Charm City: Down to the Wire? The Benefits and Challenges of Teaching About Social Justice in a Privileged School Setting

Teaching about social justice issues in any school can be challenging. The obstacles, however, can be different depending on the school setting. This paper analyzes how one private school teacher, Sarah Taylor, sought to engage her students in an investigation about social justice in their city in a class she developed called, Charm City: Down to “The Wire?” This study considers the benefits and challenges of teaching about social justice to students in an “elite” school by using Swalwell’s (2013a, 2013b) modes of thinking to analyze student reactions.