By Bill Bigelow
How can we teach about the enormity of injustice in the world without leaving our students in despair? In discussions with teachers over the years, that question comes up repeatedly. If we've reached any consensus, it's that no matter what curricular steps we take to address students' hopelessness, we can never do too much.
An interesting irony is that the more clearly students see the interconnected nature of global problems, the greater the danger that this awareness will overwhelm them. As one of my students lamented: "If everything is connected, then you can't change anything without changing everything. But you can't change everything, so that means that you can't change anything."
But there is a hopeful dimension to the world's growing interconnectedness: We have more opportunities to recognize the far-flung social and ecological webs that we are a part of, and simultaneously more points of leverage to make a global difference. The ubiquitous reach of globalization offers the potential for new allies, and increases the vulnerabilities of those who profit from the system.
For example, in her article last spring for Rethinking Schools ("The Student Union vs. Jostens Inc.," Vol. 15 #3) high schooler Andrea Townsend tells how students discovered that their graduation gowns were sewn by underpaid workers in Mexico, shipped great distances consuming fossil fuels, and sold at exorbitant prices to U.S. students. Because of the corporate concentration in the market for graduation goods, Townsend's discoveries were immediately relevant to teenagers whose schools also contracted with Jostens, the transnational corporation that produced their graduation gowns.
As many Portland students sensed through their confrontation with Jostens, hope can emerge in the process of trying to make change. "[N]o one who has tasted the thrill of solidarity can go back to fighting alone," Townsend notes in her article.