I am a member of the Urban Communities Cohort while studying in the Teachers Education program in University of Ottawa. What does "Urban Communities" or "Urban Schools" mean? My first perception of these schools was that they are probably inside a downtown city which consists of lower income and lower achievement students. (Later I realized that this perception have largely been shaped by the media.) At the beginning of the program, the first article we read was Reimagining the Urban: A Canadian Perspective by Beverly-Jean Daniel. Daniel debunks the myths and reconceptualizes urban schools, which goes beyond the geographical suburban and urban divisions. Her article gave me an initial picture of urban education in Canada and how it involves social inequalities, poverty, racism and multiculturalism. Educators have an important role to play to eliminate any issues regarding diversity and social inequalities. As a developing educator in the Urban Community Cohort, my learning goes beyond the technicalities of common classroom management and content teaching. My exploration throughout these two years is to understand how developing a critical social justice perspective can help me become a more responsible educator.
To begin this process, we needed to look within ourselves first. We mapped out our background and thought about our positionality as a teacher. I also tried to visualize what positionality is by drawing out a diagram. Positionality is like a machine with an input and output. I wrote out some items which feed into my positionality personally:
My origins and cultural background: immigrating from Hong Kong and growing up as a female of colour in a suburban city in the GTA area
School and university experiences: went through school and university in one of the most multicultural areas in Canada, understanding the importance of interacting with people of diverse cultures in the community
My faith: I spent much of my time outside of work volunteering at a Buddhist temple. My faith has taught me that practicing religion is not just going to ceremonies, it is also something that we need to practice in our everyday life. Practicing compassion and doing good are one of the perspectives I bring into teaching.
These items shape who I am today, my beliefs and values, and the decisions and actions that I make.
Keeping our personal experiences in mind, throughout the first term we read Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education by Özlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo, which analyses various social issues (racism, sexism, ableism, classism, etc.) and teaches us to look at these issues with a critical social justice lens. I used what I learned and reflect it back to my life events. One concept that stood out for me was internalized dominance and oppression. Prejudice, discrimination, and oppression are embedded within individual’s consciousness through socialization and are rationalized as normal (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017, p. 90). This process is so natural that we don’t even recognize that we have internalized and demonstrated the actions of the social group we belong to. “Internalized dominance and oppression create observable social group patterns in members of dominant and minoritized groups” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017, p. 95). Living in the Canadian society identified as a minority (Buddhist, Chinese, woman) in various social groups, I have never really felt inferior. I believed that I am a collection of my upbringing and experiences (all that I have mentioned above). However, viewing from a critical social justice lens I realized that I was greatly influenced by being a member of the minoritized group, hence demonstrating similar social group patterns. The effects have been so natural that I’ve never questioned/doubted that who I am today was partly influenced by socialized norms of being a minority.
I strongly believe that our future depends on young people. Fostering a just society for a better future begins with education, so we as youth educators have an important role to play to eliminate any issues regarding diversity and social inequalities. As a developing teacher within the Urban Communities Cohort, when we have the opportunity to work in urban schools, the students that we interact with everyday are the most likely the ones that are categorized in minoritized groups in some way. I recognize that these students may have similar experiences as me. Though I am fortunate to not have experienced extreme discrimination, my students may not be, so my role includes providing students positive experiences in the school free from social injustices. The first step is to recognize that we all have prejudices (unconsciously). Prejudice informs how we view others and informs how we act towards others. “Without any conscious efforts, everything else we do to avoid discrimination and oppression is highly unlikely” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017, p. 79). Our prejudice stems from the limited knowledge of the other groups, but “the more educated we become about people who are different from us and the more relationships we build with them, the more likely we are to have constructive responses when interacting with other members” (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017, p. 79). As a teacher and a role-model for youths, I need to be more mindful in my actions in a classroom of diverse backgrounds. I need to be more educated of the members in the groups that I am not part of and build relationships with my students. Encouraging students to do the same and form cross-group relationships helps foster a safe environment, free of discrimination, for all students to learn.
Lastly, learning to view from a critical social justice lens, I understand that we all display some sort of discrimination whether we know it or not. The real effort we need to make is to challenge the social patterns. On a personal level, it would mean to challenge myself to break out of any internalized norms and have the courage the speak up for any patterns I see that may contribute to upholding oppression. As an educator, I can let my students know that they can become more than what they are socialized to be according to the social groups that they are part of. (For example, women in STEM.) I should also teach students to view from a critical social justice lens; they too have the power to challenge social patterns.
Being a responsible educator goes beyond content teaching. It also means providing positive experiences to enrich students’ lives and teaching youths the essential values to grow into well-rounded adults, so that they can carry these values with them in hopes of fostering a more just society. This is a very new perspective for me but will definitely be in my mind consciously throughout my teaching career going forward.
Resource:
Sensoy, O. & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is Everyone Really Equal? An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education. Teachers College Press.
コメント