Social Justice

            If we define social justice as promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity. It exists when all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources, as Dr. Matthew Robinson from Appalachian State University does, then it is clear that social justice is lacking in our educational system. There is an unlimited amount of articles, blogs, and research theories on why social justice is such an issue, and the effects the lack of has on our society. One interesting thing I found is a book titled Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word, by Linda Christensen. While I have only been able to read through the introduction into the book, I find her position on social justice to be very interesting. Christensen is inspired by writers like Fredrick Douglass and published educators like Paulo Freire. She wholeheartedly believes that by educating the poorest members of society a change can occur that fixes more than the “achievement gap.” Christensen claims that reading and writing are ultimately political acts and that writing should be an emancipatory act. After reading the last article on critical pedagogy and a chapter from one of Freire’s books, it seems that this is the kind of attitude schools need their teachers to have. Maybe talk of a “mute revolution” as Christensen calls it is enough to inspire those failing in today’s school system to fight back. I honestly thought Freire’s words were a bit extreme, and there are still parts of Freire’s philosophy that I’m not on board with; however, I’m beginning to see the need for an extreme change in our schools. I guess that means extreme words need to be written and read by everyone, but especially students in poor schools and form low SES backgounds. I’ve been in the education program for two years now and I don’t think social justice has been discussed enough. I find myself more and more agreeing that we need a “mute revolution.”