Social Justice Issues on Social Media

Social justice issues have become more apparent within the school context as school populations continue to change, diversity increases, and social media dominates the narrative for many young people and teachers.

As an educator, I have always believed in the importance of celebrating diversity. Of course, trying to level the playing field and limit unequal power relationships is not the easiest task. To muddy the waters, it would be difficult for anyone to school on social media for more than 5 minutes and not find a few posts regarding social justice issues. This is not a negative in our world, as it has allowed the opportunity for minimized voices to speak out and receive the respect they so desperately deserve. However, as educators, it has made our balancing act of providing an unbiased educational experience to all students a little more challenging.

Jacquie and Amanda did an excellent job in highlighting the many reasons for promoting social justice activism via social media. I agree with their statement, “As we know, teachers are some of the very first role models that kids have, we must uphold values such as these and always strive to “do the right thing”.” I believe it is important to teach students about bias, stereotypes, discrimination, and prejudice, how to articulate their own opinions, dialectical thinking skills, and celebrate diversity by providing culturally responsive practices. However, I am not in agreement that this should be done via social media as an educator.

How teachers can help kids find their political voices | Sydney Chaffee In this TedTalk, Sydney Chaffee explains the ways we as educators can support our students, promote equitable opportunities and social justice issues. More importantly, she discusses the importance of teachers helping students find their voice, build their identity, and become active and engaged citizens. I agree with many of the things she says, but I still struggle with using social media as the grounds to do this work. I think we can be extremely influential in the classroom and can teach students to be great humans without social media.

This topic reminds me of a situation I had with a student in 2020. I was teaching about Black Lives Matter upon the death of George Floyd. A student asked me if I had posted a black screen on social media in support of BLM. I asked the students to ponder whether it mattered if I had posted this or not. In the back of my mind, I was not sure where this conversation would go. However, it made me think of the old phrase:

“If I didn’t post it on social media, did it really happen?” or more like “If I don’t post it on social media, do I really support something?”

For those that are wondering… yes, I did post a black screen in support of BLM. However, I have stayed quite neutral since that time and have kept my opinions off of social media. 

I believe it is more important to teach students the skills necessary to form their own opinions and teach them the ways social media can perhaps be an avenue for promoting certain issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jFqhjaGh30

I am in agreement with Ramsel, that we are not to use social media to promote social justice issues. We are to be positive role models for our students and support diversity in all ways possible within our school. Teachers have the rights to post what they want on social media, but it is important to note that we should be respectful of all biases that are not discriminatory to others in our classrooms and schools. We want students to have a voice, we want to support culturally responsive education, and we want to promote social justice and equity moving forward, I don’t believe someone needs to see it on my Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.

3 thoughts on “Social Justice Issues on Social Media”

  1. Hey Michael, thanks for the insightful post. It was interesting experiencing the George Floyd tragedy through the lens of COVID. Furthermore, it is quite astonishing how polarized our world seems on social justice issues post pandemic. I appreciate the way you challenged your student when asked about posting a black screen on social media. I think that corresponds with a lot of the discussion around our class a couple weeks ago. It is tremendously difficult not to be drawn into discussions surrounding controversial topics, but as teachers we have the professional obligation to declare relative neutrality in the classroom. I like when you say that it is important that we be respectful of biases provided they are not discriminatory.

  2. “This topic reminds me of a situation I had with a student in 2020. I was teaching about Black Lives Matter upon the death of George Floyd. A student asked me if I had posted a black screen on social media in support of BLM. I asked the students to ponder whether it mattered if I had posted this or not. In the back of my mind, I was not sure where this conversation would go. However, it made me think of the old phrase: “If I didn’t post it on social media, did it really happen?” or more like “If I don’t post it on social media, do I really support something?”

    I used this exact same phrase in my blog, Mike. It’s interesting you brought up the George Floyd and BLM movement – it really seemed like this was the inciting event in the movement towards the mainstream media and businesses, as well as individuals using social media as an activist platform. There was incredible pressure to post, and I remember businesses being “called out” for not posting. In the aftermath, of course, we have seen some backlash in the recognition of performative activism, and I think it’s so interesting the way social media activism has shifted over the last three years.

  3. Thank you for sharing your perspective on social justice issues in the school context. It’s great to hear that you value celebrating diversity and teaching students about bias, stereotypes, discrimination, and prejudice. I appreciate your point of view that social media should not be the primary platform for promoting social justice issues and that educators can be influential in the classroom. It’s important for teachers to be positive role models and support diversity in all ways possible.

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