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

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

A couple weeks ago my daughter and I were attending a graduation party hosted by my friend for her daughter.  In attendance was this young man whose face was made up beautifully and also wore bracelets, earrings in both eyes and a necklace.  Additionally, he also carried a purse.  My daughter who is ten ask me, “Mom why is that man wearing makeup, jewelry and carrying a purse.”   Instantly I told her to be quiet and not to talk so loud-I told her that because I didn’t want him to hear us and think we were judging him.  Once my daughter got silence I told her we will talk about it when we get home.  I wanted to ensure that I would be able to speak to her without interference and that she would be able to speak freely and ask questions if needed.  The response that I gave may have been received by the daughter as being that this is not okay or that it is a bad thing. 

One goal of the anti-bias educator is for, “each child to express comfort and joy with human diversity; accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human connections (Derman-Sparks, 2010, p.4).”  And the manner in which they approach this is, “by encouraging children to learn about how they are different from other children and learn about how they are similar go hand in hand. These are never either/or realities because people are simultaneously the same and different from one another. This is at the heart of learning how to treat all people caringly and fairly (Derman-Sparks, 2010, p.4).”  In other words I feel that the anti-bias educator would have first ask my daughter to express how the individual is like her and how is he is different from her. This will in a sense give her some sort of image of that the individual and that he is not that much different than her.    This exercise will enable my daughter to treat everyone that they she sees with love and respect because deep down inside we are not all that different.

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