This blog post is for HEA624: Supervised Practice I
Being a professional within Higher Education and Student Affairs, we are interacting with different societal systems and communities that have been affected by these systems. These systems include systemic disadvantage/advantage, classism, foster care, economic factors, and many other context with which shapes the world we live in today. From these systems come various communities and people with different challenges and privileges, including ourselves, each carrying their own experiences and perceptions. It’s imperative that we as student affairs educators are equipped with the capability to comprehend and empathize these concepts as a way of situating ourselves within the Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion (SJI) competency. It is my firm belief that it’s not enough to simply acknowledge the importance of SJI, one must consciously be able to identify specific actions, instances, and interactions of SJI that inform their praxis and be able to reflect on whether or not they practice through the lens of SJI. Understanding a student’s perspective and creating space for these identities are simple acts that can be practiced in all aspects of higher education work as a student affairs professional. To best serve students who are different from yourself, you must be willing to listen with an open heart and take the opportunity to reflect on how their perspective affects their experience at your institution. There is of course the challenge that higher education is constantly shifting, specifically in how the system and government view SJI and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) and how these concepts play a role institutionally. I think that this ever changing landscape is a strong reason for us as educators to further develop our praxis around SJI and DEIB.
In the student affairs world, professionals in this field are often pushing for more SJI support and resources, in the present day, these initiatives are met with a lot of push back. Whether there is tensions around budgeting, politics, funding, etc., one thing remains consistent: SJI practices are not just wanted, they are necessary for student success. A component of effectively practicing SJI is to reflect on your understanding of “critical consciousness” and how your perspective on this term affects your praxis. Critical consciousness can be defined as a persons understanding of how political and socioeconomic affect people of different identities and where they stand in that society, additionally a person’s ability to take action against these oppressive systems informs their understanding of critical consciousness as well. To ensure that we are practicing SJI with a careful lens, one must ensure that they are continuously working on refining their understanding of critical consciousness. For example, wanting to advocate for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) students definitely aligns with the SJI competency, but how does your identity affect how you go about this initiative? If you are of the APIDA community, you may be able to easier connect with those students you are striving to serve, but if you are a white man looking to advocate for this population, it is going to take some more effort through seeking out the students and getting their feedback to determine how to best serve that community. This difference is an essential aspect of realizing critical consciousness because not only do you have to be aware of how a community is affected by societal situations, but you also have to be aware of how your identity plays a role in these circumstances.
Refining our praxis while in a graduate school program is something that is challenging, but you are also placed in the best environment to focus on your development. Post-masters praxis refinement can prove to be more of a challenge as you are in a full time job, working every day and eventually you can end up just going through the motions at the end of the day. If you think that you’ve learned all there is to learn about SJI and other areas of higher education and student affairs, you are likely mistaken. New studies are being conducted, new theories are being formed, and so much more is happening within the higher education and student affairs world on top of the ever-shifting demographics of students coming into higher education as each generation carries a unique set of experiences, challenges, and needs. Additionally, there are areas of the higher education and student affairs profession that new professionals may feel unprepared for once they become full-time professionals. While these hurdles can seem daunting, it is just as important to begin the challenge as it is to finish it. Whether you challenge yourself to continue thinking through historical and current societal context to continue developing your understanding of critical consciousness or catching up on weekly higher education news, it is important to continue to connect new information to the foundational knowledge learned throughout your time in your graduate program.
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