Critical Social Justice Lens

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In a perfect world, everyone – regardless of given social identities and group memberships – would be treated equally. The EDUC 2120 course text has taught us the concept of a critical social justice framework that helps us recognize stratifications within society and understand why some individuals or groups are positioned higher than others. Some people have more opportunities for money and power, and sometimes, these opportunities are related to qualities beyond a person’s control. Characteristics like race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, ability, and religious preference often drive privilege or oppression in social groups depending on societal views and treatment of individuals with these qualities. My objective …show more content…
All educators, including teachers and administrators, should strive to create equality in schools and classrooms. When inequalities and unfairness are present, this responsibility extends to parents and community members to hold the educational systems accountable and challenge why there are gaps and disadvantaged students. All students, regardless of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or background, should feel safe and have opportunities to succeed. When examining schooling through the social justice lens, we should question if each student has equal chances for success, troubleshoot policies or practices that could prevent this or serve as a barrier, recognize inequalities due to gender, race, ability, or socioeconomic status, and encourage everyone to engage in active change. Educational environments must be inclusive for all. Most of my site observational experience has been with special needs. When students have varying levels of ability, both in functioning capacity and natural ability, this can translate to challenges for students and dramatically impact learning. Students can fall behind, feel down about themselves, and feel excluded from their peers. These students can become targets for bullying and isolation. This is especially troublesome when the educational environment doesn’t have structured support in place for these students. Teachers are unable to balance the diversity of needs within the classroom, and the students are not getting the support they need and deserve. Consequently, parents become frustrated that their child’s needs are not being met. This multifactorial oppression, due to factors that are entirely beyond their control, results in discrimination and unfair treatment throughout the system. In addition to the oppression students may face due to their inherent qualities, privilege can also play a role in our schools. Like in society, belonging to
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