The Importance of Social Justice in Education - Coursework Example

The Importance of Social Justice in Education Social Justice is one of those concepts which are debated heavily in many different regards and shades of discussions but are difficult to accurately define. Scholars have attempted to describe the phenomena in light of factors like political orientation, religious background, and political and social philosophy. However, in the modern society, social justice is the acknowledged as the ideas of ‘equal’ justice and opportunity for every member of the society transcending beyond a court room or the judiciary. It involves providing an equal footing to everyone in all the social strata existing, from the very rich to those below poverty line. The idea of social justice, while hailed by many supporters as the only moral way to run a society is almost impossible to implement in its pure form as many different factors come into play in deciding the life quality of an individual in a society and controlling all them is not only difficult, but leads to further debates about the ethical implications of said control. There are two opposing political stances on the issue. The leftist stance which shares some traits with socialism supports the idea of government involvement to ensure social justice through control of the resources present in the society and equal distribution through legislations pertaining to taxation and programs to help to less privileged. Social justice should mean that basic necessities like food, shelter and education are provided to all at the expense of the privileged few. The right wing school of thought accepts the idea of social justice but doesn’t support existence government legislation as no one should be ‘forced’ to provide equal opportunity for others- it should be fostered instead by mutual consent and philanthropic response. Healthcare, employment, education, shelter and child protection are just some of the sectors where there is a lot of pressure to ensure social justice as an economy and society can potentially benefit from a healthy and informed population equally provided with all the resources and prospect to grow and strengthen. While social justice aims to uphold basic human rights on the basis of a moral and ethical obligation, there is no denying that social justice can also be thought of a practical solution to boost an economy or general profitability of a nation; this may not be one of the more humane reasoning behind the system but it is a rational one. One of the areas which has benefitted from this school of thought is education, where there has been significant movement to ensure some degree of social justice as a well educated population is a necessary asset to ensure a competitive edge of any nation in terms of technological advances and improved sectors of military, services, sustenance, resource management and others. It is also necessary as education is one of the major equating factors which decrease the divide existing in a society and the effects trickle down into other areas, effectively impacting lifestyles and a greater possibility of social justice. Education is also one of the tools through which tolerance is spread in society; as shared knowledge and enlightened minds are much more accepting of diversity and merging cultures. By providing the same learning environment, resources and opportunities for higher learning to children coming from different backgrounds, societies have a much better chance of getting rid of negative social developments like racial and sexual discriminations and prejudices. Thereby creating a more equal and collaborative economy which will have an impact on overall productivity as well as social well being of the population. Many different governments around the globe have initiated some kind of programs to allow availability of a similarly high standard of education for the children up till a certain age. The most popular of these are mandatory education programs of primary and secondary level for all the children regardless of their socio-economic or cultural background. This example of social justice has been cemented by most legislatures and treated as a basic human right, the violation of which is an offense against law. However, forms of social injustice still seeps into class rooms and schools, more observable in schools serving a student body from divergent socioeconomic classes and backgrounds. While the basic services are available for all, many students are able to take better advantage of private tutoring, pay-for-play sports, field trips and afford re takes and extra help for Advanced placement tests, ACT or SATs (Knudson, 2009). These activities are often an important part of building up self esteem and confidence which serves the children who have access to these well in the professional world, providing them with better social and networking skills as well as increased knowledge. A similar disparity can be felt in schools which “chronically underserved”, often in urban areas, catering to pupils mainly from poor and minority backgrounds. These schools are often forced to make a trade-off between teachers who are qualified and have good authority on their subject matter and teachers who are dedicated to providing the same level of involved education as provided in schools with better financial backing and resources, and enhancing important skills like critical thinking and analysis of the students through discussions, innovative teaching techniques and a sincere commitment for them to reach their potential (Chochran-Smith et al, 2008). One of the problems in spreading social justice through all educational institutions is the fact that while many individuals take a strong interest and moral stand in bridging the standards of teaching between private and public (low funded) schools, the institutional programs in place are no longer providing the sense of equal opportunity they were designed to foster. In a paper by Allen Luke, presented in Education Queensland online conference he discusses the concept that the reason so many educational institutions are failing in their mission to deliver equal quality education to all is because of a deficiency of structure and information in the governing bodies which do not have an accurate measure of the ‘needy’ and disadvantaged groups, much less the requirement of the underprivileged children. A formal platform for social justice cannot be initiated without a clear indication of at risk groups and economic and social changes make it difficult for administrators and teachers to work effectively “So equity and social justice are still focal issues. Perhaps even more so in a risky, uncertain globalised economy where the gap between rich and poor is widening and where crucial social services and infrastructure appear to be at risk. Schools and education systems and social service agencies need to develop more complex, precise ways of analysing and deciding who is at risk, how and why. And we need to develop new strategies for beginning to close the achievement gap between our highest achieving and lowest achieving students.” (Luke, pg 2, 1999) The American education system is not only suffering from these same problems but they are compounded by the fact that the programs were initiated in the 20th century when the primary focus of the institutions was to provide a very basic education for all social classes as what were needed at the time were effective workers to support the booming manufacturing sector, not educated thinkers. In a way the basic education was enough to grant access to the same kind of opportunities for all youth. Now in 21st century, the situation is much different as an economy dependent on information technology, digital media and rapid advancement in the STEM fields is more favorable towards workers who have been well trained in their respective fields and have been exposed to the most advanced information. The schooling system fails to deliver that equally to all students as those who are privileged and have more money to spend on higher quality education fare much better in the economy- it can no longer be called socially just. In solving the dilemma of equal education to all, teachers play a critical role in how far the idea is implementable. It can be expected that teaching is more than just the job of distributing information- it a “moral and ethical responsibility to teach their students fairly and equitably” (Villegas, 2007). But how far can teachers be held to these high moral standards without a equitable reward for their efforts? As a job, the teachers have a hard enough that and many may not be motivated to go beyond the required effort to ensure that all children receive the same kind of education; private institutions often have their pick of the more qualified and dedicated teachers as they can offer them a much better return for their efforts. In underserved schools the shortage of ‘quality’ teachers creates another divide between their students and those with better fortunes. However, many established teachers believe strongly in the importance of social justice in education and are attempting to pass these ideas into the new generation of teachers. The basic idea is that teachers who believe personally in the concept will be more willing to see it implemented not only in their place of work but also in the educational system over all. Many administrations have started to recognize this aspect and in recent years there has been an increasing trend towards evaluating the teaching candidate’s disposition towards social justice as a practical concept before hiring decisions are made. There is much debate on how far is this evaluation necessary or fair for the teachers themselves: “I suspect that those who see no place for issues of social justice and dispositions in teacher preparation believe the primary goal of public education is to prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed to serve as productive workers in the stratified socioeconomic system as it currently exists. They most likely believe that it is not the role of the schools to influence the larger socioeconomic system, but to provide educational opportunities for students, based on what their performance merits” (Villegas, pg 378, 2007) The same reluctance is shown at times by the teachers in training themselves. There are different theories available as to why some people are opposed to the idea of social justice- that opposition has been attributed to denial, ignorance or guilt of leading a privelged life themselves. But while it its true some may have an ideology opposed to that of social justice, many of the young future teachers simply have a different idea about the concept over all. As a difficult term to define, it is to be expected that different people have different interpretations of the concept and its related beliefs and values. But because of over enthusiastic professors and advocates of social justice these young people are unable to speak about their own perceptions and denied the chance to explore the different motives and effects behind the implementation of social justice (Bauerlein, 2010). Some thought also has to be given to adult education and the right of adults to gainful education. Most of these governmental and individual efforts are focused towards bringing equitable education to children; but learning is a lifelong process and many adults also require specialized education in later life. When the system fails to give them economically beneficial education as children, many adults fail to reach their full potential. Serious debate is needed as to how far the society should be expected to help these adults; it is a question that the new generation of teachers will have to answer along with other complex issues related to social justice. This conflict between the generations of teachers shows that individual effort will not be enough to bring the much needed social justice in the education sector. Until governments and the mass public is made to accept the notion and intelligent discussion is carried out on the different value systems attached with the concept, the benefits of a uniform system of education will not start to appear and many young kids will go without the opportunities to compete at a level footing with their peers. Bibliography Sidoti, C., 2001. Literacy and lifelong learning: social justice for all? School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, ACAL Forum. Available at: < http://www.acal.edu.au/publications/papers/conference/SidotiPpr.pdf> [Accessed 20 July 2012] Luke, A., 1999. Why equity and social justice still matter, but differently. Education 2010 and new times. Prepared for Education Queensland online conference 20/10/99 Villegas, A. M., 2007. Dispositions in Teacher Education: A Look At Social Justice. Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 58, No. 5, November/December 2007 370-380. Knudson, B., 2009. On Social Justice and Education [Online]. A liberal Education. Available at: < http://brigitteknudson.wordpress.com/2009/01/25/on-social-justice-and-education/ > [Accessed 20 July 2012] Bauerlein, M., 2010. Social Justice Teaching from the Students’ Side [Online]. EducationNext. Available at: [Accessed 20 July 2012] Read More