Social Justice Issues and Global

Education: Income Inequalities

Presented by:
Minke, Sarah, Cory and Alice
World Economy Game Instructions
You and your group are a nation operating in the world.
There are several basics needs your citizens have and you need to do your best to meet them.
Some of the resources that your people may need include: beef, wheat, houses, clothing, luxury
items, cars, and electronics.
Many of these items require raw materials to construct. Materials can be traded in at the bank.
Your goal is to provide for your peoples needs and try to become the dominant nation in
international trading. You are going to trade with the other nations to try to put yourself in the best
place possible.
You need to assign different jobs to the people within your group to achieve your goals.
Prime Minister: You are the leader of the group. Ultimately all responsibility falls on you. You have
the final say in managing your nations trading.
Trade Minister(s): One or more people may be trade ministers. Your job is to make deals with other
nations and try to get your required resources while giving up the smallest amount in return.
Interior Minister(s): One or more people may perform this job. Your job is to manage your nations
resources. You need to make sure that you have enough to provide for your own people and also
suggest trades for your trade ministers to make.
Each team, including yours, will be given a top secret information sheet. This will tell you about the
current relationship you hold with other nations.
You may trade resources or finished goods. Whichever you prefer is fine. You may be able to ask for
a greater return when trading finished goods.
Success will be determined by your teamwork, organization and your wits.
The Worlds Situation
You all represent seven nations of the world that will be trading with one another. Each nation has different
resources, advantages and disadvantages. Here is a brief overview of what the world looks like. You will
gain more information from your interactions with other nations. Use your wits and your smarts to reach
your end goals.

1. Rumba has been the dominant world power for a long time. They have many resources that are important
to meet peoples basic needs.

2. Mistan is a nation that has been slowly rising to power. Mistan gets along well with everybody except
Rumba and is seeking to become the new world power.

3. Capmar is a historically poor nation that has been run by a dictator for a long time. Recently oil was found
there and the dictator has been using this find to solidify his power. Many nations would like to avoid
trading with Capmar because of their political system.

4. Hindi is another nation that is seeking to become powerful. They have been historically poor but have been
working to join the world powers.

5. Franka and Cora are both nations that have been powerful economically for a long time. They both would
like to maintain their standards of living and want to avoid being overtaken by the new up and comers.

6. Mopan is an extremely poor country that has been subject to many wars. Many feel sorry for this nation
because a democracy is beginning to form but could fall apart if their peoples needs are not met.

Andrew Dobson
Professor of Politics at Keele University
Author of Green Political Thought (2006)
Author of Citizenship and the Environment (2003)
Investigator on a 2011-2013 project called Reducing
Energy Consumption through Community Knowledge
Networks
Leverhulme Research Fellow, author of a book on Listening
for Democracy (2014)
Member of England and Wales Green Party
Co-wrote Green Party Manifesto (2010)
Founder of Thinktank Green House
http://www.keele.ac.uk/spire/staff/dobson/
Cosmopolitanism
Derived from the Greek word kosmopolites which means citizen of the
world.

Describes moral and socio-political philosophy

Core ideal: all human beings, regardless of their political affiliation, are
(or can and should be) citizens in a single community. (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Definition varies some believe this community would focus on political
institutions, morals, relationships, shared markets or cultural expression.

Dobsons involves politics and social relationships. (Justice, social
responsibility, obligations, etc.)
British Columbia
BC has the highest poverty rate in Canada and no plan
to tackle it directly.
BC is one of the last provinces left without a poverty
reduction plan.
2013 BC Child Poverty Report Card
The latest figures from Statistics Canada (2011) once again show that BC is the worst province in
Canada when it comes to major measures of child poverty:

BC had a child poverty rate of 18.6 percent the worst rate of any province in Canada, using the
before-tax low income cut-offs of Statistics Canada as the measure of poverty.

BC had the worst poverty rate of any province for children living in single mother families 49.8
percent.

BC also had the worst poverty rate of any province for children living in two-parent families 14
percent.

BCs poverty rate for children under 6 years at 20.7 percent is 8 percentage points higher than the
Canadian average.

British Columbia also had the most unequal distribution of income among rich and poor families
with children. The ratio of the average incomes of the richest ten percent compared to the poorest
ten percent was 12. 6 the worst of any province.

Source: www.worstincanada.org
More than one in five owners living in British Columbia
(and Ontario) had housing affordability issues.
Housing in British Columbia
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-229-x/2009001/envir/hax-eng.htm
What is acceptable housing?
Affordable
Requires no major repairs
Is not overcrowded
The Effects:
The amount that families
pay for housing reflects not
only the size and quality of
their home, but also, the
type of neighbourhood and
access to schools, jobs and
community resources.
Mental & physical problems
(may) develop
How does it affect their education?
Many children raised in poverty enter school a step behind their well-off peers.
The cognitive stimulation parents provide in the early childhood years is crucial,
and most poor children receive less of it than their well-off peers do.
Deficits have been linked to underdeveloped cognitive, social, and emotional
competence in later childhood and have been shown to be increasingly important
influences on vocabulary growth, IQ, and social skills (Bradley, Corwyn, Burchinal
et al., 2001; Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo et al., 2001).
Standardized intelligence tests show a correlation between poverty and lower
cognitive achievement, and low-SES kids often earn below-average scores in
reading, math, and science and demonstrate poor writing skills.
Poor academic performance often leads to diminished expectations, which spread
across the board and undermine children's overall self-esteem.
The dramatic socioeconomic divide in education doesn't help matters. High-
poverty, high-minority schools receive significantly less state and local money than
do more prosperous schools, and students in such schools are more likely to be
taught by teachers who are inexperienced or teaching outside their specialties
(Jerald, 2001).

Source: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/How-Poverty-
Affects-Behavior-and Academic-Performance.aspx

Poverty, Stress, and Education
A child who comes from a stressful home
environment tends to channel that stress into
disruptive behavior at school and be less able
to develop a healthy social and academic life
(Bradley & Corwyn, 2002).

The Negative Effects of Stress
Is linked to over 50 percent of all absences
Impairs attention and concentration
Reduces cognition, creativity, and memory
Diminishes social skills and social judgment
Reduces motivation, determination, and effort
Increases the likelihood of depression
Reduces neurogenesis (growth of new brain
cells)
What can we do as educators?
#1. Recognize the signs!
Behavior that comes off as apathetic or rude may actually
indicate feelings of hopelessness or despair.
Students who are at risk for a stress-related disorder tend
to believe that they have minimal control over stressors.
Have few outlets through which they can release the
frustration caused by the stressors.
Whenever you witness a behavior that you consider
inappropriate, ask yourselves whether the discipline
process is positive and therefore increases the chances for
better future behavior, or whether it's punitive and
therefore reduces the chances for better future behavior.

What can we do as educators?
#2. Alter the environment!
Change up the school environment to mitigate stress and resolve
potential compliance issues with students who do not want to
change.
Reduce homework stress by incorporating time for homework in
class or right after class.
Use cooperative structures and avoid a top-down authoritarian
approach.
Help students blow off steam by incorporating celebrations, role-
plays, and physical activities (e.g., walks, relays, or games) into your
classes.
Incorporate kinesthetic arts (e.g., drama or charades), creative
projects (e.g., drawing or playing instruments), and hands-on
activities (e.g., building or fixing) into your classes.


What can we do as educators?
#3. Empower students!
Help students increase their perception of control over their environment by
showing them how to better manage their own stress levels. So instead of telling
students to act differently, take the time to teach them how to act differently by
Introducing conflict resolution skills.
Set classroom expectations and responsibilities with the students; allow the
students to take part in the development of those expectations.
Teaching students to set goals to focus on what they want.
Role-modeling how to solve real-world problems. Share an actual or hypothetical
situation, such as your car running out of gas. You could explain that you tried to
stretch the tank of gas too far and reveal how you dealt with the problem (e.g.,
calling a friend to bring some gas).
Giving students a weekly life problem to solve collectively.
Teaching social skills. For example, before each social interaction (e.g., pair-share
or buddy teaching), ask students to make eye contact, shake hands, and give a
greeting. At the end of each interaction, have students thank their partners.
Introducing stress reduction techniques, both physical (e.g., dance or yoga) and
mental (e.g., guided periods of relaxation or meditation).

Conclusion
How do the ideas we have discussed apply to
local education? Do teachers need to display a
cosmopolitan relationship to students, other
teachers and members of the community?

What other educational or social examples
have we looked at in class that may include
aspects of this relationship? (Eg. Finnish
Education, Chinese Education, etc)