What is social justice? Why is it imprtant in the classroom?

I'm going to start this blog post off with the easiest of the two questions that have been asked of me. The first is, what is social justice? Initially, a Catholic term used in the 1840's for a new habit necessary for post-agrarian societies to survive, social justice is the equal distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a community regardless of race or gender. The second question is, why is social justice important for our classrooms? It took me a lot longer than I thought it would to come up with an answer. My answer to this question has two parts. The first is that if we teachers want to be the harbingers of change, we must first create a classroom environment that gives students a glimpse of the kind of society that we could be. And is a place where they learn the academic and critical thinking skills to make it a reality.  The second part is this; social justice is essential to our classes because our students won't just see and hear the issues that social justice seeks to correct they will live with these problems on a daily basis. They see that their stories go untold in both mainstream literature and film. They deal with the assumptions that are made about them based on the color of their skin or their gender. Our students won't just be observers of the outside world safe in a vacuum. They will be first-hand learners about the struggles that surround power and privilege. From these experiences, they will have compelling stories to share and to hear, and it is our privilege as teachers to show them how they can use their stories in a way that challenges the world as they know it and maybe one day will change it for the better.