The Imperative of Social Justice Education
"You can't be neutral on a moving train" - Howard Zinn
As an educator, I sometimes hear people say that politics and activism have no place in the classroom. "Just teach the curriculum," they say. "Stay neutral."
But here's the question that keeps me up at night: Who is a teacher now who is not an activist?
This powerful question, posed by Leigh Patel in Race, Justice, and Activism in Literacy Instruction, cuts to the heart of our role as educators in these challenging times. I originally read this book in graduate school and came back to it over winter break. It was the refresher I needed.
The reality is that there is no such thing as being "neutral" in education. As Howard Zinn put it, you can’t be neutral on a moving train. When we claim neutrality, we're actually supporting the status quo - a system that continues to marginalize students of color and reproduce the inequitable world that currently exists.
Consider this: How can we claim to serve all students while ignoring the lived experiences of those who face systemic inequities daily?
The answer is simple: We can't.
What strikes me most about this topic is how it parallels our work as Montessori guides. Just as we embrace uncertainty and the discomfort that comes from it in order to follow the child, we must also embrace the discomfort of confronting racial injustice in our classrooms.
It's not enough to simply acknowledge it - we must actively work against it.
Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang put it perfectly when they said that "social justice is not the other of the field of education, it is the field." This isn't an add-on to our practice, it's the foundation of what we do.
I am thinking about these issues as we come up on Black History Month and our high school looks toward engagement in Black Lives Matter at School Week, an annual week of action organized by DC Educators for Social Justice.
It’s important to balance the importance of uplifting these types of events while also ensuring that the principles of BLM and diversity, equity, and inclusion are present and visible year round.
This work is not easy. However, the beautiful thing about it is that it requires all of us - those making small changes and those leading revolutions. Every step toward justice matters.
As I reflect on my own work as a social justice educator, I'm reminded of Paulo Freire's vision of education for liberation.
We're not just teaching reading and writing. We must engage students in reading, writing and re-writing the world.
That, in fact, has been the name of my Humanities class for a number of years now: Reading, Writing, and Re-Writing the World.
The question isn't whether or not we should be activists in our classrooms.
The question is: How will we use our position as educators to create the world our students deserve, demonstrating that when we lift up those who are most marginalized, everyone benefits?
This isn't just about fighting against what's wrong. It's about imagining and creating what could be - a world where justice isn't an afterthought but a foundation, where activism isn't radical but necessary.
That world may not exist yet, but it's our job as educators to help birth it. And that work starts in our classrooms, today.
What steps will you take tomorrow to move your classroom closer to this vision?
P.S.
Part of doing this work is being in solidarity with the groups who are on the ground and doing important work for social justice. Big shout out to Embracing Equity, Montessori for Social Justice, and DC Educators for Social Justice for working to move the needle. Check these groups out if you’re not familiar!
P.P.S.
We need to make sure that we see all issues of injustice as interconnected: racial justice, economic justice, climate justice, etc are all symptoms of the same problem: Extractive capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. While each of these issues is substantive on its own, they are all deeply interconnected and we must work to address all of them with our students!
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Well said! Reminds me of what Dr. Evans at Embracing Equity says, "ABAR work isn't adding something extra to the plate, it is the plate."