Social and Economic Justice

I have been thinking a lot lately about social and economic justice. It all sounds so very lovely. Utopian really. Fairness, equality, prosperity for all--who wouldn't agree that those are good things? We all would like to be treated fairly, have equal opportunities to achieve our goals and to prosper, right?

The more I think about social and economic justice the more I get annoyed by it. It makes for a great political slogan but it is artificial. The entire concept is artificial because it is based on having a level playing field. That is just simply unrealistic.

Education:
It is impossible to have functional social justice in the education system. Not every teacher will be equally brilliant nor will they be equally inspirational to their students.
Not every student has the same capacity nor propensity for learning. Not every student has a desire to achieve.
Not every school operates the same way with like-minded administrators.
How exactly does one create a level playing field to foster social justice in education? Is that more NCLB? Social promotion? Dumbing down the curriculum to ensure success for everyone?


View of social justice in education from Teachers For Social Justice based out of Chicago (shocking, I know!)

http://teachersforjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=34&Itemid=59
Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, “Letters to Those Who Dare Teach” (1998):
“We are political militants because we are teachers. Our job is not exhausted in the teaching of math, geography, syntax, history. Our job implies that we teach these subjects with sobriety and competence, but it also requires our involvement in and dedication to overcoming social injustice."

We are educators. As such we must recognize and accept our role as either confronting the social, political, and educational inequities within U.S. school settings,
or continuing to reproduce the oppressions in our current society. We stand for
confronting these inequities. Neutrality is not possible. We understand that
teaching is a political act.

While perusing the teachersforjustice website, I noticed this:

http://teachersforjustice.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=61
"Opt Out" from having NCLB turn over your personal records to the military
Click here to download the Opt Out form from the CPS website.

The above link will take you to one of many versions of an "Opt Out" form. This form requests that the Board of Education remove the student's name from the list of
students provided to military recruiters as dictated by the No Child Left Behind
act. Please note: the student or the parent or guardian only need sign The form does not require both parent and child sign. This is advantageous because papers sent home are often not returned.. Student I.D. number is required or the form will not be processed!

We are trying to clarify its meaning. Apparently names are submitted to the military twice a year. Don't wouldn't let the deadline stop me from doing a campaign. The date can be removed from the form.

Suggestion for submitting the form

Students can mail this directly to Alize Henderson as the form indicates. You can also collect them and mail them in bulk, perhaps ensuring a higher completion rate of the entire process. At Kelly High School, the Students for Social Justice Club has received permission to distribute these from a table during lunch time. The administration has asked that we provide them with a list of the names of signers so that they, too, can be sure to follow the students' wishes. recruiters, at least at Kelly, is so frequent that
almost al l students will likely have a face-to-face encounter with a recruiter.
Face-to-face is definitely a more effective recruiting method. However, the opt
out campaign is a relatively low energy me ans to raise the recruiting issue and
to identify students, faculty, and parents who might work on a more demanding
campaign to limit recruiter access to our young people.

If you have questions or want access to leaflets and information critical of the current recruiting drive and of dishonest or deceptive recruiting techniques, please
contact:

Cristina Martinez, Committee Against the Militarization
of Youth cvrijn@ameritech.net

Bill Lamme,
History Teacher, Kelly High School blamme@ameritech.net

I guess they only want to avoid militarization of the youth when it comes to defending the country. It's ok to be politically militant. Nice. I love how they are so willing to thwart the system by removing dates, how they are taking advantage of the fact that minor children are basically under their control. Makes me feel so much better because I just KNOOOW they are only doing it for their own good. The irony of it to me is that the military is probably the most equal playing field one can have in terms of opportunities for minorities, educational access, etc. Why would they want to deny children the ability to succeed while serving their country? Unfortunately, I already know the answer to that. They don't deem the military service honorable, nor do they think it's important. I think we all saw what that mentality got us during Clinton when the miltary was at its weakest in ages.

The Racial Aspect of Social Justice:

I don't think that there can be real social justice racially because those who claim to be interested in promoting equality are too busy accentuating the differences. I think that certain segments of the social justice movement will always be searching for something to explain away failures and make excuses so instead of focusing on individual responsibility (or lack thereof), it's much easier to focus on race and place the blame of failure on outside forces.

The rest of us are just going on with our lives. Having friends of all races and treating them like family. Working for a boss who is a different race and respecting that boss just the same. Falling in love with a person because of the 'content of their character, not the color of their skin.'

Economic Justice is next.