Extract

Nancye McCrary and E. Wayne Ross

This book represents a tapestry of social justice issues woven in and out of formal and informal educations and written by some of the most influential contemporary thinkers. While such a text might or should begin with a clear and singular definition of social justice, it is not possible because there is such a wide array of understandings of what it means to be just and socially responsible. In speaking about education in large research universities, Wendell Berry (2012) said, “…we are promoting a debased commodity paid for by the people, sanctioned by the government, for the benefit of the corporations” (para. 5). As you will see, the contributors to this book take aim at social justice and education in varied ways, yet intersect by articulating ideals worth weaving into the fabric of our collective consciousness.

This book is organized in four sections. In Part I, What’s Going On?, Nancye McCrary sets the stage by discussing the education and the day-to-day work of teachers, examining some of the reasons teachers, as we know them, are rapidly becoming extinct. Staughton Lynd, a well-known leader of the Freedom Schools during the Civil Rights Movement, provides an historical perspective that informs much of what is happening today and “What is to be done.” Susan Ohanian writes “Against Obedience,” explaining that teachers are being pushed to prepare their “students to be commodities in the Global Economy.” Ohanian insists “Either you join the...