Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

There was a time when I witnessed an adult reprimand a child after he pointed out someone they saw as different.  I was standing in a check-out line at a grocery store behind a lady who had her little boy sitting in her shopping cart.  The little boy, who appeared to be three or four years old,pointed at the young man bagging the customers’ groceries and said out loud “Ugh! Nasty!  Look at that stuff on the back of his neck!”  The little boy’s mother responded by spanking his hand until he cried.  She angrily said to him “Don’t do that.  That’s rude!”  She seemed to be more embarrassed than the young man.  In fact, the young man seemed to be annoyed at the lady for spanking the little boy.  He looked at the little boy and smiled saying “It’s Okay.”

The young man had a keloid scar formation on the back of his neck just below his hair line.  It was a huge growth and anyone would have noticed it.  The message that might have been communicated to this child by the adult’s response was that this was a shameful thing that the young man had and it was bad to notice it or say anything about it.

An example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child’s or classroom’s understanding would be to explain, “The young man has a skin condition called keloid.  It is not nasty and it is not contagious.  Some people may not know that they have this condition until their skin is cut, burned or pierced.  Sometimes, there is a family history of developing keloid scars.  Keloids are not harmful to your health and can be treated or surgically removed.”  Afterwards, the teacher could ask if there are any questions or if they have seen anyone else with a growth on them that was similar to the young man’s.    

“Start Seeing Diversity Video” Blog: Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

My response to those who believe that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families would be based on the fact that fewer and fewer children are growing up in two-parent, heterosexual, nuclear families. Lesbian and gay families are one of the many diverse family types that exist (Safezone, 2011).  All children need to feel that their families are acceptable to their teachers.  That means that they must not get the impression that their family is not normal.  Also they need to see their families reflected in materials throughout the program, and they need to be able to talk about their families and hear about families like theirs.  Even if there are no children of gay or lesbian individuals in the early childhood center, it is still important to acknowledge the existence of families with gay and lesbian parents, so that children are prepared to be respectful when they do meet people who are lesbian or gay (Week 3 Course Media).

My response to a parent/family member who informed me they did not want anyone who is perceived (or self-reported) homosexual or transgender to be caring for, educating, and/or interacting with their child would be to first point out that sexual orientation does not affect someone’s job qualifications and that people should not be solely defined by their sexual orientation, but by their professional capabilities.  I would engage the parent/family member in conversation to find out what factors precipitated that family member’s prejudiced stance.  I would listen carefully with an open heart.  I would explain to the parent/family member why I think it is so vital to children’s healthy development and future life success to develop comfortable and respectful interactions with all kinds of people (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

 

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Web Article: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual frequently asked questions. (2011). Safezone. Retrieved             from http://safezone.fsu.edu/guide/lgb-faq.pdf

Week 3 Course Media: "Start Seeing Diversity: Sexual Orientation" (Approx. length: 6 minutes)

Professional Hopes and Goals

I have a deep-seated belief in the importance of justice, the dream of each child being able to achieve all he or she is capable of, and the knowledge that all human beings can make a difference.  One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that all children and families have a sense of belonging and experience affirmation of their identities and cultural ways of being and that children and adults know how to respectfully and easily live, learn, and work together in diverse and inclusive environments.

Anti-bias education has four core goals, each of which applies to children of all backgrounds and influences in every arena of our program (Derman-Sparks, 2010).  One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to implement ways to develop each of the four core anti-bias education goals in our work and to continue doing anti-bias education work until the world we live in become a place where all children have equal opportunity to become all that they can be.

 I would like to take this opportunity to show my appreciation to all of my classmates and Dr. Tuthill for the contributions each of you have made in this very important course.  The insights and personal experiences each of you shared during our discussions have been very rewarding and helped me to better understand each topic we covered.  I wish each of you much success as you continue the journey of broadening your understanding of yourself as you work with children, families and colleagues.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and 

      ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children

      (NAEYC).

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Imagining the scenario that I am working in an early childhood child care center and that I have received word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from the country of Turkey will join my group soon, there are at least five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family.

First, I would research and learn as much as I could about the culture of Turkey.  Although this will provide me with a lot of surface facts, it would be a good starting point to give me some familiarity because I know absolutely nothing about that country’s culture or people.

Secondly, I would locate someone in the community or nearby that speaks, translates, and writes in the Turkish language in order to ensure effective communications with the family.  I would ensure that my Center’s handbook, forms, newsletters and other ongoing written communications are translated into the family’s home language. I would even learn key words and phrases in the family’s home language myself to be able to at least greet the family, make requests for help, and to express terms of comfort and encouragement in the Turkish language.

Thirdly, I would create an inclusive family library of resources and referral materials; books, articles, and listings of support services and community advocacy organizations for all kinds of families and family circumstances.  Of course, I would make sure that these materials were in the Turkish language.

Fourthly, I would ensure that the Center’s physical environment is accessible to people with disabilities and is welcoming and inviting.  I would especially ensure that the visual and material environment, including the toys, materials, the posters, pictures, and art objects I hang on the walls are culturally consistent for the children and families represented at the center, including the Turkish family.

Fifthly, I would look forward to and initiate intake screening with the family where I would communicate personally with the family so that they can get to know me and I could get to know them.  I would find out as much as I could about the family’s culture and their expectations and desires for their child.  In addition, I would find opportunities to talk regularly with the family to share positive information about their child in my care and to hear about what the child is doing at home. 

The ways I hope that these preparations will benefit both me and the family include demonstrating that I value and respect them and the languages they speak and that I am eager to communicate with them to share information and make decisions about matters affecting their children.  I also hope that it would lead to a true partnership with the family so that the child receives the wonderful benefit of seeing both their family and early childhood program as equally welcoming, safe, and enriching places. In addition, making an effort to understand the family will open up opportunities for me to better serve the child and their family.

Resource:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010).  Anti-bias education for young children and             ourselves (p.22) Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young            Children (NAEYC).

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

I am proud to be a retiree because I have worked most of my life and I am proud of my achievements and experiences.  However, when economical situations caused me to get back into the job market, I found that my age has been playing a significant role in me not being hired for jobs I know that I am more than qualified for.  Despite the fact that I have a college degree and years of specialized experience, I found myself being passed over for jobs and seeing younger, less experienced and less educated people (both Black and White) get jobs I have applied for.  The only obvious reason I can see, is the fact that I am in my late 50’s.  In fact, one of my close associates had recruited me and referred me for a Training and Development Coordinator’s position.  I have many years of experience and education in this particular area.  I had a great interview; however I did not get the position.  My associate confided in me and told me that they were looking for a younger, more energetic person because the position was fast-paced.  This made me feel so angry because the interviewers assumed that I could not keep up with the pace of the job or would not be energetic because of my age.  Being an African American female who grew up in a low income community in Mississippi during the 1960’s and 1970’s, I have some very salient experiences encountering racism, classism, and ableism.  But this was the first time I have encountered being discriminated against because of my age. 

From what I have experienced and witnessed, society denies power to so many of the old for reasons having less to do with the aging of bodies and more to do with society’s construction of old age as sickness, dependence, lack of productivity, unattractiveness, and decline.  According to Robert Butler in his 1969 article in The e Gerontologist, “Ageism: Another Form of Bigotry,”  ageism is “the systematic stereotyping of and discrimination against people because they are old, just as racism and sexism accomplish this with skin color and gender,” (Harris, 2011).  Society, including media and advertisements, has to change in order to turn the incident I experienced into an opportunity for greater equity.  Ads use the work place as a setting to play on the fear that looking old is a disadvantage, especially in the application process. Employers may indeed look negatively at old-aged job applicants for various reasons, many of which are myths. It is a myth, for example, that the old can’t learn new things or won’t be as productive (Harris, 2011).

 

Reference:

Harris, S. (2011, Winter). Do not let them know you are OLD. Virginia Tech "Research"      Magazine, 26--            31. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database:             http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr       ue&db=a 9h&AN=57626783&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week’s coursework has heightened my awareness that there are times when verbal behaviors create feelings of uncertainty, inferiority or marginalization even though no offense was consciously intended. Such behaviors are called microaggressions (Course Media, WK 4).

 

My personal experience with microaggressions or with having witnessed microaggressions came to mind after I studied this week’s resource materials.  Several years ago, I went out to dinner with some colleagues after attending a training session in Denver, CO.  There were six of us and I was the only African American.   As I was looking over the menu, one of my colleagues said “You won’t find any Hog Chitterlings on the menu.”  After laughing, he added “Why do y’all eat that stuff, don’t you know it holds the hog’s bowels?”  Before I could respond, another colleague spoke up and said she loved Chitterlings and that he shouldn’t “knock them until he has tried them.”  Another of my colleagues said he liked them, also and that his mother often prepared them every New Year’s dinner.  They realized how insensitive his remarks were and tried to defuse the situation as I tried hard to not show my anger at his remarks.  This colleague had been so kind to me all week during the training sessions.  We had worked closely together on group projects during the week and I had not detected any signs that he was racist or bias.   I don’t believe he really meant any harm, but was probably just trying to be funny.  Never the less, his remarks infuriated me and I believed they were made because of my race and southern heritage. 

My insensitive colleague displayed the characteristic of racial microaggressions that is most harmful, including the two that I learned about this week, microinsults and microinvalidation.  According to this week’s course media, they are unintentional, subtle, and invisible to the perpetrator, outside the level of awareness. And as a result, the person never has the ability to self-correct, because they are unaware that they have engaged in something that is harmful, oppressive and detrimental to the person of color or to other individuals that represent what we call marginalized groups in the society.  If we are to overcome bias stereotyping, intimate contact must occur, not just transitory, superficial contact (Course Media, WK 4).  

Reference

Course Media: "Microaggressions in Everyday Life"

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Attending a birthday celebration for my deceased father (it is part of my family culture to continue to have birthday celebrations for our dear loved ones, even after they have passed away) provided me the opportunity to talk to a variety of family and friends about their perspectives on diversity and culture.  After everyone got over the amazement of me going back to school after over 30 years since I last attended, we really had some interesting conversations about culture and diversity.

I will reflect on the definitions I received from my 14 year old granddaughter, a retired school teacher and a bi-racial couple (the husband was Black and the wife was White).

My14- year old granddaughter defined culture as “Culture is like… the way we are because of how our parents raised us and taught us about different things. For instance, eating chitterlings and Black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day; always hold your head high and look people straight in their eyes when you talk to them; go to church on Sundays; say your prayers every night before going to bed; respect old people; and don’t talk back to your parents or you’ll get a spanking.  There is a lot more to culture because it’s like a we lot of rules that your family teach you about how to be and conduct yourself.”  She said that diversity is difference, doing things different from others, being different from others, just like a rainbow that is different colors, yet beautiful.

The retired African American school teacher said that race, ethnicity, religion, and economic status are some characteristics of culture but not necessarily what culture is.  Cultured is patterns of behavior that are passed from one generation to the next that people draw on, consciously or subconsciously, as they live their lives.  Culture is so broad; it’s a person’s beliefs, their values, their customs, it is a system that gives meaning, happiness, and direction to life.  She defined diversity as the inclusion of different types of people or people of different races or cultures.  To sum it up, it is a condition of having or being composed of differing elements.

The bi-racial couple seemed to be in agreement on their perspectives about culture and diversity.  They both agreed that everyone is affected by many cultures and that they find themselves rejecting some parts of one culture and accepting some parts of others and cultures change as people change.  Culture is the traditions, beliefs and values instilled in us at an early age by our parents and loved ones.  Any group of people may have its own values, customs, the way they dress, the food they eat and assumptions… culture really do not have to only be taught by your parents.  They defined diversity as difference and having different cultures respect each other's differences.  

In conclusion, all aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received.  Thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics in terms of realizing just how enormously interesting and complex the subject is.  Culture affects every action and every thought.  Cultural assumptions affects everyone, even unconsciously.