Chapter 3: Exploring the Benefits of Mindset and Literacy to Engage in Acts of Peace and Social Justice Education

Violence in schools is not a new phenomenon, as acts of violence towards marginalized and/or oppressed groups continue to rise. Numerous statistics indicate that bullying (both physical and verbal) generally constitutes the type of environment students are immersed in before they even reach college. “Approximately 30% of young people admit to bullying others in surveys, while 70.6% of young people say they have seen bullying in their schools” (Bradshaw, Sawyer, & Brennan, 2007). In our schools, students are more frequently exposed to violence and aggression than they are afforded the opportunity to engage in acts of social justice and peace. According to a recent study by UNICEF, “about half of the world’s teens experience teen violence in and around school” (Howard, 2018). Much research has explored the extent to which schools are rarely a place of safety and comfort, but rather become a space of violence and aggression, with events range from acts of microaggression, which oftentimes are more difficult to voice, to larger acts of physical and verbal violence related to vandalism, intimidation, and verbal/physical assault. Yet it is important to note that the majority of bullying that occurs in schools is both verbal and social. Language is powerful, as it reflects what we value and how we show up every day. And since everyone uses language in some way to communicate, the language(s) we choose to use matter, especially on campus.