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Re: Defining Social Justice
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From: Stohr-Hunt, Tricia <pstohrhu_at_richmond.edu>
Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:32:10 -0500
Thank you all for such an interesting discussion. I must admit I come to th is from a slightly different perspective. In education we talk about “tea ching for social justice,” so when I think about how I define this phrase , I don’t think about generic social issues.
We teach our preservice teachers two very important ideas. First, that ther e is injustice in the world and it can and does extend into the classroom. Some groups of people are consistently privileged; while others are consist ently disadvantaged. We teach them that this injustice is often perpetuated around race, class, gender, ability, or sexuality groups that people are i dentified with. Second, that teachers can interrupt these cycles of oppress ion through the content or topics they address as well as through particula r pedagogical strategies.
This is one place where well-chosen books are important. They can help begi n difficult conversations. They can help us see where others are oppressed when we may be blinded to it. When I am looking titles I often first turn t o the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards because they are given to the “c hildren's books published the preceding year that effectively promote the c ause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sex es and all races as well as meeting conventional standards for excellence. ”
I am working with a school this year with a large number of homeless childr en. One of the books we are reading with the 5th grade students is HOW TO S TEAL A DOG by Barbara O’Connor. We have had some really interesting, and often heartbreaking conversations about issues of homelessness, living in s helters, and temporary housing.
I’m not sure I’ve advanced the conversation any, but wanted to throw in the perspective of a teacher choosing books to address these issues in the classroom.
Best, Tricia
----------
Dr. Patricia M. Stohr-Hunt Chair, Education Department 28 Westhampton Way Suite 309 North Court University of Richmond, VA 23173
My Blog: http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/ My Home Page: http://blog.richmond.edu/pstohrhu/
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. -- Chinese Proverb
________________________________
From: Lyn Miller-Lachmann Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 14:18:58 -0500 To: Charles Bayless Cc: 'CCBC Network' Subject: Re:
Defining Social Justice
You've made a very useful distinction, Charles, between generic social issu es that inspire a general consensus, and national and global political issu es about which there is more disagreement. In the case of the latter, I thi nk it's important that young people be exposed to a variety of perspective s. For instance, few books for teens in recent years feature a character wh o chooses abortion over having the child (things were more balanced in the 1990s), and the stories with characters who have the child are published by larger houses with more marketing presence--a reality that Ellen Levine ex perienced with In Trouble. The same goes for novels that depict atrocities committed by Communist regimes in the developing world and the refugees fro m those regimes (Christina Diaz Gonzalez's The Red Umbrella and Laura Maniv ong's Escaping the Tiger, published by large US houses) versus novels that depict atrocities committed by and refugees from right-wing dictatorships o nce supported by the U.S. (Gringolandia or Marge Pellegrino's Journey of Dr eams, from small presses or publishers in the U.K.) By the same token, amid all the children's and YA books about the Holocaust, it was good to see Ru ta Sepetys's excellent Between Shades of Gray, which portrays the brutality of Stalin's regime at the time.
In the case of class and class conflict, I think a good YA novel to open th e discussion is Paolo Bacigalupi's dystopian tale Ship Breaker. The Horatio Alger-ish individualism--the fact that a combination of pluck and luck gai ns Nailer a ticket into the world of the "swanks"--that is so much a part o f our culture also calls on us to look at what's out there with a different perspective. Are those kind of books that run against the cultural grain g etting published, promoted, and discussed?
I thank all of you for your warm welcome and a great discussion.
Lyn
Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:32:10 -0500
Thank you all for such an interesting discussion. I must admit I come to th is from a slightly different perspective. In education we talk about “tea ching for social justice,” so when I think about how I define this phrase , I don’t think about generic social issues.
We teach our preservice teachers two very important ideas. First, that ther e is injustice in the world and it can and does extend into the classroom. Some groups of people are consistently privileged; while others are consist ently disadvantaged. We teach them that this injustice is often perpetuated around race, class, gender, ability, or sexuality groups that people are i dentified with. Second, that teachers can interrupt these cycles of oppress ion through the content or topics they address as well as through particula r pedagogical strategies.
This is one place where well-chosen books are important. They can help begi n difficult conversations. They can help us see where others are oppressed when we may be blinded to it. When I am looking titles I often first turn t o the Jane Addams Children's Book Awards because they are given to the “c hildren's books published the preceding year that effectively promote the c ause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sex es and all races as well as meeting conventional standards for excellence. ”
I am working with a school this year with a large number of homeless childr en. One of the books we are reading with the 5th grade students is HOW TO S TEAL A DOG by Barbara O’Connor. We have had some really interesting, and often heartbreaking conversations about issues of homelessness, living in s helters, and temporary housing.
I’m not sure I’ve advanced the conversation any, but wanted to throw in the perspective of a teacher choosing books to address these issues in the classroom.
Best, Tricia
----------
Dr. Patricia M. Stohr-Hunt Chair, Education Department 28 Westhampton Way Suite 309 North Court University of Richmond, VA 23173
My Blog: http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/ My Home Page: http://blog.richmond.edu/pstohrhu/
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself. -- Chinese Proverb
________________________________
From: Lyn Miller-Lachmann Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 14:18:58 -0500 To: Charles Bayless Cc: 'CCBC Network' Subject: Re:
Defining Social Justice
You've made a very useful distinction, Charles, between generic social issu es that inspire a general consensus, and national and global political issu es about which there is more disagreement. In the case of the latter, I thi nk it's important that young people be exposed to a variety of perspective s. For instance, few books for teens in recent years feature a character wh o chooses abortion over having the child (things were more balanced in the 1990s), and the stories with characters who have the child are published by larger houses with more marketing presence--a reality that Ellen Levine ex perienced with In Trouble. The same goes for novels that depict atrocities committed by Communist regimes in the developing world and the refugees fro m those regimes (Christina Diaz Gonzalez's The Red Umbrella and Laura Maniv ong's Escaping the Tiger, published by large US houses) versus novels that depict atrocities committed by and refugees from right-wing dictatorships o nce supported by the U.S. (Gringolandia or Marge Pellegrino's Journey of Dr eams, from small presses or publishers in the U.K.) By the same token, amid all the children's and YA books about the Holocaust, it was good to see Ru ta Sepetys's excellent Between Shades of Gray, which portrays the brutality of Stalin's regime at the time.
In the case of class and class conflict, I think a good YA novel to open th e discussion is Paolo Bacigalupi's dystopian tale Ship Breaker. The Horatio Alger-ish individualism--the fact that a combination of pluck and luck gai ns Nailer a ticket into the world of the "swanks"--that is so much a part o f our culture also calls on us to look at what's out there with a different perspective. Are those kind of books that run against the cultural grain g etting published, promoted, and discussed?
I thank all of you for your warm welcome and a great discussion.
Lyn
---Received on Mon 07 Nov 2011 03:32:10 PM CST
