Morning Pages: July 29, 2002

Social action workers are committed to social justice. We strive to challenge inequality and oppression in relation to race, gender, sexuality, age, religion, class, disability or any other form of social differentiation.

What are the issues of fairness, equality, and justice I face in my teaching practice? I strive to ensure that students have (equal?) access to the information sources necessary to complete the course. I strive to ensure that my students practice the art of critical thinking as this is necessary to raising independent thinkers who can commit themselves to a cause of social justice. I strive to find a space where all the voices in the class will be heard. By this I mean that I provide different spaces and places for students voices to be heard: small in-class groups during classtime, small group conferences outside of class time to individual conference. I never really thought consciously about this - intuitively I was seeking to raise all the voices. Teaching students how to interact with their peers and professionals is another way I open the door to equality, fairness, and justice. I think here of a former faculty member whose dark humor and silencing sarcasm shut down the voices in her classroom - thus creating an atmosphere of oppression.

I'm really struggling for some coherence here, evidence of two things. First, evidence of how complex these issues of equality, fairness, and justice are. Secondly, evidence that I need to do some more serious thinking and writing about this. I need to better understand how these concepts (fairness, equality, justice) evidence themselves in my teaching practice; how do they evidence themselves in me? Is it reasonable to assume that I first need to explore these ona personal level before I can explore them beyond the personal?

One of the many things I worry about a great deal is not being able to be aware of those times when I'm not being fair, equitable, and just. I mean, I think I operate on a level that wants to be these things but buried within me are layers and layers of prejudices that I don't even recognize. The other day I used the term "Indian-giver." I sometimes find myself saying things, expressions that are common, and then realizing they are unjust and unfair. Some I don't even realize as unjust or unfair. For example, does the term "jerry-rig" refer to a group of people ("jerries") and were those people Germans, Nazis? I clearly need to brush up on my history because those are terms I learned from the language of my home and my culture. I think there may be many things I say that might prove to be offensive to someone.

So, what are the implications of all this? Awareness and accountability...just as I should keep students aware of and accountable for their behaviors and actions that are not fair, equitable, or just...they must also make me aware of and accountable for what I say and do. And this leads to an interesting tension that the CSA folks do not have to deal with. How is it possible for my students to make me accountable when I give the grades?