Social Justice in Schools - Page 3 - OG Myth-Weavers

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Social Justice in Schools

 
True, canjo. Simple ethics, renamed 'social justice' for those who like their language couched and their jobs more important-sounding, are very important, and are part of what every parent, uncle, aunt, older sibling and grandparent should dispense through their everyday lives. Schools can help by reinforcing those BASIC ideals; but, for instance, teaching kids barely past the toddler age that gay diversity is important, when they barely know that heterosexual interests even exist, is brainwashing. Schools can help by working toward them, a bit at a time.

Ethics is a valuable thing to learn. Learning what you should do and what you shouldn't do in your interactions with other people, that's part of the learning that schools need to do these days, as parents seem to be all over the map on this one. Some teach their kids to be polite and such, others teach them to win at all costs, some just teach them to get outa the damn house and stop bothering them. Schools can teach them how to interact in various ways. Cooperative games, competitive games, individual work, pair work, group work. What is acceptable behavior in general society, what is not.
This isn't social justice, it's social survival skills.
Social justice seems to be whatever the buzzwords of the time are. And only rarely does it seem to be taught at the appropriate age for the students. The *idea* isn't bad, but the implementation isn't always done well.

I've always loved that people seem to fear that kindergarten classes are going to set aside time to teach kids about gays. It is so ludicrous that it seems like something out of an SNL skit.

The point is that teachers should be able to confirm for students that it is okay, instead of staying silent on the issue for fear of parent retribution. This helps stop bullying, it helps answer curious students, it doesn't constitute a lesson plan and that was never an agenda for kids that young.

I hate to sound stupid, but what is social justice? Is it tolerance towards others points of view despite differences and everyone getting the same chance? Or is it take from the wealthy and give it to others? Is it we have to be so careful about what we say we can't say anything? Is it everyone's equal but to keep everything equal we have hire x amount of this race and y amount of that gender despite qualifications?

Don't get me wrong I would love a world where money was nothing, people didn't have to work, where everyone had everything they want, where love of any kind is accepted and embraced. But as long as we live on this earth eking out a barely survivable there will be hatred, greed, and pain. I love the idea of social justice, but I want to what the idea means before I agree with anyone.

And so I don't get in trouble I don't have a problem with any religion at all. I have my own personal beliefs. No one's going to change them and I don't want to force my beliefs down someone else's throat. That being said there was a statement that said religion is dangerous to children. My personal belief is that it means all religions and I refuse to debate religion with anyone period.

It has enough meanings to be meaningless without further explanation as to which variety people are talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice

If I had to define it in my own terms and distill it from my own education it'd just basically be the social contract we have to fellow mankind. What are your responsibilities to mankind? What is the organization and make up of the safety net of society and how high/low should it be set?

My friends 13yo daughter had cancer and they had a fundraiser to help pay the deductibles. I do a bit of part time work under my own business name and they asked me if I'd be a sponsor of the event so I said sure and donated a few hundred bucks as did quite a few others and her bills were paid for plus leftovers. I got to get together and have a party with a few hundred people from town all night in the process. I have the advantage of living in a small town that has a very strong sense of community, not everyone does. Other people might support more and bigger government programs supported through taxation. Others through larger philanthropic organizations. I'm not trying to start a discussion on the merits and drawbacks of each system, and all have them, just pointing out some easy examples of approaches and how they all have the same goal and could all share the same name social justice but vary widely in how they approach and attempt to solve the problem.

It's not my intention to derail the topic. I'm just so jaded by politics I can't break that. I support social justice through charities, fundraisers, and the option to give.

I wish I had more to give really. There's a ton of charities I'd give to.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Merdle View Post
That is wonderful Lord Ben, but not everyone has your support network, or your community.
Right, and that's one of the drawbacks to that system and I pointed it out. But why doesn't it exist? The culture of dependency isn't without it's drawbacks and neither is an over reliance on private charities. A good system would involve a mix of the two and not rely completely on one or the other.

I think relying on both is the system that we do have. Which is why some people go into crippling debt when they have medical problems and cannot support themselves through other means.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Divinedragonslayer View Post
It's not my intention to derail the topic. I'm just so jaded by politics I can't break that. I support social justice through charities, fundraisers, and the option to give.

I wish I had more to give really. There's a ton of charities I'd give to.
Yeah, I'm trying to stick to philosophy myself and stay away from specific political issues.

To cross subjects the general discussion thread has a subject on Lucas selling Lucasfilm and it was mentioned he'd be giving the bulk of his $4 billion to a Family Foundation (it offers enormous tax advantages). That's one good example of how a public policy/law can support social justice by encouraging private giving.




 

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