Justice in a Broken World

Why act justly? Growing up in a CRC church, I remember attending weekly GEMS meetings and reciting Micah 6:8 before each lesson: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” I often overlooked act justly because I never received an accurate definition of the word justly. I associated the word with correct, well-behaved, and good. Looking back on these words, I find that my definition was self-centered; the definition was focused fully on myself instead of others. God loves justice and out of respect to God, I have learned that one must not only act justly towards others, but right injustices. People must be treated equitably and live with their God-given rights. As our society continues to become self-absorbed, this gap of injustices will continue to increase. We must continue to fight not only for ourselves but for those who are the vulnerable, poor, and marginalized in society. To know God to the fullest extent, we must defend the cause of the poor and needy. Justice must be performed in every area of our lives for others.

As I am learning more about acting justly in a world that needs it now more than ever, I am challenging myself to learn about strategies and pedagogies that I would like to use in my classroom someday. I must fully understand my students; teachers need to care and know about the divide between traditional schools and the culture of their students in urban education. I am learning that wherever I end up in education, I need to respect the community that is opening up itself and its past to me so that I might educate its students. I need to be knowledgeable about what is going on and the traditions the school community holds. This has the potential to be difficult for me, as I have stayed in the Christian Reformed circle throughout my life. In my Education classes at Calvin, I have learned that students who are treated harshly in the classroom are less likely to academically engage in classrooms. A teacher must encourage the unique background of each student as each individual has the potential to contribute to the school environment.

Daily, I leave my interim class Equity and Justice in Schools with more questions and wanting answers to problems and inequalities in education that seem impossible to solve. I am learning that there is so much to the world of urban education and society that I had been closed off to for twenty years. Why are 85% of United States teachers white? Looking at the demographics of students, why is the number of teachers of color and staff members so small in schools that are dominantly composed of African-American or Latina/o students? Will our education system ever reach a point where success is measured in an equitable manner?


I am excited to see where God will call me as I grow and learn about injustices in our world and in the Education system.

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