Where Education and Justice Intersect

Critical Thinking Skills

In school, we’re taught from an early age that there are right answers and wrong answers. Back in my day, it was the red pen on homework and test papers that signified what was wrong. The more red marks, the lower the grade.

It’s, of course, important to be able to recognize that 2+2=4 is right and that 2+3=4 is wrong. Having someone point out your mistakes is part of the learning process (as well as part of the assessment of the skill). It’s even more helpful, though, when someone gives pointers as to how to fix a problem and/or tells you why it’s problematic. As a consultant and editor, I make it a point to give the writers I work with focused explanations and suggestions so that they can then make an educated choice as to how to proceed in their revision process.

It’s this deeper level of thinking–this deeper understanding of a problem–that is needed in our current society. To me, this falls under education (and not necessarily formal education; self-education works just as well or better) and critical thinking skills. Understanding the problem is more than just saying that X is wrong and Y is right.

There’s a New Yorker cartoon of two hikers. At the bottom of the mountain they’re attempting to climb, there’s a sign that says “Recognizing Racism in America.” Nearer to the top of the mountain is a sign that says “Doing Something about It.” That first step–recognition–is a big first step, even if there’s still a long way to go. And that recognition comes out of awareness and self-education…and the willingness to be teachable.

Be Teachable

As a person progresses in school, the questions get harder. If you’re lucky, discussions abound in the classroom. Discussions promote critical thinking skills and self-awareness; they help provide different perspectives. As a teacher listening to my students, I’ve often learned of perspectives I might not have otherwise considered. On a national level, though, such discussions have been halted by systemic issues and a lack of mature leadership. Colin Kaepernick tried with his kneeling protests, but the discussion he tried to start fell on deaf ears.

Clearly this post is less about writing and more about what it means to be a moral human being, but the tenets are very similar: You must be aware that you’re not always right. You must be willing to change your perspective and think critically about the information you’re given or have researched. You must be teachable–you must be willing to learn and adapt. When a student comes up with a working thesis statement for a paper, they must understand that that statement will likely change as the begin to research and write. That’s what knowledge does–it changes the way one thinks.

The United States is battling two devastating diseases simultaneously: COVID-19 and systemic racism. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but what I do know is that we must be open to understanding others. We must be willing to learn. We must be willing to see things outside of our own limited experience. We must be willing to see that human beings are more important than material things.

We must be willing to say: Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter

Those who are digging their heels in and saying that all lives matter are often doing so from a limited-experience perspective and not out of hatred or racism. At least, that’s what I hope. But regardless of the reasons, it’s important to understand that that type of rhetoric (“all lives matter”) further diminishes Black lives and the Black Lives Matter movement, fueling a divide in an already divided country. For all lives to matter, Black lives have to matter, too.

I’ve seen a lot of good postings in this regards, including references to Luke 15 in the Bible, with the lost sheep and the Prodigal Son. You can also think about it in terms of a missing child–how would you feel if a child you loved went missing/was abducted?

I watch a lot of crime documentaries and dramas, and whenever a child goes missing, the authorities, of course, are called. Families, friends, and neighbors often form search parties to look for the missing child. Amber alerts are issued, and people create and hang posters with the child’s face on them: Have you seen [name]? To put it in an even more simplified way: the community’s focus is on the missing child, with the goal of that child being hopefully found alive.

Are other children less important? No, of course not. But they’re not missing. They don’t need help. In this metaphor, Black lives are the missing child. Thus, as a community, as a society, as a WORLD, we need to come together to protect the missing child.

People refuting the Black Lives Matter movement by saying that all lives matter are essentially saying–referring back to our metaphorical scenario–that the missing child’s life doesn’t matter. They’re saying that they aren’t going to help look for them. They aren’t going to call authorities if they see the child. In fact, they’re going to tear down any signs with the missing child’s picture on them because they feel such attention slights all the children who aren’t missing, the children who are, as we’ve noted, just as important.

To stomp one’s feet and tear down pictures of a missing child because someone thinks that there’s too much attention being given to that missing child seem, quite frankly, the actions of a spoiled brat–someone who cares for no one else but themselves. They are the actions of someone who lacks empathy and understanding of what it’s like to lose. They are actions that sound, in short, like privilege.

It’s my hope that any moral human being will see how ridiculous it would be to tear down missing child fliers and scoff and say that the missing child doesn’t matter–that there are plenty of other children who aren’t missing and that the missing one isn’t any more important than them. When a child is in danger, most people feel that the child and their family deserve justice–they deserve to have measures taken for them to hopefully be brought home safely.

Black people are being systemically killed at a much higher rate than White people. Therefore, for all lives to matter, Black lives have to matter, too. That is the point of the movement.

So let’s say it again: Black Lives Matter.

We Can Do Better

To become stronger as a whole, we as human beings need to protect each other. We need to show kindness. This should be true regardless of your political beliefs. This is a moral tenet–to love your neighbor. That means:

It is not okay to teargas or otherwise forcibly remove peaceful protesters.

It is not okay for a president to use extreme measures in order to clear the way for a distasteful photo op.

It is not okay to hold a knee on a man’s neck until he dies and then for minutes after.

It is not okay to shoot a man who is out for a jog.

It is not okay to shoot a woman sleeping in her home.

It is not okay to judge someone on their skin color or treat them differently because of it.

It is not okay to judge someone on their religious affiliations, their sexual orientation, or their gender identification.

These things are not okay. We can do better.

As a runner, my pace is almost always faster when I’m running with others. Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush of running with hundreds of other people, or maybe it’s the support of having others near me when I run–knowing that I’m not alone. And I’ve learned to write–and to improve my writing–the same way, by observing and analyzing the writing of others–by being aware of what I don’t know. By interacting with other writers, by learning from them, and by supporting our respective writing processes. And by being aware that improvement is a process.

We are all human beings; we should be in this together. To boost each other up–not push each other down.

Change Starts with You and Me

As moral humans, we must put forth effort to improve. As a society, that means protesting the murder of countless Black people at the hands of police or armed vigilantes. Men and women who have been murdered while they sleep, while they jog, while they breathe. Peaceful men and women. Unarmed people. People whose lives are in danger merely because of their skin color, something that they cannot control.

We become better humans by observing others and acknowledging their life experiences. We become better people by striving to understand something outside of our own life experiences.

Change comes from within, but it doesn’t happen without effort. It comes from education. By education, I don’t mean a degree. Self-education in the form of open-mindedness and self-awareness is just as powerful and, in some ways, more powerful than a formal education. Social change–social justice–is a product of the exchange of stories, ideas, and discussions. Protests open up this exchange when it is otherwise being blocked by a broken and/or rigged system.

Challenging the status quo is important. Speaking one’s mind is important. I’ve chosen a career that revolves around helping others communicate and write more effectively because I believe in the power of words. We speak, write, and protest in order to educate, inform, and start much-needed discussions.

To stay silent is to be complicit.