There is an old maxim that goes like this: ‘one cannot not communicate.’ In other words, whether we like it or not, we are always, whether verbally or non-verbally, communicating something. Even ignoring another person is a response and a facial expression is sometimes far more expressive than a few words. In a very real sense, the same is true in terms of schools and social change. Schools influence communities and they “cannot not” influence the communities in which they sit. In other words, schools will indeed leave a mark, so the question isn’t whether or not a school will impact a community through social change, but we must identify whether the influence is one that promotes social justice or injustice?

Do schools promote a certain type of social change or are schools simply reactionary institutions following current trends? In this paper, we will make a case that not only do schools impact social systems, thereby becoming agents of social change, but schools can actually lead the way in ushering in positive social changes by being more intentional in both instruction and influence. We turn first to a foundational question that sets up our understanding of intentionality. What is the difference between education that positively impacts a culture and education that intentionally advocates for social change?

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A few weeks ago I came across a website that allows college students to cheat on due dates, but without a “lame excuse.”  The website is Corrupted-Files.com.  This is a very witty way of using the complexities of technology to cheat.  Very interesting to say the least.  Here’s how it works…

• The student does not have a paper done by the assigned due date.
• The student can then go to Corrupted-Files.com and download  a corrupted file (Powerpoint, Excel, or Word) – the file doesn’t corrupt anything on your computer, it’s simply not able to be opened by the person receiving the file (which in this case is a professor).
• The student purchases the file, names it the title appropriate for the project that’s due, and emails the purchased file to the professor
• It will likely take the professor a day or two to get back to the student describing his/her inability to open the file.
• It may also take the student a day to get that professors email (which is likely intentional on the students part) – thus giving the student a minimum of 2-3 more days after the original due date to get the actual document completed.
• The professor just assumes that something happened to that particular file, not assuming anything is fishy with the interaction with the student.
• Meanwhile, the student is taking the extra time to get the assignment done.
• Once it’s complete the student emails the actual file to the professor without him/her knowing anything that’s gone on.
• The student is not likely to be marked down for being late because it was an “unkown error” that occured.

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