“Yeah, but I’m Shy!”: Classroom Participation as a Social Justice Issue

Abstract In-class participation is a common component of many university students’ course grade, yet there has been some debate over whether it is fair to grade participation, given that some students are “ naturally” introverted. In this paper, we problematize the central assumption that the arguments against grading participation rest upon: that classrooms are neutral spaces into which a range of personalities come together, each with unique needs that should be recognized and supported. As educators whose work and teaching is grounded in critical social justice frameworks, we argue that there is a fundamental dynamic that is missed when silence is presumed to be a-political. We argue that classrooms are microcosms of the wider society and as such, are political spaces in which dynamics of unequal social power also play out; there is no neutral classroom or natural mode of engagement. In this paper, we lay out the foundation of a social justice approach to teaching and problematize the notion of neutral classroom spaces. We speak back to some of the most common arguments against grading classroom participation and in doing so argue that participation in classroom settings is a central element to dismantling social injustice in our wider communities.