Do Educators have a Responsibility to use Technology and Social Media to Promote Social Justice.6/4/2022 Again, I am sorry that I wasn’t in class the other day… but I can imagine that this one was a bit of a DOOZY! I can envision the massive divide now: Yes, as educators it is our responsibility to teach social justice, while others may be concerned with what exactly is social justice. This can be complicated, because as much as we would all like to believe that our perspectives are through the best or most appropriate lens, we must admit that social justice can often times be a subjective thing where multiple individuals or perspectives may feel like they are promoting social justice, when in fact they are doing could be detrimental to what might be considered social justice by social scientists or other experts. Moreover, there are many strong arguments around empowering students to come up with what social justice is or isn’t on their own. This article on the “Power of Neutrality” gives a couple good examples. In principle, I would agree that asking probing questions of students is far superior to simply doling out answers whether it be around social justice or another topic entirely. Further complicating this question is the fact that many educators don’t heavily use technology or social media outside of work. For some it is about disconnecting and getting away from it all, while others are just hoping to enjoy some privacy in their non-working hours. This is where I would be inclined to disagree with some of the notions from the article “Should all Educators have a Social Media Presence? Yes.” Plenty of strong educators, and individuals outside of education have little to no social media presence. In fact, and this is a big-time anecdote, some of the most well-rounded, reflective, and happy individuals I know have absolutely nothing to do with social media. To be frank, I too have been striving to distance myself from social media. Let’s be honest – what are the odds that I have ever sent out Tweet, or shared a Facebook post that actually changed somebody’s mind or solved a problem? For many of us, it was likely the exact opposite experience, whether it was drawing they ire of a strange uncle, or worse yet, our employer. Nonetheless, I am still in favour of trying. This article offers some important advice to translate online activism into something a little more concrete. Since we don’t live in the Metaverse yet (what is the Metaverse anyways), I think it is of significant importance to work towards turning our online activism into something real and concrete. Human connections matter. Additionally, teachers would be wise to take warning after reading Madeline Will’s article around Teachers, Politics, and Social Media: A Volatile Mix. While South of the border, the article references the “Pickering balancing test”, in which the court weighs the employee’s interest in commenting upon matters of public concern and the employer’s interest in “promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs.” In other words, a teacher cannot publicly say something so offensive or inflammatory that it impacts her ability to do her job and educate students – I don’t know about you, but who want to be on the judgement end of that test, with one’s job hanging in the balance.
As this meandering post comes to a conclusion, I feel as if I have spent more time arguing against my perspective than for it. What I think this means is that teachers shouldn’t be forced to take on a social justice role anymore than anyone else is. There are often times risks and stressed that come with the territory that some educators might simply find overwhelming in light of everything else that educators are required to take on. For those that find themselves with the capacity, I certainly encourage them to promote and empower students with as much social justice as they can. We all know that it is needed in today’s world.
2 Comments
Kayla
6/4/2022 01:20:52 pm
Great blog, Chris! You really did miss a heated debate that got testy at times. I have been thinking about this topic a lot, and in the blog I wrote, I had the same sentiments as you: Teachers shouldn't be required to advocate for social justice issues online.
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Good job summarizing the debate, especially if you weren't in class the other night. I think that teachers do have a responsibility to teach social justice issues in the classroom, and the curriculum backs that as well. However, forcing people to use a specific medium such as social media is not an authentic way for everyone to be activists and allys.
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