Importance of Social Justice in Teaching

This essay explores the importance of social justice in teaching and how it can help create a fair and just society. It discusses the concept of social justice, the theories of Karl Marx, and the role of teaching practices in promoting social justice. The essay also suggests a game-based approach to teach students about diversity and empathy.

Social diversity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

It is very important to understand that social reality is characterised by inequality. Most
importantly the unequal allocation of resources is the inherent characteristics of social reality
and therefore one can vehemently express the view that the social reality is hierarchized.
Thus there are people are the owner of means of production, therefore a little better off than
the ones who do not have them. This idea has been reflected in the famous work of Karl
Marx, in Das capital. Unequal access to resources can also be plan of state machinery; it can
also be plan of an individual to remain included in the mainstream culture. As Mark has
famously cited his opinion abut the increasing bipolar nature of haves and have not will
ultimately lead to a revolution, it is important for us to build and coordinate activities that
will eradicate innate unequal status of social reality. The unequal footings of people can lead
to serious health issues and also be the crux of misery and also destitutions. Marx’s idea of
describing the social unequal nature is based of the concept of materials deprivation, in this
essay the importance of social justice will be explained in the context of teaching.
Social justice refers to fair and just relationship between the individual and the society.
Deprived of the material conditions, he children are often victim of violence, stress and these
problems make their life difficult and hence they cannot realise the full potential of their
lives. The repetitive stress and violence and crime cripples their cognitive development, and
hence there is need to bring social justice (Walster & Walster 1975). In ideal term social
justice can never fully be realise because the nature of the social reality is dynamic and there
will always be chasing tendencies rather than creations of uniform society. Thus, it is very
important of each and every one to realise diversified situation that exists outside their known
areas. Social justice is important because it reassigns rights and duties in the institutions of
our society and enable people to receive certain amounts of benefits and also lightens the
burden of cooperation. Social justice also helps people to work towards celebrating the
diversity in our commination and in our country. In teaching practices social justice is

important because it makes the children aware of the different kinds of realities that is
present outside their comfort zone and it also help to reorient them for a positive change.
The theory propounded by Karl Marx will be very beneficial because his theory was based on
materialistic dialectic forces, where the concentration as on the materials deprivations (Laclau
2017). According to his theory, society was divided in to two bipolar groups namely the
haves and have not and this was based on who owned means of production. The society grew
bipolar by exploiting on the working class. This kind of theory informs people about the
unequal distributions of resources and established the point of view that will require
redistributing the resources so that the society grows egalitarians. Other than this the
sociological concept of sociological imagination propounded by C.W Mills will also help
them to relate how their biographies are related to theory respective history and hence the
individual experience is actually a culmination of the accumulated history. The students will
realise the power dynamics and how it is shaping the individual life style, and they
themselves are the product of such power roles.
The teaching process and the lesson plans included in the curriculum of the schools have
proved to be one of the most useful and effective way to deal with the issues of diversity
(Wade & Pierre-Antoine 2007). However, since the topic is sensitive and a bit difficult to
understand by the students of the middle school. On this note, it is important to mention that
the game plan, Snap board game, adapted by the schools have proved to be very helpful for
the students. To understand how the game can help the students to create an idea of the
concept, as well as, to create a sense of empathy among the students regarding the situations
among the students.
Firstly, the students must be divided into two groups, and each of these two groups
will be given similar number of cards. Now the interesting fact is that these cards contain
some key words and their meanings. Upon divided into two groups, the members of each

group will have to will haves to match the words with their definitions, and the game will be
played till there are no matches left. The goal of the game is to let the students learn among
themselves while playing. It is seen that the students, dawning upon one match, indulge into a
discussion regarding the same. Further, they are also observed to be questioning the teachers
present in the class, on those key words, and have a discussion regarding the same.
Now, the thought is, that the teachers can include key terms related to the concept of
diversity, and place them on the cards. Therefore, as the children start playing, they will come
across the key terms and will learn about the meaning and concept. Thus, the student can be
taught the concepts, definition, as well as the examples of the same. The idea of the program
is to get the students know about the concept of diversity and making them aware of the
current situation of the country.
Therefore, such an approach will help the students, not only to gain a perception off
the concept of equity and diversity that is the central theme of the country itself. Also, such a
conduct will help the students to effectively indulge in a conversation process, which will
enrich the communication process and system among the students and the children. This will
also enable the students to gain awareness and understandings of the current social situation
of the country.
However, apart from this gaming session, the teachers can also include video sessions
to create a sense of empathy among then students.

References
Gorski, P. C., & Swalwell, K. (2015). Equity literacy for all. Educational leadership, 72(6),
34-40.
Laclau, E. (2017). Democracy and the Question of Power. In Habitus: a sense of place (pp.
69-83). Routledge.
Wade, R., & Pierre-Antoine, R. (2007). Social studies for social justice: Teaching strategies
for the elementary classroom. Catholic Education, June 2009.
Walster, E., & Walster, G. W. (1975). Equity and social justice. Journal of Social Issues.