Upper Primary Civics Study: Confronting Injustice
So much of the learning in Upper Primary embraces and illustrates intersectionality; it is, in fact, the goal of an Integrated Studies Unit: to consider the connections and interactions that make a topic complex, important and relevant. Students needn’t have looked far to discover a web of complexity as they approached the “Civics: Communitites and Citizens in Action” Unit, and their work this trimester was a balance of zooming in to understand specifics, consult primary sources, and analyze language, on the one hand, and stepping back to consider the structures, history, context and culture that inform – and create – our current moment.
Upper Primary culminated the unit by documenting their understanding of structural racism, the civic activism it has inspired, and the persistence of injustice in our democracy. To make visible what some cannot or choose not to see, UP students presented their findings across five vectors: education, criminal justice, housing, employment, and community.
