i just returned from the american evaluation association national conference in baltimore.  i went because i was presenting, and because it was a good chance to see my ma who lives just a few hours south in southwestern va.  i didn’t attend many sessions because i was hanging with my ma, but the last session of the conference i did go to had to do with social justice and evaluation.

now, i’m a sucker for anything that says social justice.  i’m a big ol social justice nerd – anything that may have to do with saving the world and stepping out of my white upper middle class highly educated privilege will get me to turn my head and put everything else down and pay attention.

the most interesting thing that i drew from the presentation were boxes, and how we put people in boxes on all the many different forms we fill out.  the housing folks at cornell are trying to help people bust out of their boxes, trying to understand how people define themselves, or redefine themselves.  because it isn’t until we understand this, that we can truly serve them.  and yes, there is the whole political agenda thing that comes along with those boxes – believe me, i know there is a political agenda thing attached to those boxes, but i won’t go into that here.

so, what do others think?  is a social justice agenda like this important for the field of instructional technology, or do we just move along and pretend that the status quo of how we define people suits us just fine?  and then for me there is the question of balance – how do we know when we have gone far enough, and how do we know when we have gone too far?  how do we know what the line between social justice and overreacting has been crossed?  and how do we honour the fact that for many people that line is in such different places in the sand for so many different people.

this definitely ties back to discussions of religion in the classroom – this whole idea of understanding how people view themselves and making it all relevant and respectful.

i’m starting a collaboration with someone, and i’m headed home to eugene for the winter break.  i’m definitely going to be talking about these subjects with folks back home, and maybe at some point i can find the balance, and i can understand more the questions i seek to have answered.  until then, though, i’ll just continue to play with it all, and figure out someway to bring the idea of social justice into my work as much as possible, without – i hope – turning off those people who need to hear the messages most.