Leaning In Summary

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‘Leaning In’ Paper The article “Leaning In: A Student’s Guide to Engaging Constructively with Social Justice Content” by Robin DiAngelo and Özlem Sensoy begins by addressing that many students feel angry and resistant toward ideas of social justice, socialization, privilege, and oppression when these topics are first brought up in class. The authors go on to explain that most of these feelings are the result of “mainstream culture” that teaches that inequality isn’t a prevalent part of society. To exemplify, DiAngelo and Sensoy followed their claim with a short story of an astronomy student. The authors explain that this astronomy student is a good representation of many students they encounter dealing with the topic of social justice. This is because the astronomy student, much like non-hypothetical students, has “limited knowledge”, …show more content…

The first guideline is “Strive for Intellectual Humility”. This means that students should focus on understanding concepts rather than agreeing or disagreeing with them. The next guideline is to realize that “Opinions are not the same as Informed Knowledge”. So while there is a right to an opinion that doesn’t necessarily mean that that opinion is one based on facts. The third guideline is to “Let go of Anecdotal Evidence and Examine Patterns”. Anecdotal evidence comes from only one perspective and isn’t a true supportive piece of evidence to agree or disagree with a concept. Looking at patterns in society provides a better understanding of these concepts. Fourthly, “Using Reactions as Entry Point to Deeper Self-Knowledge” is the next guideline. This requires students to evaluate their personal feelings toward concepts and ask why they feel that way or what those reactions reveal. The last and fifth guideline is to “Recognize how Your Social Position Informs your Instructor and Those you

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