Janet Steffenhagen
Vancouver Sun: Friday, August 31, 2007
A new Grade 12 elective course that will make its debut in selected schools next week as part of a controversial deal to settle a human rights complaint is called Social Justice 12 but it could also be dubbed Lessons in Isms.
Ableism, ageism, anthropocentrism, consumerism, cultural imperialism, extremism, feminism, fundamentalism, heterosexism, humanism, racism, sexism and speciesism are among the key learning concepts, according to information released recently by the Education Ministry.
Murray Corren, who along with his husband, Peter, was responsible for the human rights complaint and had a hand in developing the Social Justice curriculum, said the only thing missing is a glossary explaining terms such as heterosexism and speciesism that are not a part of everyday vocabulary.
Heterosexism is prejudice against homosexuals on the assumption that heterosexuality is the norm, while speciesism is used primarily by animal activists to describe the exploitation of animals by humans who consider themselves superior.
Safe to say, those two words have never before appeared in B.C. school curriculum.
"We're very happy with the course," Corren said in an interview. "We think it has a lot of good stuff that teachers and students can learn about and grapple with. It will be very exciting for students."
Although it's optional, the course has already created a sharp divide between those who believe it will encourage tolerance -- especially because it addresses injustices based on sexual orientation -- and those who fear it could be used for social engineering.
"It is a very broad and very balanced document," said Glen Hansman, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers' Association. "It does, however, for the first time in B.C.'s curriculum history, specifically list an expectation that students will be able to describe injustice based on sexual orientation and analyse causes and describe consequences of this injustice.
"It also asks them to take a stand against these injustices [and] that's pretty amazing."
But religious groups say the lack of definitions -- even with respect to the term "social justice" -- will allow teachers to shape the course according to their own beliefs. That can be good and bad, says the Catholic Civil Rights League.
"It means that Catholic schools are free to use the Social Justice elective to put forward the church's very extensive and coherent body of teaching on social justice, which, among other things, holds that abortion, racism, denial of fair wages and legal approval of same-sex genital relationships are different forms of social injustice," spokesman Sean Murphy said.
"On the other hand, it also means that the Social Justice course can be used by individual teachers as a vehicle to turn students against the Catholic church on the grounds that it violates human rights by opposing practices like abortion, contraception and homosexual conduct."
The conservative B.C. Parents and Teachers for Life, which promotes the rights of parents as prime educators of their children, shares those concerns.
"Although the course . . . will deal with many topics worthy of students' consideration, it is -- due to bias and lack of specified direction -- a course which allows for the possibility of gross abuse on the part of the teacher who might choose to use it to propagandize for his own particular viewpoint," said president Ted Hewlett.
Those two groups are among several lobbying against the deal the province signed last year with the Correns to settle their long-standing complaint that curriculum was discriminatory because it failed to teach about sexual orientation.
Social Justice 12 is the least controversial part of the deal because it is an optional course.
What's been more contentious is the government's promise to give the Correns an unprecedented role in a review of all curriculum to ensure respectful teachings about sexual orientation from K-12. That review is still underway.
Sexual orientation isn't the only new topic to be covered in Social Justice 12. The course will also highlight animal rights for the first time -- much to the surprise of the Vancouver activist who made a passionate pitch last spring for educators to think beyond gender and race when considering oppression.
Lesley Fox said she was stunned to see speciesism included in the curriculum, along with several other references to animal rights.
"In my 14 years of campaigning for animal protection, I have never seen anything as exciting or progressive as this," she enthused in a recent e-mail.
"This is one of the most important advancements in the fight against the oppression of animals."
Social Justice 12 is being offered this fall in seven high schools: New Westminister secondary, Charles Best in Coquitlam, Mount Baker in Cranbrook, Sparwood secondary, Alberni district secondary, North Island secondary in Port McNeill and Glen Lyon Norfolk, an independent school in Victoria.
Next year it will be available for all interested schools.
jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com
Social Justice 12 Draft IRP
Response Form (deadline for response Dec. 10, 2007)
