Social Justice Issue

There are social justice issues within the very structure of our educational system—the size of the school, the number of students in each classroom, the demographics and the city boundaries that created the student population. Working in the Mukilteo School District, there is a clear divide in the district the West side has the money and better test scores while the East side has the poor, and gang invested schools. I think within each state throughout the United States, people know where to find the good schools and the bad. Almost always, it is the neighborhood socioeconomic status that determines the quality of the school, and moving from a bad school to a good one is usually prohibited or prohibitively difficult.  Stephen Windes points our the following in his post: "The educational track onto which students might be placed on at an early age is an experiment in social injustice. Should the smart and motivated kids share space with the uncaring goofs of the school? Where do the labels come from and how do we identify them? Are the labels themselves destructive? Who is provided special education services, and why? Every choice we make is informed by our culture and society, and so every choice becomes dangerous."

Having to reflect and think back, I really feel that I had a lot of supportive teachers throughout my schooling career, that truly cared about my success. That I really could never pinpoint a time where I have truly felt excluded in a learning process. But, I know that in my current teaching environment, my students come to school facing many personal battles that sometimes play a role in terms of “access.” I work at a Title 1 school where over 90 percent of our school’s population is free and reduced lunch and over 60% of our students are English Language learners. Really looking at Horizon and where it is located, our kids have many factors that impede access. Horizon is located in a gang infested area---School to Prison is a real thing in the community I teach in. I have students whose parents may be in jail, or a brother who is in a gang who has been arrested before. With these events happening in my kiddos lives, they sometimes bring it with them to school and act out, because they have no idea how to process these things. Family members being arrested, families facing high poverty situations (trying to find food or a home/place to sleep) and language barriers. In one of my classes, a lecture ended with a quote that I really took to heart, that our goal as educators is to “prepare children, rich or poor, to seize the day.” This has really become my foundation to try and conquer this social injustice of poor kids being unable to become something of importance-where my leadership is really starting to come out within our building and working on teams and committees to try and find the best practices/competence to teach our students in these situations to be successful. 

I think knowing the harsh living situations that my students come from and face, really has made me zone in and focus on, how can I provide an environment that is best for them? An environment that meets both their personal and academic needs? I pride myself in creating an environment with my kids that we are family. That our classroom is another “home” for them to come to and feel safe. I love how over the year they become each others’ support systems in many ways-academically and emotionally. Another concept I have taken from this lecture is the power of caring and that “tough love.” I know that my students struggle in many areas academically. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have high expectations and set goals for them to reach. I am always reminding myself AND them, that it is so important to come to school each day, work hard, and make mistakes. Making those mistakes is proof that you are trying and putting in the effort in class. I loved the phrasing of teachers being “bridge builders.” In my class, I have set in place strategies for my kids to make contributions-allowing more think time and the heads together strategy. They use the members of their groups as supports to vocalize thoughts, they are never pinpointed or called out. They know that they can “phone a friend” for support. I love to provide ways to for them to explore curiosities and creativity-we recently were able to take a field trip (free by the way, thanks to the 4th Graders in the Park Program) to Verlot for a snowshoeing field trip. A lot of these kids have never explored further then the street they live on. It was such a joy to see them experience the “outside” world.

As stated on most of our syllabi for this program, we know that the mission of SPU is to Engage the Culture and Change the World. That the Four Commitments in the School of Education are: 1- A Commitment to Service, A Commitment to Leadership, A Commitment to Competence, A Commitment to Character. I believe this program with many of its classes with the numerous texts that we read, has allowed me to be very reflective about my students and what I try to do in my room to “bridge” gaps.  It is so important for me to see the needs of my kids both personally and academically to provide ways for them to be successful. Each of them has a different need, some have more needs than others, but the important thing is for me to be aware and provide those supports to EVERY student. I think that Norman Wirzba's book, the Way of Love, we read for one of our courses, really connects with how we can connect with God's love for us, and how we each are blessed with many gifts throughout our lives that can empower us in our careers and connections with people we encounter. Really responding to our Commitment of Service, Leadership and Character. 

Wirzba in his book “Way of Love” describes the love of God as undefinable and unfathomable. He says that “if love is unfathomable, that means it can’t be measured by us. We simply can’t get our arms around it or reduce it to a size we can grasp. That is a supremely good thing, because it means that love isn’t shallow” (39). As many others have already talked about, Wirzba’s book is described as a “map” of 4 things that are to help guide us and begin to understand the concept of love-those 4 posts being Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Hope. In his first section of Creation, Wirzba does a wonderful job of comparing the concept of love to a garden. That in order for a garden to be successful, it has to have certain components and needs met. “Gardens are places where we face the fundamental character of our lives: our need for nurture, beauty, companionship, and good work. Gardens give us unique access to the lay of the land that is our life and world” (61). The most important task of the garden is to get people involved in each other’s’ lives, so they can see the areas of need and then invite the love of God to take root. However, going into the second post of the map of love, is the Fall. This is where love falls apart. Wirzba states that “people fail to love not only because they are too wrapped up in their own ambition; sometimes they fail to love because they are consumed by their own fear, insecurity and worry” (97). They are unable to receive love and help from others as well as offer it, because they are trapped or locked within their own personal pain. Which leads into the third post of Redemption and healing. Wirzba goes on to tell the story of a colleague named Mark and his battle with cancer. He tells the story of the man and his family moving to a new town to “start a new life.” However, when cancer struck his body hard, he and his family were unable to fathom how they were going to juggle all of life’s needs. That’s when he and his family see a community they barely knew rally for them. They offered help, compassion, love and support- gifts from God.  1 John 3:14- we know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. The author goes on to explain that “a person cannot be healthy alone. As we have already seen, to live as a creature is to live through the nurture that others provide” (159). And in the final chapter, we talk about Hope and the destination to heaven. “Heaven and hope go together, because heaven is the assurance that God does not abandon the world, but is committed to healing all its wounds. Heaven is forever desirable, because it is the place and time in which the love of God is fully and freely at work in all creatures” (201). This chapter explained how the idea of heaven by most is a place somewhere up and beyond the clouds to soon escape to. A place that will create the divide between the saved and the damned. That it is important for us on earth and through our life right now, to create as much of the thought of heaven in the here and now.

Reading these types of books, I feel can be very powerful, depending on the season you are in. I grew up in the church and actively participated in in the churches outreach programs. I attended Saint Martin’s University for my undergrad and now SPU for my masters. I have always had the Christian faith intertwined into my life somehow. However, through life I have had seasons where I have gotten angry with God and the church. I have lost faith and hope quite a few times through my life time. When I first started reading this book it was extremely difficult for me to get into it. It wasn’t until I got to the section that Wirzba talks about Redemption and healing. The line that stuck out to me in the entire book was on page 146: “recall that when hearts are wounded or sick, people tend to turn away from others and then inward as a coping strategy. Protective walls are built to keep the pain away. Healing, however, is the reverse movement; it is the action that opens people to others, the world, and life’s possibilities.” I am a professional wall builder. I have been hurt many times by people that I have helped and guideded through many of their hardships. But it always seems at some point, I get dropped and left very hurt. However, I think I finally saw and witnessed this “way of love” that Wirzba described from my school community and I finally was able to let my walls down to receive the love and support from my school “garden.”

I work at a school where our kids are raised in low income families and our school is located in a gang invested neighborhood. So, the mindset to support and protect my students is always my biggest goal. The 2015-2016 school year, my second year of teaching, was the hardest year of my teaching career. In my classroom, I create a family environment full of love and support. My class that year became extremely close to each other and where very loving towards each other and myself as their teacher.  June of 2016, a week before school let out for the summer, I got a phone call from our administrative assistant that one of my students had drowned in one of the community apartment pools. That he was pulled out and was rushed to Children’s Hospital. I had to break the news to my class that their classmate drowned and may not make it. It was a long 4 days of hoping and praying that our family member would pull through. Unfortunately, he passed away Sunday June 12th. I had to tell them that we lost one of our own, and we still had to be strong and able to make it through the last 3 days of school. I felt numb inside, and angry that God would take away one of my 9-year-old babies. But knew I had to be there for my students. We would talk walks out on the field to get air when we got too emotional in the classroom, and watching my 4th graders cry and hold each other up as we walked around was a heartwarming moment. They were there for each other. They didn’t mind the tears. They wanted to help each other be strong. They were each other’s listening ears. Sometimes they just wanted to sit next to one another and not say anything. I needed to take a lesson from them and let my walls down for my friends too. My coworkers outpouring of love for me was such a blessing. They fed my hunger. They cared and nurtured for me-through words and actions. Again, as Wirzba said “a person cannot be healthy alone. As we have already seen, to live as a creature is to live through the nurture that others provide” (159).

With my students living in the community they do, and coming from the families they do, my main job is to provide love and nurture them. They are my garden that I tend to. I know that this is what The Lord has called me to do. Just as people in my life have loved and nurtured me into my successes.  I KNOW I work at the hardest school in my district. Our test scores are not the highest, but these are the students that I believe need me most. People continue to ask me; don’t you want to go to a school where you have kids that actually “get things?” My answer always is the same: that may be nice, but I get to see my kids grow academically throughout the year. They come to me reading and a math ability of a 1st grader, but I get them to a high 3rd grade or 4th grade by the time they walk out my door. It may not show on the SBA, but I see it in their classwork and attitudes themselves. I believe that trying to change the outlook of being on either the "good" or "bad" side of district needs to change. Our districts mission is to "help prepare our community's children to be successful, contributing members of the community." We cannot have that mission be achieved is a few of our schools do not have access or funding to the same materials, supplies, and training as the other schools in our district. It not only makes the teachers at these buildings feel terrible, but it also effects the students we teach. Horizon staff has made these unfair situations known to the school board and have received a lot of pushback, because we do not tend to have the "voters" or the "pockets of support" but I do not believe that is going to stop our work in fighting for what is best for our students. They deserve the same materials and support that other students do in order to become a successful person in society and community, no matter what their background and upbringing may be.   

Resources: 

Windes, S. (2016, September 17). Social Justice Issues in Education. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-examples-of-social-justice-issues-in-education

Wirzba, N. (2013). Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity.