Stephanie's Taking Action!

To take action and show our support for Planned Parenthood we contacted the Boston division who then gave us cards and other materials to distribute at a gathering we will be having on Saturday February 18th 2012, where we will be raising awareness for Planned Parenthood. By filling out the card with your personal information you are agreeing that you too support Planned Parenthood, family planning, birth control and preventative care for women. At the same time you are also supplying Planned Parenthood with the information that will contribute to their database on demographics of people who support them. I can honestly say that I am excited to take part in something that will be able to support women's health.

Taking this type of action connects with my democratic views because I believe that everyone has the right to equality, and that the government should not have the final say in women's health. The government is saying that we all have individual rights, but yet many women cannot afford insurance so they go to places like Planned Parenthood where they can receive the same type of care as they would from a Primary Care doctor. By taking part in this gathering, signing this information card, and just spreading the word about all of the good things Planned Parenthood does for women I am making a difference, I am supporting women's health and women's rights.

Lastly, in regards to teaching about social justice issues I am all for it. I believe that teaching social justice issues can be so beneficial to the students because you are engaging them in a controversial topic, yet showing them that it is okay for them to have differences in their opinions. I do, however, believe that you may want to work on topics the students bring up because you really do not want one that is too advanced and current. In addition to this you want to be careful when you discuss these topics to try and stay open-mined. Remember that one person may take a strong opinion about one side of the issue, while another student takes on the same strong opinion but for the opposite side of the topic.

To me education is all about helping the students to see and learn new concepts.  They can be something as simple as the alphabet to a subject that is as controversial as current events.  I want my students to know and understand that you can learn just as much outside of the classroom as you can in it.  I also believe that education is an instrument for the common good.  The reason I feel this way is because when a student learns that they “get more bee’s with honey” inside the classroom, they will hopefully c continue to follow those morals outside the classroom.  It is my hope that they will help an elderly person, a sibling, a parent etc. By learning through education how important it is to help others, and hopefully this will be something they then do for the rest of their lives.

As for the quote, “Struggle for social justice is central to our nation’s history…“Concerns about the common good and the rights of the individual, no matter how humble in social standing, transcends politics and holds a definitive place in the realms of morality, ethics and federal law, and therefore in the world of teaching social studies” I think that it really sends all of the reasons as to why we teach social studies, but also why we have to be careful because of the politics and morality within it.