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A+SEL, C.A.R.E.S.

Empowering Socially Responsible Students

04/09/2021
Empowering Socially Responsible Students

Many of us likely have some understanding of social issues in the United States and across the globe. Depending upon where we live, our upbringing, the color of our skin, our socioeconomic status, and many other factors, we may have deep, personal experience with social inequities, or we may have only a vague understanding that it exists. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the vast social imbalances that exist in our society and, hopefully, energized us to do what we can in our classrooms and communities to build a stronger, more equitable world.

Regardless of whether you are an outspoken activist, an expert in culturally responsive teaching practices, or someone who has only just begun to understand the depths of issues like structural racism, we can all take a moment to reflect on what it means to be socially responsible. What comes to mind when you hear that term? Is social responsibility something you’ve focused on in your classroom? In yourself?

At its core, social responsibility is a mindset. It presents a meaningful, ethical way of engaging with the world. While tackling social injustices on a large scale may feel overwhelming, social responsibility shows us that we can create a more positive world by taking care to make positive personal choices on a daily basis. For instance, when looking at an issue as vast and complex as climate change, we may be tempted to think there’s nothing we could do to fix it, so why try? Rather than doing nothing, someone who shows social responsibility would investigate the small ways they can modify their behavior to contribute to a net positive change: switching to reusable bags, buying in bulk, or foregoing single-use plastics. Social responsibility reminds us that we are all connected and that our individual decisions matter. Most importantly, social responsibility is like any other SEL skill: it can be explicitly taught and systematically learned.

Empowering Socially Responsible Students

Social responsibility refers to an ethical framework in which individuals and organizations have an obligation to act for the benefit of society as a whole (Wittman, 2018). When one behaves in a socially responsible way, they not only refrain from behaving unethically, but they also deliberately make choices that contribute to the welfare of society overall (Planken, 2013). Social responsibility is a necessary requirement if we wish to overcome many of our current social issues, including severe income disparity (Dyck & Matjaz, 2014), structural racism, and climate change, among others.

Instilling a sense of social responsibility in students puts them on a path toward becoming responsible, caring members of their community who are able to identify social problems and see themselves as capable of responding to them (Merrifield, n.d.). As our world has become increasingly globalized and interconnected, the meaning of social responsibility has expanded. It refers not just to the community in which one lives, nor even the nation, but the global community (Wittman, 2018). While this may sound daunting, it doesn’t mean students need to concern themselves with every social issue across the globe. It simply means that students must adopt a broad perspective and learn to understand the ripple effects that one’s actions can have.

Empowering Socially Responsible Students

Social responsibility can play an important role in addressing social justice issues, starting in the classroom. Social justice is the idea that everyone is entitled to social, economic, and political rights (Clark, 2016). Those who are concerned with social justice understand that resources, opportunities, and privileges are unevenly and often unfairly distributed and seek to remedy the very real problems that this uneven distribution can bring. Our perception of social justice issues, such as how we rank their importance or how they impact us directly, is shaped by our political and moral understanding of privilege, marginalization, and society as a whole (Brown, 2004; Shields, 2004 as cited in Clark, 2016).

When students begin developing a socially responsible perspective and identity, they are doing the work of expanding their worldview. They start to understand how small choices, like speaking up if they hear a friend or family member talking about a different group of people using negative stereotypes, can have a positive ripple effect. A socially responsible consciousness is an important step in understanding, caring about, and advocating for social change. When using social responsibility as a means of delving into discussions surrounding social justice, it’s important for students to gain a full understanding of what it means to be socially responsible. This means we mustn’t let students fall into the trap of thinking they must fit one, specific mold of someone who cares about social justice. We can remind them that being socially responsible in the service of social justice can take many forms, including:

  • Participating in their community in a variety of ways. Remind students that they don’t need to be a nationally known activist or political leader, because they have the power to create positive change at home. This can mean volunteering at a food pantry, advocating for better treatment of individuals who are unhoused, or finding local chapters of national organizations with youth programs, such as the ACLU. Have students research social justice issues that may impact their community, like food insecurity or educational funding. Then, show them ways to get involved with that issue. Is there a meeting they can attend with a parent or caregiver where they can bring the issue up? Are there resources where they can learn more about the root causes of the issue?
  • Understanding how decisions are made locally, including in their school and in their local government. How decisions are made about our communities can often seem inevitable and opaque. But we can help students see that they actually have a voice in these decisions, especially at the local level. Show students how to call, email, and write letters to their local officials. Be sure they understand who is responsible for the issues they want to address, and show them how to find their contact information. In school, suggest that students form advocacy groups to work with faculty surrounding issues that are important to them. When students know which channels are available to have their voices heard, they will be much more likely to get involved and take the initiative to speak up for the issues they care about.
  • Staying informed about issues of importance. What matters to your students today? The news can be rapid and overwhelming, so help students distill the story into the issue. Brainstorm with students a list of websites, newspapers and magazines, and books and pocasts that discuss current events and social issues. For instance, middle school students who are interested in criminal justice reform may be interested in listening to the podcast Criminal, which focuses on mass incarceration and the criminal justice system (Learning for Justice, 2019). Help students create their own list of resources to stay up-to-date on the issues they care about, even when those issues aren’t in the news cycle. Staying informed is essential, as it builds knowledge and can show students the way toward taking meaningful action.
  • Engaging with diverse perspectives and ideas. From a young age, students can read stories from authors of different backgrounds, listen to music from around the world, and watch movies and TV shows with characters who don’t look or sound like them. This builds cognitive empathy for others and can inform students about different experiences. When students read first-person accounts of a social justice issue that may not affect them personally, they can expand their perspective and understand how inequality and inequity actually impact all of us (Schmidt, 2009).

Participating, understanding, staying informed, and engaging are crucial for both social responsibility and social justice. As we empower students to discover and engage with the social justice issues that resonate with them, they will be able to demonstrate social responsibility in a way that leads to meaningful change. And, when students understand that they can take small, manageable steps in service of social justice issues, they are less likely to get overwhelmed and do nothing. They can be led to understand that there is no such thing as a perfect activist or advocate. When students learn how to use their social responsibility skills, along with other aspects of their social and emotional competence, they are apt to engage with social justice issues in a personal and valuable way.

Empowering Socially Responsible Students

Creating a socially responsible consciousness in students may sound aspirational for a few reasons. One is that social change is often intangible—it’s difficult to see how our day-to-day actions can accumulate into a positive or negative reaction. Students who take up certain social justice issues may not see the fruits of their labor in their lifetime (Schmidt, 2009), which can be a barrier to galvanizing enthusiasm and building social responsibility for the long term.

Another reason the importance of social responsibility may be difficult to grasp is rooted in American culture—we live in a culture of individualism, which can make social responsibility seem at odds with individual responsibility. The good news is that research suggests that explicitly teaching social responsibility can improve students’ skills in this area. In a two-year research study of middle school students, for example, the students who were taught a program focused on social responsibility scored higher on social responsibility scales than did those students in the control group (Carbonero et al., 2017).

Teaching students to be socially responsible doesn’t simply happen; it takes intention, attention, and time (Berman, 1990). We can implement the following strategies to create a classroom culture that supports students in their journey toward social responsibility:

  • Discuss our relationship with our society (Berman, 1990). Open a dialogue with students about their relationship with their school and community. Encourage them to explore this relationship through writing, drawing, or group work, which will allow them to creatively investigate their role in their various communities. Framing our role as socially responsible citizens as a relationship can remind students that it is reciprocal: our communities will invest in us what we invest in them. Depending on the age of students, have them reflect on questions like:

    • What type of world do I want to live in?
    • Are my actions consistent with building that type of world?
    • How can I work with others in contributing positively to my community?
Empowering Socially Responsible Students
  • Connect personal responsibility to social responsibility. Developing social responsibility is contingent upon a student’s level of personal responsibility (Clark, 2016). Helping students understand how personal responsibility benefits them builds a foundation upon which social responsibility can grow. Have students reflect on a time when they showed personal responsibility—what impact did it have? How did responsibility benefit them? Then, have them draw a connection to social responsibility. How could they show a similar behavior and sense of responsibility for the greater good? Consider an example like keeping one’s school supplies neat and organized and keeping public spaces neat and organized. How are these two facets of responsibility similar? How can students show ownership over both their personal space and community spaces?
  • Model social responsibility. Students acquire responsibility as they internalize external norms (Carbonero et al., 2017), which means we must model social responsibility and offer them explicit steps to take to build it. In the classroom, try assigning students or groups of students clear roles in classroom upkeep. Have students actively engage in decision-making, which empowers them to take ownership of how their classroom functions. When there are elections happening in your community or in the country, discuss the importance of being an informed voter. Demonstrate how to find what's on the local ballot and open a discussion with students about their thoughts. Which ballot questions are important to them? Why? How can they engage in the issues they care about?
  • Show students how to be agents of change. Incorporate activities in the classroom and school that give students a stake in how their community runs. Consider highlighting young activists who embody social responsibility, so students can start to see themselves doing the same. Social media apps like Instagram and TikTok are filled with young people working to change the world. For example:

    • Mari Copeny, a thirteen-year-old activist from Flint, MI who wrote a letter to President Obama during the Flint water crisis. The letter prompted him to visit the city and ultimately approve millions of dollars in relief.
    • Emma Gonzalez, a twenty-one-year-old gun control activist who co-founded the advocacy group Never Again MSD and helped to organize the student-led demonstration, March for Our Lives.
    • Marley Dias, a sixteen-year-old activist who started the campaign #1000BlackGirlBooks when she was ten years old. This book drive aimed to collect and distribute 1,000 books with Black female protagonists.

    These are just a few examples of young people taking action for the causes they care about. When students see other people around their age engaging with social justice issues, they may see themselves as agents of change in a way they hadn’t before. Discuss with students the issues that these activists (and many others) are fighting for and remind students that they don’t need to have all of the answers or be the face of a movement to get involved. Brainstorm how they can support these causes in a way that works for them!

  • Use all academic subjects to explore social responsibility (Berman, 1990). Social responsibility encompasses our actions in every situation, not only during our SEL sessions or in a social studies class. Use science classes to discuss how scientific technological advancements have impacted society. Where does our responsibility lie as we use the newest version of a cell phone, for example? In math, note the ways that numbers, like statistics or data, can be used in both socially responsible and irresponsible ways. By incorporating a socially responsible mindset across students’ classes, they have more opportunities to think critically about how they impact the world.
  • Use books and literature as a means of engaging with broad and diverse issues. Novels can be considered “labs to make ethical decisions” (Carbonero et al., 2017) in which the stories drive us to develop our understanding of the world and the values that we find most important. Use diverse stories to show students different ways of being socially responsible and offer them a window into a social justice issue that may not impact them personally. Ask students open-ended questions about a character who shows social responsibility, have them consider the way the character’s culture may impact how they relate to another culture, and have them draw comparisons between a character’s lived experiences and their personal lived experiences.

Our responsibility to each other has been made abundantly clear over the course of the pandemic, as the interconnectedness of the entire world is apparent through the transmission of the coronavirus. Wearing masks, social distancing, and following public health guidelines became our duties to keep others safe, and this safety came at great personal sacrifice for so many people. We can use this moment to highlight the importance of social responsibility and reflect on its challenges and its virtues. And, together, we can continue taking steps toward a just, kind, and socially responsible world.

Empowering Socially Responsible Students

References:

  • Berman, S. (1990). Educating for social responsibility. Educational Leadership, 48(3), 75–80. http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_199011_berman.pdf.
  • Carbonero, M. A., Martín-Antón, L. J., Otero, L., & Monsalvo, E. (2017). Program to promote personal and social responsibility in the secondary classroom. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(809). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00809
  • Clark, K. A. (2016). An analysis of a middle school curriculum: Through the lens of personal responsibility, social responsibility, and social justice. (Publication No. 893) [Doctoral dissertation, Rowan University]. Rowan Digital Works.
  • Dyck, R. G., & Matjaž, M. (Eds.). (2014). Social responsibility: Methods, dilemmas, and hopes. Bentham Books. http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/97816080590651140301
  • Learning for Justice. (2019). Toolkit for “the subscribed classroom: Using podcasts to teach about social justice.”
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