Being an Educator and Social Justice Advocate
by Tenesha Green | WeINSPIRE Reporter
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Social injustices exist across all sectors of work and life. Often, when a social injustice occurs, protests and movements are sparked. Advisor, educator, and school leader Mira Stern focuses her energy on advocacy — not simply waiting for injustice and being responsive.
According to Investopedia, social justice is “a political and philosophical concept that holds that all people should have equal access to wealth, health, well-being, justice, and opportunity.”
Mira Stern. Photo Courtesy of Mira Stern
Stern, born and raised in San Francisco, California, is a school leader at Leadership High School Charter School near the community she grew up in. After graduating from the University of San Francisco, with a Master’s in Education and a focus on Urban Education and Social Justice, Stern found her way to teaching and has been in education for the past ten years.
“From a young age I felt a lot of compassion and obligation to do critical work for our world,” she said. “There’s always been a really important hotbed of political action and movements. I grew up with a lot of those values instilled from my city and also being Jewish. A huge part of Jewish history and values is to be dedicated to social transformation.”
Stern has been using her voice, for the past four years, to teach history to 10th graders. Every day she attempts to incorporate a wide variety of perspectives, opportunities, and politics into her classroom. The overall goal is for her students to leave more equipped and understanding of the things that happen in the world around them.
Stern on a senior trip to Lake Tahoe with her advisory students. Photo Courtesy of Mira Stern
“Something that I think gets left out of most people’s consciousness is the understanding of what the system of patriarchy is,” Stern said.
She walks with students as they learn about various histories of the construction of patriarchy. As a classroom community, they consider different case studies and apply learnings from texts like that of American author, professor, feminist, and social activist Gloria Jean Watkins, known as bell hooks.
Citing how transformative their encounter with bell hooks was, Stern shared: “Kids were able to make connections from their lives, their family lived experiences, and their lived experiences to their world experiences. Also, they learned the concept of what put all of this together.”
Stern doesn’t have a spirit of fear when teaching her students. She even discusses topics that her students may think of as a faraway concept that doesn’t yet apply to them, like sexism.
“It’s a system that we all fall under,” she said. “This prepares kids to better analyze the realities and also have a better understanding of how they can transform the systems around us.”
But Stern’s work for social justice extends beyond the classroom. She even involves the staff at her school. Stern co-started a Racial Divinity group to help aid her co-workers in improving their understanding of race and privilege.
“It’s the way we show up, particularly as white people, in teaching predominantly black and brown youth,” Stern said.
Stern is currently moving towards the realm of technology. She wants to have an impact in the corporate world with her joy, passion, and curiosity. She wants to make an impact that leads to helping her community, her city, and her students.
“I really want to shake the rug under people’s feet to help shift what we know as comfortable and predictable,” Stern said. “I just want to have a really strong impact on the way society does things.”
