When you think about social justice, what comes to your mind? In many societies, including the United States, there has never been a more critical time for reaching some consensus of the meaning of the concepts governing our lives. We need to have a sense of what they mean to us as we make important decisions, both personal and political in our lives. This webinar is based on the latest book, Education for Social Justice:  The Meaning of Justice and Current Research, published by Routledge in 2024. By clicking the link above, you will have free full access to the book. The authors of this book would like to invite you to read the sections you find of interest before attending the webinar—each chapter considers an element of social justice including, for example, civic education, informal learning and role of parents, discrimination and repression, college going and the effect of race and other factors, responsive teaching and access to knowledge, supporting mental health in community schools. Each chapter also includes a discussion of the latest research on the issue written by a now graduated doctoral student whose dissertation examined the current research. This webinar will focus on the chapter discussing the meaning of social justice from the perspective of parenting in China. One critical point about the book is to examine the “essentially contested concepts”, such as social justice and democracy, since the concepts mean different things to different people, and the different meanings influence one’s society. Please click this link and share your thoughts and questions about these concepts before the webinar so you may enjoy a relevant and dynamic discussion during the webinar. The goal of the discussion is to open your mind about these contested concepts and show how educators can help a group of students or colleagues or the public reach a “shared vision” of the meanings.

Speakers:

Nicholas Michelli, Professor of Education at Johns Hopkins University, Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Montclair State University, and  Presidential Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York, USA. A specialist in education for democracy social justice with extensive writing on the subject. Tina J. Jacobowitz, Professor Emeritus at Montclair State University, USA. a specialist in literacy education, critical thinking, education for democracy, and education or social justice.

Moderator:

José Barzola, Conflict and Peace Specialist, UHM

Discussants:

Ni Zhang, Co-Author of the book, Associate Director, Center for Chinese Studies, UHM

Di Xu, Professor, Department of Educational Foundations, UHM

Panelists:

Stacey Campo, Co-Author of the book, Senior Research Advisor with the National Center for Community Schools and Consultant with M. Fletcher and Associates, USA

Kenita Williams, Co-Author of the book, Chief Operating Officer, Southern Education Foundation

Diana Jahnsen, Co-Author of the book, Special Education Psychologist with the Surrey School District in British Columbia, Canada