Social justice is that justice by which we seek to better those people trapped in lower classes or societal oppressions. In light of our previous readings, it is seeking the welfare of those who are lacking. The dispensing of this justice takes several different forms: giving food to the hungry, clothing or shelter to the freezing, parenting to the orphan, or money to the poor. The most effective dispensing of this justice, in my opinion, is through education.
G.S. Cannella posits in her book "Deconstructing Early Childhood Education" that early childhood education actually promotes and enhances the status quo of the oppressor and oppressed. This makes sense. I remember from my childhood nothing concerning Christopher Columbus' atrocities once he landed, only that he "discovered" America. We only learned of Native American history as it pertained to White America and Manifest Destiny. They even managed to make the Trail of Tears about White America instead of those it displaced.
The point is this, everything we have read hangs on this idea of social justice. If we want to humanize our students and to show them true humanity, then we must teach them to be conscious of social justice. Friere says that revolution starts with education, and it does! One of his influencers, Karl Marx, writes in the Communist Manifesto that social education is "the weapon to be used against bourgeoisie itself." Their argument is that if we want to see change, we must teach that change. If we want to help, we must show the problems that exist within society. Our responsibility cannot be to the status quo but to the humanity of our students and the wider world.
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