Justice is a "hot" topic right now...it's in TV shows (grey's last season with Alex's project), on billboards and most definitely in churches and classrooms. Part of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics is to work towards social justice in everything we do, and this is something I learn about, both practically and big picture, on a daily basis.
I am working on a couple of big papers right now. One of them is about me (a genogram basically) and one is about connecting course (welfare) work to one of the "competencies" of the NASW. Social justice is the easiest to connect to any of my courses because SO many things are unjust...
Social Security isn't available until your 65 (or 62) but African Americans have a much shorter life span on average; therefore they receive less of what they paid earlier in life than say Asian women who have the longest life span.
Higher education (public at least) was intended to allow anyone to become as educated as they want; the poor were able to go to school just as the wealthy were. In current times, however, both the federal and state budgets have drastically affected the funding on ALL education programs, rising tuition costs and cutting the amount of available financial aid funds. Now, higher education is only for those with the means to get there, which often excludes the less wealthy and disproportionately excludes select ethnic groups.
Our tax codes are completely messed up, if you didn't already know that. We give tax cuts to billionaires and some cuts to those making less than 20K/year, but almost no cuts to the average earning American ($20-60K). This makes it incredibly difficult for many Americans in so many ways. Instead of taxing people proportionate to income, we tax (Read:PENALIZE) people for working a honest job making 30K a year instead of helping those families make ends meet. And considering the last point about education, how are these families supposed to get an education leading to a better job? And who is to say that education would even mater right now?
Basically the world is a mess. Politics are messy. And our country (and largely the world) is in such a devastating economic situation that we have no attention being given to these justice issues outside of grassroots movements.
How will you help?
I am working on a couple of big papers right now. One of them is about me (a genogram basically) and one is about connecting course (welfare) work to one of the "competencies" of the NASW. Social justice is the easiest to connect to any of my courses because SO many things are unjust...
Social Security isn't available until your 65 (or 62) but African Americans have a much shorter life span on average; therefore they receive less of what they paid earlier in life than say Asian women who have the longest life span.
Higher education (public at least) was intended to allow anyone to become as educated as they want; the poor were able to go to school just as the wealthy were. In current times, however, both the federal and state budgets have drastically affected the funding on ALL education programs, rising tuition costs and cutting the amount of available financial aid funds. Now, higher education is only for those with the means to get there, which often excludes the less wealthy and disproportionately excludes select ethnic groups.
Our tax codes are completely messed up, if you didn't already know that. We give tax cuts to billionaires and some cuts to those making less than 20K/year, but almost no cuts to the average earning American ($20-60K). This makes it incredibly difficult for many Americans in so many ways. Instead of taxing people proportionate to income, we tax (Read:PENALIZE) people for working a honest job making 30K a year instead of helping those families make ends meet. And considering the last point about education, how are these families supposed to get an education leading to a better job? And who is to say that education would even mater right now?
Basically the world is a mess. Politics are messy. And our country (and largely the world) is in such a devastating economic situation that we have no attention being given to these justice issues outside of grassroots movements.
How will you help?
