Teaching for Social Justice - Essay Example

 Teaching for Social Justice The children of our world, sadly, inherit a diverse and unequal environment teeming with discriminations and prejudices of the worst kind. Children learn early on in life that there are certain factors that make them feel isolated and unwelcome. Many people experience injustice daily in one form or the other. It could be an unkind comment about a person's weight, hair, dress, or facial features. But many a times these injustices are targeted towards individuals based on race, class, religion and caste that culminate into denying them decent housing, jobs, or quality education. History has been mute witness to countless killings and wars waged on account of superficial differences. The principle of equality has been espoused the world over as an essential quality needed for fruitful coexistence and mutual benefit. Though no two individuals are "equal", on a set of any given parameters, as a principle however, one has to respect and interact with the 'other' on an equal footing. But this is always not the case because of many forms of discrimination prevalent in society to sanctify which efforts were launched to assign it a scientific basis. The shameful history of scientific racism in the 20th century is well known wherein fashionable genetic theories were quickly reflected in public policies, from compulsory sterilization in the US to nazi death camps in Germany. Later, the notion of 'race' was found to be a myth far removed from biological fact. Modern molecular genetics has established that genetic profiles cannot divide humanity into any definitive types. There aren't any 'genetic' markers for race or ethnicity. In fact intermingling of genes is a characteristic feature of the human species that has resulted due to years and years of traveling, trading, migration, pilgrimage, invasion and conquest. The nurture and active proliferation of inequality in varied forms and in many cultures can be related to or is a result of the arrogance of power. The subjugation of vast masses and the control it affords to those holding the reins of power, to write the destiny of hapless individuals, is a heady mix. It intoxicates the powerful with furthering their economic interests giving them a reason to 'stereotype' the subjugated and the weak with irrational lies. 'They' are not capable; are unintelligent; carry many cultural disadvantages; do not fit the 'mould'; are below the par; less than average; these are some of the remarks hurled around to describe people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who live in utter poverty and neither have education nor 'hope' forcing them to accept their lot as something preordained or deserving of such pitiful condition. The concept of inequality, like casteism, sexism or racism, is never innate to an individual. They do not accompany an individual at the time of birth. This notion is 'acquired' later, it is learned. Thus learning is a form of deception invoked to proliferate the prejudices. This has to be changed. And this change can be brought about by the dynamic interaction between the teachers, students and parents. It is necessary to engage the notions of diversity and democracy to bring about a social change and justice. Let us begin by defining what 'social justice' actually is? Social justice is used as an umbrella term for the many topics and concerns connoted by the terms democracy, equality and diversity. But people find these terms so abstract and far removed from reality that they do not believe it to be worth fighting for. It must not be assumed that an idea or cause will be enthusiastically accepted for being fair and just. Nobody will give it a damn and think about it with a compassionate angle because the overriding concern of the modern society seems to be self-interest and personal gain. However, there are exceptions. There are people who are pained and angered at the prospect of young people dying of hunger, leading meaningless lives and going through the motions of life with contempt and malice towards the world. These compassionate people, the teachers amongst them, can do yeoman service and bring those misguided young people back from the brink of disaster. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the great stalwart of India who waged countless wars at eliminating the scourge of casteism (sanctioned through religion), used to say, "Tell the slave that he is a slave. Once he realizes that he is a slave, he will rise in revolt". The essence of realizing this ideal is to awaken the minds and free them from their own stifling prejudices. Biases work both ways. One may feel "I am superior". Conversely, the other might feel "I am inferior". The teachers need to work on this seemingly self-contradicting notion, since their classroom will comprise students from diverse social and economical backgrounds. The teacher has to sensitize them to all the sensibilities floating around. In the US the relationship between racial and ethnic groups is framed within a context of unequal power, where people of European descent assume the power to claim land, resources and language. They are the ones who decide who is American and who is not based on the culture and identity that they frame. As a consequence of which assumptions (often derogatory) are made about intellectual ability and family support based on skin color. But why is it so? Teachers need to talk to their students and encourage them to explore the reasons behind the development of such stereotypical images of both the whites and racial/ethnic groups. Why is there such marked disparity in the social and economic status of whites and others? The historical reasons need to be clearly brought out for such glaring inequalities. Many white families had gotten rich by buying property, renovating it and selling it because of the "New Deal Legislation" brought in by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had struck a deal with the southern senators that the money for low-cost federal subsidized housing loans would be made available to only white families and not to families of color. The southern senators wanted to keep blacks working as sharecroppers. Thus the success stories of whites need to be viewed in a perspective of historical context and awaken the students to the unfairness perpetrated against the colored people throughout history. Such simple stories and analogies have the potential of raising profound and fundamental questions forming the most effective teaching technique. But then nobody likes to live in the past. The powerful and the influential might sympathize with the situation and say, "It was 100-150 years back. There might have been discrimination based on color back then, but not today". The best strategy to bring about the realization, for students, by teachers, are to pair white and black students and send them shopping and compare their treatment by the store clerks. The attitudinal difference will make a very powerful statement and sensitize the students, especially the whites, to the unfairness of it all. Most of the time teachers are prone to, or content with, dispensing multicultural education in terms of highlighting just the cultural differences. But this is not the right approach. Ethnic and cultural differences should be celebrated to bring about the rich opulence of customs and traditions of the indigenous entities. In a color-blind approach the teacher is denying herself the chance to see the students in totality, and also of knowing about the culture, community and festivals. To tide over this lacuna the teachers should be advised to join a network of people or organizations that can help them relate more closely to the cause of social justice like the National Coalition of Education Activists, National Association for Bilingual Education, and National Association for Multicultural Education and subscribe to Rethinking Schools. Children are endowed with innate feelings of empathy and caring which the teachers need to tap for helping the less fortunate. Attempts have to be made to move beyond the dichotomy of "us and them" towards encouraging the feelings of solidarity for members of diverse ethnic and cultural groups. Throughout the classroom discussion should be encouraged on finding answers to simple, yet profound, questions like what makes black 'black' and white 'white', how are we different from them, how are we similar, what can we learn from them, what can we emulate- their customs, traditions, thought process, why are we rich and they poor, and what might we do to make life easier. The students might not give correct and right answers, but it may well set a thought process of looking at people around them with empathy and a lot of perspective with feelings of understanding and compassion. Teaching is an art form that is harnessed to train and mould the minds of innocent children; as such the teachers have to always play the mind game. The ignominy and the hurt the less fortunate have to undergo relentlessly should be glaringly brought out to not just feel sorry or sympathy for those guys, but to develop a feeling of solidarity in the cause of changing their misfortune to fortune. The fortunate and the unfortunate should have to both come to terms to their lot and synergize their efforts in eliminating the evils that plague the society. Three long-term studies carried out through the Abecedarian project, the CARE project and the Infant Health and Development Program has shown that the children of poor mothers with low IQs and babies born prematurely can massively improve their intellectual abilities if they are given high quality education in the first five years of life. If left unstimulated and unaided, both these groups risk retardation throughout the school years. The key factors essential to help infants improve their skills are very simple: encourage exploration, teaching of basic skills like labeling and comparing, celebrating achievements and providing an environment of rich and stimulating language, and avoiding inappropriate disapproval. The basic objective and goal of a teacher should be to inspire and motivate the students to rise above their surroundings and provide understanding of issues pertinent to social conditions. They should also help advance the economic, social, educational and political status of colored as well as ethnic and minority people. Ethnic minorities and disadvantaged groups have to constantly wrestle with prejudices and cultural differences. The present education system is better at just sorting out students instead of nurturing their qualities. The attitude of believing "many have illiterate parents", "cannot expect more in one generation", "dropping out in the upper grades is less an intellectual problem than a social one" should be avoided. For social justice to be a reality the concept of "role model" should be actively pursued. Students from poor communities have to undergo a massive cultural shift when they decide to pursue academics as it requires them to adopt a lifestyle that their parents, peers and teachers know very little about. It is necessary to create an environment where family, community and peers are more supportive. Regional partnerships between public schools, other community institutions and major research organizations must be forged to minimize the cultural gap between the work of academicians and the disadvantaged communities. One example of Minority Women in Science (MWIS) program can be cited in this regard. The MWIS local chapters began by involving parents in an annual "Science Discovery Day", and then, expanded it to involve Baptist and Catholic churches, which host science programs and help identify potential children and their families to participate. Churches were chosen for conducting these programs since these institutions have tremendous influence on the minds and hearts of many minority communities, especially the blacks and Hispanics. At the same time the Portland African-American Baseline essays can be harnessed with the intention of showing the black children that their ancestors have a long, though ignored, history of accomplishment in wide range of areas. Inequality is said to be having all its polemical roots in economics and power, though the human and emotional angle to it cannot be just wished away. Industrialization and commercialization has spawned unprecedented economic growth that has still not touched every section of the society. This growth cannot be left to market forces in the hope that the benefits will trickle down over time. The solution is to increase the competitiveness of the underprivileged to equip them with the right skills and create conditions where they can be employed in their own right. But the problem lies in them having miniscule higher education opportunities. Hence, some powerful market forces need to be alive to their responsibility towards society and come forward to enhance areas of creating opportunities for the underprivileged to train them, thus enabling them to compete with others in seizing opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The solution lies in making disadvantaged people more competition-worthy than they actually are today. Hence, there should not be any qualms to spend more money and effort in helping the disadvantaged people compete as equals with the best minds of the country. This is easier said than done. When the influential stratum of society is biased against a large section of the same society then strong undercurrents of denial and injustice imperceptibly creeps in. The fossilized myths and stereotyping are hard to obliterate within a context of just a generation or two. Social justice though is not a pipe dream hard to attain. However, the underprivileged and poor will have to look inward and think hard about their place in society and make a dash to rectify the situation. They need to ask: am I deserving of this position and status? Can I change my lot? Do I need to constantly wallow in self-pity and perceived hurt? The teachers and role models can extend a helping hand. But that is just what they can do- extend a helping hand. Nobody else is going to run the race and win it for you. You have to do it on your own! In any cultural background the teachers form the backbone of intellectual thought that percolates society, whether overtly or covertly. In the present context schools are the centrifugal point of social and ethical system. Teachers and schools are the fountainhead of knowledge, hence what is taught here and why, as also how, assumes significance. It is thus necessary to seek the origins of inequality and search for essential commonalities and contradictions that sweep through the boundaries of sex, caste, class and race. The pathology of knowledge with its relationship to all the interacting influences within the broad framework of society should be investigated more thoroughly. In this context role of both the teacher and the student need to be analyzed for paradigm shifts in trust, freedom, equality and rigor leading to leaps in fertile imagination and understanding instead of memorization and multiple choice anxiety. Teachers need to seek change, for the better and for forging equality as an inalienable principle of humanity, and exert some control over their work and products. Alas, teaching for social justice is no easy task. Reference: Editorial, New Scientist, 24 Feb 1996 Bernasek, Anna. "What's the Return on Education?" New York Times, 11 Dec 2005. McGue, Matt. "The Democracy of the Genes." Nature, v.388, 31 Jul 1997: 417 – 418. Marks, Jonathan. "Human Biodiversity." Walter de Gruyter NY: 321. Kohl, Herbert. "A Veteran Offers Pedagogical and Personal Suggestions Learned Over 30 Years Experience". http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/15_02/Just152.shtml Sleeter, Christine. "Interview on Diversity v/s White Privilege". http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/15_02/Int152.shtml Peterson, Bob. "Planting Seeds of Solidarity". http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/15_02/Seed152.shtml Read More