Justification... or, why teach for social justice?

The U.S. department of education's logo is "promoting educational excellence for all Americans." Washington state's office of the superintendent of public instruction boasts four large state learning goals for "each of Washington's diverse students" related to (1) reading and writing skills, (2) content area concepts and principles, (3) thinking and reasoning skills, and (4) planning for one's future. Any school district website you check out will have similar goals related to learning for ALL students. This is the stated goal of education in the United States of America. The goal of rich and poor (all) students attending school together to gain an equal education has been around since the days of the common school (1820s-40s, see Spring p.11).
If the goal is learning for all students, then we have a problem in this country. The problem is evident if you talk to any number of students who have become disengaged with school, particularly in high schools. Many feel like school really isn't for them because they don't really see what good it does for people in their communities. Others feel like school doesn't address the realities they see around them or when they look in the mirror. Still others will tell you they already know everything that is being taught anyway, so why bother paying attention? I have to say that I understand and sympathize with these students.
The problem is also evident if you look at a few statistics about dropout rates and school funding. In 1996, only 2.6% of students from upper economic classes (top 20%) dropped out of school, while 10.8% of middle class students and 22.1% of lower economic class (bottom 20%) students dropped out (Spring, p. 57). Students of Hispanic origin have a much higher drop out rate (23.3%) than Black students (9.7%) or non-Hispanic White students (9.6%, Spring p. 57). Clearly, both ethnicity and class are influential variables regarding whether students feel school is relevant and necessary for their lives. Issues of school funding may be connected to why. Across the United States, per-student funding in districts with the highest rates of poverty and districts with the lowest rates of poverty differed by an average of $1,348 (Spring, p.47). When one considers that that is around 20% of the total average spent per-pupil that difference seems very large. Schools in the richest districts can afford to pay the best teachers better salaries, buy better learning resources, build more schools that are technology- and space-friendly, etc. Similarly, though maybe not surprisingly, a gap of $1,099 exists in per-student funding in districts with the least versus districts with the most minority students (Spring, p. 78). Again, consider the impact more funding for resources schools need in the Whiter districts.
So, there are issues in the structure of funding for students of color and students from poverty. What does that have to do with my practice as a teacher? Before considering that, I need to indicate a few more problems with education as traditionally implemented that inform my goals as a teacher teaching for social justice.
The above issues with funding, drop-outs, and disengagement are related to the topic of oppression (which I argued in an earlier post is the opposite of social justice). Well, oppression exists for lots of reasons, most of which have foundations in history. (didn't a history teacher ever tell you the reason to study history is to determine its impact on the present?, well here is a history teacher putting that theory to the test!) I will present two aspects of American history and the history of education that inform the present state of education here: 1- the education of oppressed groups, 2- the content of curriculum. This is not intended as an exhaustive list of 'whys', but rather a little toe-dip into the reality of oppression as it relates to education.
There are cultural/racial/ethnic groups in this country that were not always welcome as equal citizens. Native Americans had their land stolen, were killed off by the thousands, and later where put into boarding schools to be de-savaged. Many Black Americans descend from slaves, were considered only 3/5ths of a human being, were forcibly kept out of White public institutions under Jim Crow 'separate but equal' laws, etc. Many Mexican Americans were forced to become a part of the United States only when the majority of the Southwest was taken by force. They were forced to attend schools, use a justice system, and participate in a public sphere that only used English and saw Spanish as a threat. More examples exist of historic oppression of racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, but these suffice. It is these same groups that continue to be under-served by public education (regarding drop-out rates and per-pupil funding noted above, as well as the levels at which these groups achieve even when they stay in school). It is natural to feel disconnected with a system that has historically been against you. Additionally, the student body in the U.S. is becoming more diverse, while the teachers and administrators are still overwhelmingly White.
One of the ways in which this historic oppression of racial, ethnic, and cultural groups is most evident today is in the curriculum taught in a typical history class. Content studied in history class tends to be the accomplishments and histories of White, upper-class men. For example, despite now being a protectorate of and its people being citizens of the United States, Puerto Rico doesn't generally enter the picture into U.S. history until its conquest in the Spanish-American war. Unlike the European immigrants, whose histories we become aware of before their decisions to emigrate (religious oppression, famine in Europe, etc.), we know nothing about the historic Puerto Rican, except that s/he has now been rescued from Spain by the benevolent United States. Similarly, African slaves are not often presented as having histories before their existence as slaves (farmers or members of tribes, society, and/or families in Africa), they are just slaves needed by the European ownership class. This biased form of history is a result of curriculum that is passed down and changed only slightly, rather than completely reworked. The curriculum we have today is the evolution of curriculum that once was taught in all White schools. Imagine if you were a student in today's school and you did not see yourself or your history represented in your textbook or class discussions. Might you be a little less engaged? I argue yes, and there is important reasons why which become evident with a little explanation of learning theory.
Learning occurs in the brain. It is an expansion on one's knowledge onto what one already knew and it actually forms new and strengthens old neuronal connections in the brain. Even before relatively recent brain science, learning theories argued that learning occurs on the foundation of prior knowledge. In other words, if a student is going to learn, the content must connect with that student's existing knowledge and experience. That is why analogies work so well. When a new idea is connected with an existing understanding, the new idea is more readily understood. To that end, a teacher has to be a bridge builder. Bridges from the content the teacher wants to teach and what the students already know have to be made.
What does this have to do with the above-mentioned problems of oppression and inequality in education? Well, teachers who do not share or understand the cultures of their students and textbooks that don't acknowledge or highlight the histories of the students are going to put some students at a disadvantage for learning. On the other hand, students from mainstream (mostly White/middle-class) culture who see people like them (maybe even their ancestors) doing really cool things in the text will be more likely to connect with the learning. As a teacher, I have the responsibility to make those bridges for access to learning for ALL of my students. If I do not, I will contribute the the status quo: unequal opportunities to succeed and oppressed groups in society.

Sources:
Joel Spring: American Education (statistics and history)
See John Ogbu for more information regarding the current educational impact on historically oppressed groups.
How learning happens: see James Zull's 'The Art of Changing the Brain'