Social Justice Should Be Taught

One of the most stimulating aspects of early education is observing and supporting young children as they develop their individual identities. This development takes place within different social contexts where issues relating to human diversity and difference impact significantly on children’s understandings and ways of being in the world. Arguably, our education begins when we are first able to detect causes and consequences, and continue to form the basis of our identity, behaviours and knowledge of the world around us. Glover (1991) in the early 1990s found that as 2-3 year old children became aware of difference they simultaneously develop positive and negative feelings about the differences they observe. For example, racial awareness impacts on their perceptions of skin colour and on their preferences in the social relationships they initiate and foster with other children. An Australian study conducted by Palmer (1990) exemplifies how preschool children were able to make negative judgements based on racial characteristics of young Aboriginal children. Children were reportedly saying ‘You’re the colour of poo… Did your mum drop you in the poo?’ This observation suggests that children as young as 2 years old are becoming aware of diversity and differences of others, and these judgements children are making are often affecting their ability to make sound judgements of others

Racial socialization is currently a major issue within today’s society. There are many different ways it can stem from such as your parents, friends, media, or community. People that choose to discriminate against others fail to realize that it can have a huge, negative impact on themselves and society. Such topic relates to early childhood education because young children are at the age where their social and cognitive development can be shaped into thinking or acting a certain way. Therefore, early childhood educators have the ability to teach young ones to have positive racial attitudes. I believe speaking on such topic is important and beneficial to bring awareness to help others understand that racism is not okay and we should do what we can to prevent it from expanding.

When young children do express thoughts of race or being bias, it is often dismissed as either bad parenting, child not knowing what they are talking about, or simply bad behavior in children. Research clearly shows that children not only recognize race from a very young age, but also develop racial biases by age’s three to five that do not necessarily resemble the racial attitudes of adults in their lives (Aboud 2008). Three- to five-year-olds in a racially and ethnically diverse day care center used racial categories to identify themselves and others, to include or exclude children from activities, and to negotiate power in their own social/play networks (Van Ausdale & Feagin 2001).

Reynolds illustrates how there are a variety of different ways social justice can be taught, and explains how each teacher has a different way of implementing the same ideas. She provides examples of lessons a child might learn and the biases behind it teaching social justice. Reynolds is concerned with the age range of teaching social justice and when is considered the appropriate time. New teachers are now getting taught how to teach social justice within the class room, and the curriculum is changing to include aspects of social justice. Reynolds states how social justice is a branch off the bigger question of “who gets to decide the best

I chose to read the article “Leveraging Conflict for Social Justice: How “Leadable” Moments Can Transform School Culture” by Enrique Aleman, Jr. The article discusses how an elementary school principle implements her vision of success within a school district that has a diverse group of students with low socioeconomical status. She envisions an environment where faculty, staff, students and parents are working together to create an idyllic school atmosphere. Whenever conflict manifests itself between key stakeholders the principle capitalizes on the instances as “leadable” moments associated with social justice. This case describes how a principle is tested by a teacher’s response to racist and bigoted language, and the implications surrounding the parents and district concerns regarding diversity and equal education opportunities for all students involved (Aleman, 2009).

Discrimination and prejudice interfere with people’s rights to have access to equality of opportunity and hinder the promotion of diversity, and they should have no place in a children’s setting.

How to minimize the hurts of non-white children once their belief on the theory of a society is fair and equality is completely collapsed when the reality is happening in the opposite. In the reading “Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color” Mildred Boveda, an assistant education professor at Arizona State University, said: “I will admit that it sometimes felt risky to tackle these difficult conversations, but this [research] underscores why we cannot equivocate when it comes to preparing our children to face injustices.” I agree with her opinion. Because finding the proper solutions to fully empower and equipping the best knowledge that can help children cope better is not easy, but it is the responsibility of the family, the school, and society. The three elements need to act and work together in an effort to dare to speak about the truths mentioned above.

Other course texts such as “A Girl Like Me” suggest that very young children are also learn about and experience difference and equity in age-specific ways. Explain how children and/or youth in your school might be experiencing the issue in conversations with families, things they overhear or see on the television. How might you help them process these issues emotionally in your

Markedly, there is a huge difference between a want and a need; therefore, teachers the distinctive concept of equality and fairness is not synonymous. For instance, if a student needs to put on glasses when in class to see the board clearly, equality would suggest that all student in the classroom are given glasses, on the other hand, fairness would be to ensure that the child is in a position to where his or her glasses. In essence, teachers must foster and create an opening and nurturing classroom environment for their students in order for them to successfully distinguish the teacher’s definition of fairness and the child’s definition of fairness. Arguably, this is one of the biggest challenges faced by teachers in ensuring that teaching strategies are appropriate for children who are culturally diverse. In conclusion, a teacher cannot effectively teach students to his or her fullest potential without having a fundamental understanding of a child’s disability or ethnic and cultural background. Therefore, it should be every teacher’s goal for all students in his or her class to exceed

My responsibilities as future educator is crucial for the success of my students. As a teacher, I will treat my students with the respect and the equality that they deserve. According to Tatum, the education on racism and diversity needs to be addressed in early childhood education ( ). It is my duty as an elementary teacher to begin the discussion about the negative effects of discrimination and prejudice. As a future teacher, I feel a responsibility to treat my students with equality and make my classroom a safe place for all students, where they are safe from bullying and stereotypical remarks. In the short film, The Mask You Live In, I learned that boys at a young age, struggle to avoid the stereotypical definition of masculinity ( ). It is my responsibility as a teacher, to ensure that my students are respectful with one another and demonstrate good pillars of character. It is my responsibility to instill in my students a curiosity for learning and developing a love for creativity. In Ann Pelo’s article, A Pedagogy for Ecology, she describes the importance of paving the path for students to discover an ecological identity. She states, “I want them to see themselves as part of a community of people anchored by fierce and determined love of place and who take responsibility for its well-being” ( ). I want my students to learn about their communities and their ecological identity because I believe it can make a positive impact on their education. It is my job as a teacher to improve the quality of the community of my students by using my voice and supporting what is right. Not only

Historical and contemporary theories about social justice and equity started from Plato and Aristotle to the 20th-century theorists such as Rawls and Nozic discussed the disruptive Justice in which the children would have equal learning opportunities (Robinson & Jones-Diaz, 2006). They all agreed that social justice and equity in the early childhood settings develop the sense of belonging and well-being where everyone is recognized regardless their ability, gender, language, culture, and religion. Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory inspires the above philosophy statement as it values the influence of culture on the children’s development. Postmodern and post-structural theorists, such as Davies (1989, as cited in Arthur, et al., 2015), argue that every child has his own identity which is socio-culturally constructed in relation to their cultures, and backgrounds. Therefore, educators need to include all cultures with respect as they act as a model for the rest of the children on how to accept and respect each other

Society is diverse but, unfortunately, education is often nuanced by cultural homogeneous. Discrimination can be described as the unjust allocation of value based upon a different category of people (Winant, 2005). Racism, ageism, and sexism are few of many examples of discrimination that are present in society. Discrimination, certainly, has a powerful impact on the educational journey of many students. Anna, just aged 13 years old, was exposed to regular bullying at school due to her indigenous background (Harrison, 2016, p. 3). One example of discrimination Anna received was that she would have “white kids running up to [her] and biting [her] shoulders and yelling ‘chocolate’” (Harrison, 2016, p. 3). Discrimination in Dr. Elizabeth Tailby’s

There are two things that immediately come to mind when I think about social justice in the real world. Education is one. Typically, people are more prone to go to college if their parents or siblings go to college. Going back to the topic of East Des Moines, East high school is not a school that is looked well upon. The teachers are underpaid and most of the students do not care about their education enough to go to class everyday. Knowing this, students from schools like that are less likely to go on to college and get an education. This then leads to them not getting good jobs and making enough money to support themselves. I believe that this is an injustice because those students do not choose to go to schools like that, but they get started off on the wrong foot right from the start. People look down on them because of the school they go to. The other thing I think about when I hear the word social justice is Racism. Segregation is something that most people don’t think is still a problem, but unfortunately it is. “They view segregation as an unfortunate holdover from a racist past, one that is fading progressively overtime” (Massey 1). African American people that live in rougher neighborhoods, Chicago for example, are usually in the lower socioeconomic class. Being an African American in the lower socioeconomic class makes it easy for white people to look down on them. Briana Gibson grew up in the rough part of

The developmentally inappropriate approaches that guide the teachers make the task even more difficult than envisaged. For instance, the discussions of bias, power, inequality, privilege, past injustices and oppression make the task difficult. Not only are the approaches sophisticated socio-political constructs that are entirely beyond the capacity of a preoperational child, but also concepts that the children could never put into practice if they

The importance of social justice is universal across educators. According to Vigliante (2010, pp.1), promoting values of compassion, respect and dignity for others is highly held by educators as a goal for their view of social justice. According to Hawkins (2014, pp. 726) classrooms and early childhood settings may be shared among indigenous Australian, Anglo-Australian, European Australian, Middle-Eastern Australian and Asian Australian classmates (to name a few) from varying religious, political, cultural and economic backgrounds. To which ‘an optimist may claim that these contexts are a rich source of cultural exchange’. However this ‘melting pot’ often breeds severe discontent (SirajBlatchford 1995). It is therefore evident that sexism is an issue in society today.