Social Justice Education in a Diverse Classroom: Examining High School Discussions about Race, Power, and Privilege

Abstract

High school students who participate in social justice education have a greater awareness of inequities that impact their school, community, and society, and learn tools for taking action to address these inequities. Also, a classroom that consist of students with a diverse set of identities creates an ideal circumstance in which a teacher can build upon student differences in order to facilitate meaningful discussions about social justice, especially issues of race. Therefore, in this article we use qualitative case study approaches to examine a high school course on social justice education, paying specific attention to the classroom pedagogy and dialogue on issues of race, power, and privilege. The course was purposefully diverse in enrollment, which brought students together who might not have had interactions with each other prior to the class. We employ Hackman's (2005) five components of social justice education (SJE) as a framework for the analysis of the pedagogy and discussions constructed in the classroom, as well as a common language for what constitutes as social justice education in our research inquiry. Students in the course developed a facility for defining and identifying various forms of oppression and injustice. However, we questioned to what extent these very same issues played out in the class dialogue. Due to the level of student diversity, the course was a unique space to learn about racism and intersecting issues of social justice. However, there was still some student resistance to acknowledging certain aspects of racism. In conclusion, we discuss how social justice education is not absolved from, but rife with complex racial politics.

Notes

¹Students were introduced to the following definitions for the terms “dominant,” “privilege,” and “marginalized:” Dominant was defined as describing groups that have the most power historically. Privilege was defined as making something feel normative/normal (e.g., white is seen as raceless, heterosexuality is seen as normal, we get Christian holidays off of school). Finally, marginalized was defined as describing groups made to feel powerless; the “have nots.”

²The students’ sentiments echo research that documents school administrators’ colorblind responses to issues of race, especially when there is an increase in the racial diversity of the student population (Evans, 2007; Holme, Diem, & Welton, 2014). Research has shown white administrators’ colorblind hiring decisions include practices such as claiming to not focus on race in order to hire the most qualified candidate, as well as articulating that it is the mission to hire more diverse faculty without taking action on the mission (Evans, 2007; Holme et al., 2014).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anjalé D. Welton

Anjalé D. Welton is an assistant professor in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research examines how school leaders’ dialogue about equity issues such as race, student voice in school improvement efforts, and the politics of college readiness and access.

Tiffany Octavia Harris

Tiffany Octavia Harris is a doctoral student in the Department of Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying social and cultural foundations of education. Her research interests intersect issues and concepts linked to black feminism, cultural studies, U.S. southern studies, and teacher education.

Priya G. La Londe

Priya G. La Londe is an advanced doctoral student in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research explores how teacher and school leaders take-up global education reform policies such as data use, merit pay, and parent incentives.

Rachel T. Moyer

Rachel T. Moyer is an English teacher at Buffalo Grove High School, IL. She is committed to teaching her students to analyze privilege and power both inside and outside her classroom.