Social Justice Education

Open discussion in the classroom can be an uncomfortable task, students are afraid of saying the wrong answer or even saying something rude or offensive. However, teaching students that the benefits of open discussion can be: stronger social and speaking skills, increasing levels of attentiveness, and positive feedback from peers and instructors are just some of the benefits. Students typically strive for perfection and being able to bounce ideas off of one another allows them to see different perspectives and hear different opinions that they may not have seen before. Kathryn Schulz, author of Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, offers two different models. The first model is the pessimistic model of wrongness: "It is dangerous, distasteful, humiliating, and, all told, un-fun in the extreme." The focus on negativity can sometimes obscure the cause of the mistake to begin with. The second model is the optimistic model of wrongness, Schulz states that it is marked by "[s]urprise, bafflement, fascination, excitement, hilarity, delight". The optimistic side of wrongness if not always easy to see because we typically associate wrongness with a negative connotation. As educators we should be steering students away from the possible humiliation from making a mistake and reinforce the opportunities that come from them.

Implicit bias, can also be called implicit social cognition and it is “influenced by attitudes and stereotypes that we all hold based on our experiences” (Scialabba, 2017). More often than not, implicit bias enters our thoughts and judgements when it comes to people based on their skin color, their ethnicity, the language they speak, as well as other traits. Specifically with students of color, implicit bias has been connected to excessive measures when it comes to discipline, more critical grading, and lower teacher expectations. Yale University Faculty did a study that supported the statement of "implicit bias and related differences in treatments of individuals by race starts at an early age". The study showed the preschool teachers who were looking to prevent problems with behavior among their students, focused on black male students versus their peers. To lessen the effects implicit bias has on our students, schools should be providing educational and developmental opportunities for teachers to make them aware of the different ways bias impacts their students.

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Discussion in the Classroom: Why to Do It, How to Do It, and How to Assess It | TeachingOnPurpose.org. (2014). Teachingonpurpose.org. http://teachingonpurpose.org/journal/discussion-in-the-classroom-why-to-do-it-how-to-do-it-and-how-to-assess-it/

Piehler, C. (2019, January 9). Teaching social justice in your classroom - The Edvocate. The Edvocate. https://www.theedadvocate.org/teaching-social-justice-in-your-classroom/

Scialabba, N. (2017). How Implicit Bias Impacts Our Children in Education. Americanbar.org. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/childrens-rights/articles/2017/fall2017-how-implicit-bias-impacts-our-children-in-education/

The negative effects of implicit bias in schools. (n.d.). WHYY. https://whyy.org/articles/essay-the-negative-effects-of-implicit-bias-in-schools/#:~:text=In%20schools%2C%20the%20effects%20of%20implicit%20bias%20on