What is social justice? Social justice is often just an undefined blanked term that people use to graze over the topic of political and social issues but is never really defined or understood clearly. Bringing social justice into the classroom is something that is often pushed for and teachers are usually the first to rally for it but often times do not know exactly what it is they are rallying behind and how to include it in a classroom. A recent article I read on the matter gave an intriguing and clear definition that I believe leads to some form of clarity on the subject while also leaving it open to the teacher’s decision as to what to include in its discussion and inclusion in the classroom. According to an article from theteachersacademy.com, social justice is “dealing with problems of equality and fairness helps give students valuable experience in critical thinking, research, and respectful, meaningful conflict.” This definition helps to bring more specific terms to the broad subject known as “social justice” while also leaving it up to interpretation of some sort to the teacher of the said subject.
As teachers, we often hear and use the word “critical thinking” when discussing things we want our students learn from our class. Taking this aspect from a specific content area and bringing it to current social and political issues is the goal of social justice and the entire reason for including it in classroom discussion. This does not mean having separate content and social justice discussions but rather consciously intertwining the two conversations in order to make practical connections between otherwise isolated content and real-world issues facing our society. Social justice isn’t necessarily something that is taught but rather something that is discussed and built upon with the use of critical thinking skills.
Quote taken from: http://www.theteachersacademy.com/blog/how-to-make-a-real-difference-by-bringing-social-justice-issues-into-your-classroom/
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