Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, & Childhood
Education
“You can’t be a Fire Man, you’re a girl!”
“You can’t be the cook, girls cook, not boys!”
“This is our play house, no black kids allowed!”
“We are building our own city and you can’t live in it
because your white!”
Although children are very smart and have a level of basic
literal understanding, sometimes they speak this way. According to
Derman-Sparks, & Olsen Edwards, 2010, “children learn about their own and
other’s social identities through overt messages which are, indirect, hidden,
and subtle, or covert messages that have a very strong impact on children
because the messages are not discussed, analyzed, or evaluated, so children can
get confused messages and understanding.” Children may be taught that they should
“learn about our differences and celebrate our similarities, but verbal
put-downs, and children who are isolated or ridiculed if they are different is
what children tend to do; Additionally, make-believe stories were defined by
race; for example, one child said to another, ‘“You can’t be the queen; there
are no black queens”’ (Pelo, 2008, p.18 par 1, 3).
Our world is continuously changing, and we’re all faced with
several diverse issues and people with unique practices and beliefs, but it
doesn’t make them less worthy of acceptance and respect.
If one of my colleagues were homosexual, or transgender I
would be supportive of them as an educator. Although there are families with
strong feelings of opposition for this idea, I would attempt to help them understand
that this person is well qualified to teach and that their personal preferences
is very personal and should not be a deciding factor that dictates their cognitive
abilities as an educator. After all, non-acceptance is a form of discrimination
just as many other bias and stereo typing practices of others.
Just as I mentioned earlier, our world is changing as many
are opting out of living in the traditional way, that we must teach children to
recognize that just because a person prefers to live their personal life within
their unique choices doesn’t mean they are less worthy of care. In fact,
schools and learning centers are educating children, having open discussions,
and are displayed through books, toys, and movies. With those facts in mind,
lets focus on teaching children and preparing them for their adult life.
References
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).
Pelo, A. (Ed.). (2008). Rethinking early childhood
education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking
Schools.
Hi Darlene
ReplyDeleteGreat blog
We must be supportive of other, we must see that we all are different and must accept each other differences. Cultural diversity is important because it affects everyone. Cultural diversity encompasses the whole range of human experiences including, but not limited to, age, gender, racial classification, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic class, ability, national origin, geographical location, political orientation, physical size, and appearance. In agreement with you that the world is changing and so does our views about certain people we must change in order to help the students
I fully agree, Arthurine, I say enough of this destructive labeling of people. We should all be accepting of all people, because if we just learn to start a conversation we could learn so much as our eyes would open wide and I'm sure our response would be "I did not know that". As I see it, we are missing out on too much. Darlene
ReplyDeleteHi Darlene,
ReplyDeleteYour blog really hit a cord for me because a girl can’t be a fireman, or there are no black queens. Before I started truly delving into diversity issue in schools I had to go through an assessment for my classroom called PQA (Program Quality Assessment). One thing they stress in the PQA is a wide range of materials that depict women police officers, male nurses, female astronauts, male teachers etc. I started years ago to find books that did not fit into the “norm” of genders. It is hard to find them. I had to hunt and read reviews and then try to locate some of these books. I did find some this year. I found a set of six books that had different gender norms than what one might typically think. I am a big believer in that is a child no matter their gender what’s to dream about being a certain occupation they should have that chance. They should have the chance to see that regardless of skin color, gender, economics, or anything else they can strive to be anything they dare to dream. As educators we need to equip them with tools that support that. Although, it may be hard to find. It is still our job. Booker and Woodhead (2008) stated, “As children participate in roleplay they acquire a sense of themselves as future adults and future citizens, as well as experiencing an enhanced sense of their identity as children” (Booker and Woodhead, 2008, P. 36). I want the future to be bright and full of creativity and I think that comes from letting children explore who they are. Great Post!
References:
Booker, L., & Woodhead, M. (2008). Developing positive identities. Early Childhood in Focus,
(3), 1-58. Retrieved March 15, 2016, from https://bernardvanleer.org/publications-reports/developing-positive-identities-diversity-and-young-children/.
Hi Darlene,
ReplyDeleteThe dialect that the children bring to the discussions lets me know that there is guided and misguided information being delivered. I think that when we choose books for our students, we should make sure those books are age appropriate and do not use stereotypes that would give children mixed messages about what is the right type of family to be a part of. Books that help children learn about people in society it's important and children should be exposed to this information so that they are not naïve to differences in family dynamics. Children learn through books and from their discussions with their teachers and peers. As educators, it is our responsibility to educator the whole child. Whole child education includes talking about topics that may feel uncomfortable and books are a way to help children to understand the world they live in.As Debi stated from Booker and Woodhead (2008)“As children participate in role play they acquire a sense of themselves as future adults and future citizens, as well as experiencing an enhanced sense of their identity as children” (Booker and Woodhead, 2008, P. 36).
Booker, L., & Woodhead, M. (2008). Developing positive identities. Early Childhood in Focus,
(3), 1-58. Retrieved March 15, 2016, from https://bernardvanleer.org/publications-reports/developing-positive-identities-diversity-and-young-children/.