Leadership for Social Justice: Responses to Ongoing Critiques

• In Event: 30.080 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 30.080-19 - We Are Clearly Not Asking the Right Questions: Rethinking "Knowledge to Action" as Social Justice

Abstract

Typically, scholars and practitioners engage in critique of ideas, policies and actions in a manner that challenges what others think and do and seeks to reframe their work for them. While perhaps useful as cognitive exercise, such an approach is in some ways an attempt to promote social justice by committing an act of interpersonal injustice that fails to adequately take into account history, context or possibility for individual and organizational change (Theoharis & Brooks, 2012). It will not be helpful if our responses to self and external critique become a justification for what we are already doing while admonishing others for doing what they do. From a material standpoint, life in our most difficult public schools, in our lowest economic inner cities, in our most challenged sectors of society have not materially changed economically and sociologically for generations (Hacker, 1992). That is, there is little evidence that education and social policies have not disrupted intergenerational poverty despite many articles and books being published on leadership for social justice over the past several decades—why is this? What is the gap between what we say and what we do? Are we not communicating (both speaking and listening) in the most appropriate manner? We have not triumphed or even made many gains against violent economic, political and social forces . Education has not brought together families who have historically been left out of material gains. We critique neo-liberal policies as well as liberal policies as failures (Furman, 2012). Where should we now turn for ideas and direction?

Author

• Jeffrey S. Brooks, RMIT University