What Does Injustice Have to Do with Me?: Engaging Privileged White Students with Social Justice

Why should we care about the education of privileged white students? Conversations about education in America focus near-exclusively on underprivileged, majority-minority schools for many important reasons. What Does Injustice Have to Do With Me? , however, argues that such efforts cannot succeed in creating a more just and equitable society without also addressing the students who benefit from America’s educational, economic and racial inequities. These young people grow up to wield disproportionate power and influence, yet emerge undereducated and poorly prepared to navigate, let alone shape, our increasingly diverse country. David Nurenberg weaves together narrative from his twenty years of suburban teaching with relevant research in education and critical race theory to provide practical, hands-on strategies for educators dealing with challenges unique to high-powered suburban, urban and independent schools: affluent myopia, white fragility, the empathy gap, overinvolved parents, overcautious administrators and an “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. Despite high test scores and college acceptances, many schools serving affluent white students are indeed broken. Social justice education for privileged white students is not only critical for our society, but also for helping those students themselves emerge from a culture of anxiety and cynicism to find meaning, purpose and self-confidence as activist allies.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments Author’s Note Introduction Chapter One: Who are “Privileged” Students and How Do We Teach Them? Chapter Two: Warming Up the Room Chapter Three: Self and “Other” Chapter Four: What Does Injustice Have to Do with Me? Chapter Five: Privileged Victims Chapter Six: Struggling to “Be the Change”—Allyship, Activism, and the Dangers of the “Savior” Trap Chapter Seven: “Choosing Between What is Easy and What is Right” Afterword Bibliography About the Author

About the Author :
David Nurenberg, Ph.D. is an associate professor, educational consultant, and writer in the Boston area who has taught courses at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level for over 20 years. His writing has appeared in Education Week, The Harvard Educational Review, NCTE’s English Education, High School Journal, and elsewhere. He is the host of the podcast Ed Infinitium.

Review :
David Nurenberg’s What Does Injustice Have to Do With Me? offers a thoughtful, reasoned, and pragmatic approach to teaching privileged white students about social injustice and communicating to them why it is actually in their best interest to help dismantle their own privilege. . . . By teaching other viewpoints and engaging privileged white students with the teachings of social justice, we are expanding their lenses of understanding the world around them and are developing their critical thinking. The efforts of this book are worthwhile, and it will constitute a helpful part of educators’ social justice “toolkit” for reference and inspiration to do what is right rather than what is easy. ...at the present moment, both politically timely and morally important. Nurenberg reminds us that White, upper middle class students also have a stake in justice and equity in a society, indeed in a world, that reflects increasing economic, social, educational, and political disparity. More important, What Does Injustice Have to Do with Me? speaks directly to the role of our teachers in ensuring the fundamentals of democracy are taught to and understood by ALL students. With compassion, nuance, and a critical perspective, Nurenberg draws on research and his own experience to help fill a gap in the educational literature—how to educate privileged white students about social justice. He offers extensive, clear, and practical activities and suggestions for how to engage these students (and others). Written in an engaging, personal style, this book is a welcome and needed resource for educators working with white privileged students. We need this book! Teaching starts with understanding the learner and that requires caring about the so-called privileged as well as the disadvantaged. Nurenberg got me caring, too. For any educator concerned about how to engage affluent White students in critical conversations about questions of social justice, past and present, look no further than David Nurenberg’s very helpful book. Full of creative teaching examples intended to foster critical thinking, it is a valuable resource for an important audience of educators and their students. In the 21st century movement to penetrate the limiting lens of privilege, this resource offers a robust range of fresh ideas and tactics. Through storytelling, sample classroom activities, and pedagogical framing David Nurenberg demonstrates how engaging privileged white students in an exploration of power and privilege is far more than knowledge acquisition; the process itself demands of us the critical inquiry skills and self-awareness that makes us better students, teachers, friends, and citizens.