Diversity, Equity, and Social justice
UNST Students will explore and analyze identity, power relationships, and social justice in historical contexts and contemporary settings from multiple perspectives.
Diversity In Education
Now that Diversity is a buzzword in the workplace AND the classroom, it's important to not only know "why" but also how to implement it.
Why is diversity in educational settings important?
Decades of research by scientists and various field researchers have discovered that diverse groups (ie. race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation) are more innovative than homogenous groups.
The reason for this “is not only because people with different backgrounds bring new information. Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.” Phillips, K. W. (2014, October 1). How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.
For K-12 learning spaces:
For Collegiate or professional learning spaces:
Lastly, Always offer a Window or a Mirror:
The phrase “mirrors and windows” was initially introduced by Emily Style for the National SEED Project. A mirror is a story that reflects your own culture and helps you build your identity. A window is a resource that offers you a view into someone else’s experience. It is critical to understand that students cannot truly learn about themselves unless they learn about others as well. Moran, K. (2018, July 24). What Are Mirrors and Windows? Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/mirrors-and-windows/
Why is diversity in educational settings important?
Decades of research by scientists and various field researchers have discovered that diverse groups (ie. race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation) are more innovative than homogenous groups.
The reason for this “is not only because people with different backgrounds bring new information. Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.” Phillips, K. W. (2014, October 1). How Diversity Makes Us Smarter.
For K-12 learning spaces:
- Teach of the people BEFORE teaching about their strife. "What would happen if we started the story with the arrows of the Native Americans and not with the mayflower?"
- Share not only stories with diverse characters, but real diverse people who have contributed to the world. Make sure that students understand brilliance and contribution does not have a singular skin tone.
For Collegiate or professional learning spaces:
- Use Diverse authors and stories. Allow students to pull inspiration and deeper understanding from outside western literature.
- Use Diverse Sources! If you are researching information, or requiring students to, then it is imperative the source material comes from a diverse background of sources. You cannot present data on a topic if your source information supports the same western white narrative. Teach academics that there is worth in the science of other countries.
Lastly, Always offer a Window or a Mirror:
The phrase “mirrors and windows” was initially introduced by Emily Style for the National SEED Project. A mirror is a story that reflects your own culture and helps you build your identity. A window is a resource that offers you a view into someone else’s experience. It is critical to understand that students cannot truly learn about themselves unless they learn about others as well. Moran, K. (2018, July 24). What Are Mirrors and Windows? Retrieved from https://www.weareteachers.com/mirrors-and-windows/
Equity vs. Equality
One of the differences is the fact that equality obviously denotes that everyone is at the same level, whereas equity, in business parlance, denotes the ownership of the shares of a company. Equality alludes to the identical apportionment where dealings, values or qualities are concerned. Equity represents fairness, or what may be termed as the equality of outcomes. This involves factoring in aspects of the system that have put particular groups at a disadvantage.
1. Equality denotes that everyone is at the same level, whereas equity in business parlance denotes the ownership of the shares of a company.
2. Equity refers to the qualities of justness, fairness, impartiality and even handedness, while equality is about equal sharing and exact division.
3. Equality equals quantity, whereas equity equals quality.
Read more: Difference Between Equity and Equality | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-equity-and-equality/#ixzz6FkhLvpvB
Social Justice
A very basic of social justice would be the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights, and opportunities. (National Association of Social Workers).
Social justice is a very broad topic and includes discussions around:
In the Civil Rights Movement, no one is more well known and well regarded as Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. Martin Luther King was a profound figure in the Civil Rights Movement who took a peaceful approach to combating racism and oppression against African-Americans. He strongly emphasized the idea of taking a nonviolent approach to enacting societal change. Dr. King was also a very vocal advocate for labor unions, public education, and income equality.
An activist fighting for the same goal who took a different and more "radical approach" was Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a member of the Nation of Islam and advocated for more profound and violent way of dealing with oppression. He was very adamant that you should not be peaceful to those who have enslaved, hated you, and hurt you for hundreds of years. You should fight back, and do what you need to do to. Malcolm X held the idea that you must have human rights before any civil rights were to be met, and that African Americans in the 1960s did not even have basic human rights. Malcolm X was very controversial in his approach to combating racism and oppression, but he was viewed by many as being inspirational and a huge influence on modern day social justice. His teachings were heard and interpreted by many as being a fresh voice to inspire change rather than waiting for the Civil Rights Movement to act for them.
In our modern day in age, social justice has become a huge deal for many people. We feel that there are severe injustices committed in so many different aspects of life, and people are doing everything they can to fix these issues. Whether it be in regard to race, police brutality, climate change, education inequality, healthcare, and so much more, people are voicing their concerns and doing everything they can to inspire change. Below are two very popular contemporary examples of individuals promoting social justice for a certain issue on a huge scale.
Colin Kaepernick was the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2016. In August of 2016, Kaepernick began kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racism and police brutality. Many other players around the NFL began kneeling with Kaepernick. These protests gained huge amount of publicity, good and bad. Some people agreed with Kaepernick and his mission, while many others viewed it as disrespectful and unamerican. Kaepernick opted out of his contract at the end of the 2016 NFL season with the intention of hopefully playing somewhere else, however he was never signed by another NFL team. Talent was not the issue here, as Kaepernick was less than 4 years removed from a Super Bowl appearance with San Francisco. Many NFL teams feared signing Kaepernick would result in loss of donors and huge hits to their fan bases who did not agree with what Kaepernick was doing. Therefore, there was no team willing to take a "risk" on signing Kaepernick. Since being out of the NFL, Kaepernick has donated $1 million to many different causes and started an organization titled Know Your Rights Camp which is an organization that focuses on teaching young African-Americans about empowerment, legal rights, and American history.
Greta Thunberg is a 17 year old Swedish climate change activist who has been an extremely prominent and popular figure in fighting climate change. She is most notably known for her speech given at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Her activism started in 2018 at age 15 when she went to Swedish parliament building and held signs demanding stronger action on combating climate change. This eventually snowballed into other students wanting to take action against climate change. Thunberg has inspired many people to take definitive and fierce action against climate change. She was nominated for the 2019 and 2020 Nobel Peace Prizes, and was given Time Magazine's Person of the Year Award for 2019.
Social justice is something that I feel is important to become involved in. Some things you can do as personal action for social justice are:
Social justice is a very broad topic and includes discussions around:
- Race
- Gender
- Age
- Sexual Orientation
- Religion
- Wealth Inequalities
- and many more.
In the Civil Rights Movement, no one is more well known and well regarded as Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. Martin Luther King was a profound figure in the Civil Rights Movement who took a peaceful approach to combating racism and oppression against African-Americans. He strongly emphasized the idea of taking a nonviolent approach to enacting societal change. Dr. King was also a very vocal advocate for labor unions, public education, and income equality.
An activist fighting for the same goal who took a different and more "radical approach" was Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a member of the Nation of Islam and advocated for more profound and violent way of dealing with oppression. He was very adamant that you should not be peaceful to those who have enslaved, hated you, and hurt you for hundreds of years. You should fight back, and do what you need to do to. Malcolm X held the idea that you must have human rights before any civil rights were to be met, and that African Americans in the 1960s did not even have basic human rights. Malcolm X was very controversial in his approach to combating racism and oppression, but he was viewed by many as being inspirational and a huge influence on modern day social justice. His teachings were heard and interpreted by many as being a fresh voice to inspire change rather than waiting for the Civil Rights Movement to act for them.
In our modern day in age, social justice has become a huge deal for many people. We feel that there are severe injustices committed in so many different aspects of life, and people are doing everything they can to fix these issues. Whether it be in regard to race, police brutality, climate change, education inequality, healthcare, and so much more, people are voicing their concerns and doing everything they can to inspire change. Below are two very popular contemporary examples of individuals promoting social justice for a certain issue on a huge scale.
Colin Kaepernick was the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2016. In August of 2016, Kaepernick began kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racism and police brutality. Many other players around the NFL began kneeling with Kaepernick. These protests gained huge amount of publicity, good and bad. Some people agreed with Kaepernick and his mission, while many others viewed it as disrespectful and unamerican. Kaepernick opted out of his contract at the end of the 2016 NFL season with the intention of hopefully playing somewhere else, however he was never signed by another NFL team. Talent was not the issue here, as Kaepernick was less than 4 years removed from a Super Bowl appearance with San Francisco. Many NFL teams feared signing Kaepernick would result in loss of donors and huge hits to their fan bases who did not agree with what Kaepernick was doing. Therefore, there was no team willing to take a "risk" on signing Kaepernick. Since being out of the NFL, Kaepernick has donated $1 million to many different causes and started an organization titled Know Your Rights Camp which is an organization that focuses on teaching young African-Americans about empowerment, legal rights, and American history.
Greta Thunberg is a 17 year old Swedish climate change activist who has been an extremely prominent and popular figure in fighting climate change. She is most notably known for her speech given at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit. Her activism started in 2018 at age 15 when she went to Swedish parliament building and held signs demanding stronger action on combating climate change. This eventually snowballed into other students wanting to take action against climate change. Thunberg has inspired many people to take definitive and fierce action against climate change. She was nominated for the 2019 and 2020 Nobel Peace Prizes, and was given Time Magazine's Person of the Year Award for 2019.
Social justice is something that I feel is important to become involved in. Some things you can do as personal action for social justice are:
- Educating yourself on different movements
- Taking action in your community
- Using social media to voice your opinions and concerns
- Donating your time and/or money to an organization you feel is deserving.