{"id":5353,"date":"2018-10-17T12:42:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T16:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2018-10-17T12:42:48","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T16:42:48","slug":"global-justice-social-justice-in-a-global-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/2018\/10\/17\/global-justice-social-justice-in-a-global-context\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Justice? Social Justice in a Global Context"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over three years of taking social justice classes at Colby, psychology seminars, and doing civic engagement, I believe I\u2019ve come to the beginning of my senior year with more questions than I began with. While this realization is at times overwhelming, it also seems to suggest a more optimistic path for the future, both for what it means to be a young educator in a politically chaotic atmosphere, as well as for ways to understand how today\u2019s climate may dictate shifting needs within the classroom, with \u201cclassroom\u201d taking on broader definition.<\/p>\n

It is a strange juxtaposition to be diving into critical discussions on social mobility (or lack thereof) and perpetual elitism when I am taking part in an enterprise (a small, private liberal arts school) that seems to be doing just that. In beginning our research on a private, international school, I keep coming back to the same question — how are we to criticize these systems as people who are simultaneously benefitting from them? So true and interesting!<\/p>\n

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I think this is where allowing for liberal definitions of \u201csocial justice\u201d or \u201cclassroom\u201d can be most beneficial to the greater community. For example, while Merriam-Webster\u2019s dictionary defines social justice as \u201ca state or doctrine of egalitarianism\u201d aimed towards \u201cthe removal of inequalities among people,\u201d it seems critical that, as social justice advocates and activists, we also consider the context of the society we are discussing (ranges of class, race, sexual orientation, etc\u2026) (Dolan-Reilly, 2013). Perhaps to clarify, I mean that, coming from a background of a private liberal arts education, the acknowledgement that we will not be able to understand<\/em>, say, the experience of someone who attends a large public university. However, in defining and then enacting social justice principles and policies, specifically in the field of education, it is necessary for us to accept this inability to understand <\/em>what it is like to be in another\u2019s footsteps, and instead do all we can to collect information and hear experiences that give us the widest perception of another\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/KdU7isyAmUKM8\/giphy.gif<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the context of this year, and more specifically, this research project, taking these goals of listening and empathy, may allow for more effective and creative ideas to emerge regarding new meanings of the classroom, and what education looks like. Thinking of the \u201cclassroom\u201d as a backyard, a playroom, or a dinner table, and reevaluating our ideas of what it means and who gets to be an \u201ceducator,\u201d keeping in mind ideas of privilege, accessibility, and elitism, could provide important insight as we continue our research through an international lens.<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over three years of taking social justice classes at Colby, psychology seminars, and doing civic engagement, I believe I\u2019ve come to the beginning of my senior year with more questions than I began with. While this realization is at times overwhelming, it also seems to suggest a more optimistic path for the future, both for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7300,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5353"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5358,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions\/5358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}