On Making Formal (Vegan) Education a Priority

I’ve been doing some more thinking about what should be included in an initiative/organization/movement, and I think getting kids thinking critically–in the classroom (fabulously new idea, eh?)–should be a priority. In the past, when a group I was working with wanted to reach kids, there was always this collective sigh of: If we could only work our way into the public school curriculum, we could make enormous progress. But alas, it’s virtually impossible.

The one group that did have success created a financial literacy curriculum that is excellent, and being replicated all over the country, and now kids are learning yet another thing their parents aren’t teaching them: that money is just about the only person, place or thing they’ll have a relationship with for the rest of their lives (the Earth is the other one), so they’d better get to know it and how it works, and make it their friend.

Last year, schools in British Columbia unveiled an elective for 12th graders called Social Justice 12 (you might also want to read this), which includes learning about such concepts as racism, sexism, heterosexism and speciesism. Why didn’t I think of that? I’ve been writing curricula for years!

New idea: Make it part of our mission–a component of vegan education if you will–to get kids to start thinking critically about the -isms.

Naturally, Social Justice 12 is not without controversy or detractors, particularly because apparently it doesn’t provide all the answers; it doesn’t tell the children what to believe. Therefore, there is fear that teachers will skew toward their own beliefs.

As you know, I don’t like to tell anyone what to believe. My hope is that if you provide someone with the proper tools and questions, and you walk with them through concepts such as sentience and justice, they will come to the conclusion that we shouldn’t be using sentient beings for our own gain. There’s likely to be many bumps along the way, such as wondering what role god plays, what to do about plants, and of course questions of culture and tradition. But that’s all perfectly natural when challenging the mainstream paradigm.

The curriculum, which I reviewed, states its rationale as:

The aim of Social Justice 12 is to raise students’ awareness of social injustice, to encourage them to analyse situations from a social justice perspective, and to provide them with the
knowledge, skills, and an ethical framework to advocate for a socially just world. 

A progressive, democratic country values inherent differences in its society and the creation of a caring and fair community. This course encourages students to believe that the pursuit of
social justice is an important responsibility for all, and to develop a commitment and ability to work toward a more just society. Social Justice 12 includes an emphasis on action, providing
opportunities for students to examine models of social change, and to engage in their own
initiatives to effect social change.

A successful Social Justice 12 course will provide opportunities that encourage students to examine their own beliefs and values and the origins of those beliefs, and to support or challenge their beliefs and values through reflection, discussion, and critical analysis. This course builds on students’ innate desires to right the wrongs they see in the world, motivating them think and act ethically, and empowering them to see that they have agency and a role in effecting positive change in the world (9).

Parental involvement is built in to the curriculum (which should make for some interesting discussion at the dinner table), and there is special attention paid to "Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate" (14) where respect is required and controversy is not shied away from.

I like that the assessment piece isn’t loaded with quantitative tools and is instead almost completely qualitative in nature (29). There are plenty of opportunities for the various learning styles and strengths of students to shine, which means teachers are required to enlist every aspect of their (hopefully) progressive teacher education experience to be able to be the best collaborators and facilitators they can be for their students.

The outcomes and indicators (35-46) don’t mention speciesism as much as the -isms perpetrated against humans (which probably makes sense because it’s in a class by itself and hence just one small part of the curriculum). Nevertheless, it appears that this curriculum is a step in the right direction. And the best news is that somebody (Murray Corren and his husband, Peter) already did all the hard work, and you’ve got yourselves a template!

After the first few deliveries of the curriculum, it might be revised, which should be interesting. But regardless of the success of Social Justice 12, I think something similar is sorely needed in the US, and getting it implemented should be one of our objectives.