Social Justice

            In general, the difference between justice and injustice can be pretty difficult. There isn’t really a specific example of each one because of the broad range of what justice and injustice entails. When I got this prompt, I knew what injustice was. Injustice I believe is the unequal rights of an individual. By knowing that, I am making my own prediction about social justice. To me, I believe social justice means equal rights across all categories (race, education, economy, sex, gender, etc.). No matter what the race or gender, you get equal rights and opportunities.

         I don’t believe that social justice is happening right now in any country today. People just aren’t treated equal nor have the same opportunities. For example, some people were born into poverty. Do you think that they get the same rights as people who were born into wealth? No. It’s kind of like what Elvia discusses in one part of the book. She explains that Honduras has many laws set in place, however, not everyone has to follow them. The only people who have to follow them are the poor because the rich can get away with anything. Even if the rich do get caught, they can buy off their punishment. I just don’t think that that’s right. Laws are placed for a reason and just because of the way someone lives shouldn’t even the littlest go into account of who gets punished and who doesn’t.

         So far in Honduras, we have traveled so much. We have been to Yuscarán and Valle De Angeles. We have also been teaching in the city schools as well as about to teach in the rural schools. Because of all this traveling, it really allows us to see and experience what goes on here. We have seen many things all around us. We have even seen the challenges that the Hondurans have to go through everyday to put food on the table or buy clothes. It’s a very sad sight to see, but man has it opened my eyes. The prompt specifically asks about what social justice we have seen so far on this trip, but honestly I can’t really think to much about the social justice’s I’ve seen. We have been reading so much about the injustice in this city that when I go out into the city or the schools, all I see are the social injustice.

         One thing that I have noticed though that is the closest thing to social justice that I have seen so far here is scholarships for school. Alison Bixby, the school we teach at right now, it costs money to come to the school. Obviously, if you don’t have a ton of money then people can’t afford to attend school. That’s not a social justice because not everyone has equal opportunities. However, once you do attend the school, everyone has equal rights for an academic scholarship. It doesn’t matter about you race or your sex or gender, every kid gets a fair chance to receive that scholarship. If you end up getting a scholarship, then it can pay for you to move up through your schooling.

            Another thing that I have seen that is an example of social justice would be the attitude towards every student in the school. In our schools in America, the attitudes are not the same as here. You see favoritism towards certain students from teachers or students not giving respect to other classmates. Here, you see all students treated the same. There is no favoritism because the teacher wants each student to be the best that they can so that they can push to succeed. All the classmates include one another. Even the other day, we were playing “Heads up Seven Up” and each student participated because all the classmates made sure that no one was left out. That is probably the biggest example of social justice here.

            It’s so interesting for me to see the difference between social justice and injustice. There is so much social injustice here and everywhere in the world. The difference here though, is that the students don’t have social injustice at school. There are all treated equally and have equal opportunities. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but knowing that when you come to school you are just the same as everyone else is so important for me as a future educator. I want each of my students to feel comfortable and valued when they walk into my classroom.

"You got to go and get angry at all of my honesty,

You know I try but I don't do too well with apologies,

I hope I don't run out of time. Could someone call a referee?

Cause I just need, one more shot, at forgiveness."

"Sorry" By Justin Bieber