing them with an effective sex education, we are failing as educators by not providing them with the information they need in their everyday lives as adults.
While people not know the in’s and out’s wink of sex, they know about love, affection and attraction from a young age. This is a part of the human psyche and sex education! They need to hear about these feelings too because it isn’t like they’re hearing about ALL of these concepts in high school