Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The one microaggression that comes to mind is when I was at a Christmas party for my job and there were a few people dancing.  This woman named Robin walked over to me and one of my co-workers and said “You people can really dance”.  She then said “you have a lot of rhythm”.  My co-worker and I looked at each other, we are both African American then looked at Robin.  I don’t know how my co-worker felt but I felt slighted.  I felt that she was insinuating that African Americans can dance and that is about all that we did well.  The fact that she said you people made her statement even worst, because it made me feel as though African Americans are not part of the human race; we are separate and needed to be looked upon differently.  Robin was acting on a stereotype that is well known about African Americans.  This told me a lot about Robin, she was closed minded and prejudice and I did not trust her after this incident.

All week long I listened for microaggressions fortunately I did not hear any, but listening for them put on the defense.  Microaggressions are direct insults to a person, which leaves you feeling excluded, inferior and angry.  Microaggresions are the hidden feelings or stereotypes that people believe about marginalized groups of people.  These feelings are a reality to people that holds them, that is why people can easily insult a race of people unconsciously.  It is important that as educators we deal with these untrue feelings or beliefs about people of different culture or race.  We need to have the same expectations of our children despite their race, nationality, religion or economical status.   It is vital that we maintain a partnership with the families that we service biases cause us to make assumptions about families that are not realistic.  It is important that we deal with each family individually and not put them in the same category in our minds.  Prejudice is thinking that people of the same race or ethnicity are the same.  What I have learned is that stereotypes are false and people should be related to individually. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Much of what we have studied was reflected in the answers I got from the three people that I interviewed.  Each person had a hard time at first defining culture and diversity, but their answers reflect what we have discussed in class.  The only added dimension was two people discussed history as being an aspect of culture.  When I think of history I think of America’s history regarding the pilgrims and Christopher Columbus and I would say that these aspects are a contributor to the culture in America.  I then began to think of my own history with my family coming from Guyana.  Guyana for a long time was a British colony.  I have a culture that incorporates ways of living from England.  I never thought of this before. I need to look more into the culture in England to find out more about my family.   One person that I interviewed described diversity as being able to go from the projects to the White house.  I found that to be very interesting comment.  I interviewed a couple from India and their definition of diversity was different kind of practices and cultures, different viewpoints and ideas.  I thought that was the best answer I got for the definition of diversity.

What was omitted was social identities.  No one I interviewed mentioned the different social groups that each of us belong to and how they shape and define each of us.

In listening to other peoples’ definition of culture and diversity it has made realize that culture and diversity is a hard thing to capture for most people.  Each person struggled to find the words to define culture and diversity.  They said that I know what it is but it is kind of difficult finding the right words to define it.  When I finished talking with everyone I did not feel as bad, because I have a difficult time expressing culture and even more difficult time identifying what is the dominant culture.  Each person that I talked with mentioned the foods that they eat and traditions that are followed; which in my opinion is a surface viewpoint of culture.  I have learned that a surface viewpoint can be detrimental in trying to relate to another person because we end up making assumptions that may not be true.

My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country.  The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees.  You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event.  You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own and that you might have to stay there permanently.  You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you.

The three items that I would take with me to another country would be a photo album, a monopoly game and a doll from my youth.  The photo album means a lot to me because it holds pictures from family functions, such as holidays, birthdays, wedding pictures and pictures of my brothers and I while we were growing up.  There are also pictures of when I visited Guyana and pictures of my parents before they migrated to America.   The monopoly game is important to my family because we spend hours playing; it is a tradition in my household.  When we have guests over to our house we always pull out the monopoly game.   The last item is a doll that was given to me when I was about five years old.  The doll was hand made in Guyana and was given to me for my fifth birthday.  I think it might be worth some money. 

If I were told that I could only keep one of these items I would be devastated.  These items hold memories and tradition and are very important to my family and me.  I don’t know which item of the three I would pick.  I possibly might be able to find the monopoly game, but the doll and the photo album can’t be replaced.  

I never thought these items were so important to me that giving any of them up would painful.  I see that every family has their traditions and artifacts that are important to them and cannot be replaced.  It is important to be sensitive to a family’s culture and traditions because this is what makes a person who they are.

Final Blog Assignment

It has been a very interesting 8 weeks.  I have grown in my knowledge about the field of Early Childhood and have a handle on some major issues in this field.  I have learned from my classmates and their blogs and discussions and have received different perspectives on subject matter.  I would like to thank everyone in the class.

The three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field professional and personal development has been a new enlightenment regarding subject matters that directly affect me and those that don’t affect me.  I have gained a perspective that early childhood education is not just in my classroom.  There are issues that other countries are dealing with that requires a solution and I might be the person to resolve that issue.  I think gaining international contacts helps each person grow in the field as well as personally.  I did not receive a response from my international contacts, but participating in the podcasts and exploring international websites has helped be become sensitive to some of the issues being felt around the world, such as gender gaps, poverty, and illiteracy.  I have also gained a clearer vision in terms of advocacy.  I set a goal when I began my course work to involve myself in advocacy.  I saw the benefits of it professionally and personally.  I now know what area I would like to advocate.  I would like to advocate regarding the war on poverty.  I did not know how devastating the statistics were regarding children of poverty.  I would like to begin my work once I have completed my Master’s coursework.

One goal for the field related to international awareness of issues would be to continue to read and research international sites.  In order to stay abreast of pressing issues and or solutions that other countries are developing.  Many other countries are dealing with some of the same problems we are here in the United States and it is very interesting to find out how they are dealing with the same problems. 

Alternative

I explored the UNESCO’s Early Childhood Care and Education webpage.  I read several articles, one article that I read was entitled Two out of three children in Africa are left out of secondary school.  This article speaks about the government struggle to meet the rising demand for secondary education, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where there is just enough schools for just 36% of children of age to enroll.  Girls face the greatest barriers as the gender gap widens across the region.  Girls’ exclusion from secondary education in many countries has enormous implications for the achievement of all the internationally agreed development goals.  Girls attendance in school is 39% compared to 48% for boys.  Girls are the first to suffer from the inequality of attendance of secondary school.  Girls are also less likely than boys to complete this level of schooling in a large majority of countries in the region reporting data.    Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in which the gender disparities against girls are getting worse at the upper secondary level with 8 million boys enrolled compared to only 6 million girls.  According to the Digest about one-third of the world’s children live in countries where lower secondary education is mandatory, but the laws are not respected. 

The second news release I read was UNESCO and Procter & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women.  Overcoming the gender gap is one of UNESCO’s major priorities.  There are still 793 million illiterate adults, with women accounting for two third of those who cannot read and write.  Girls account for 53% of the 67 million primary-age school children around the world who are not receiving the education they have a right to.  The project launched in Senegal in 2006.  Educational kits and digital resources were made available to train more than 1,200 teachers who will devote 600 hours teaching girls in Senegal.

The third news release I read Every child has the right to education!  This article focuses on the 20^th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The convention on the rights of the child is a good example of the largest number of ratifications of any convention.  What is needed now is a sharper focus on the universal and effective application of the right to education particularly in respect to articles 28, 29 and 30 of the convention.  There exists a gap between ratification and implementation that is being seen in the lives of 69 million children, mostly girls who are still deprived of their right to basic education.  There are children who do have access to school but suffer from poor quality education and who leave school.  On its 20^th anniversary of the Convention the biggest challenge is to eliminate disparities in education and to ensure that the obligations of states regarding the right to education remain in the forefront.

References:

Desrus, B. (2011)  Two out of three children in Africa are left out of secondary school

UNESCOPRESS (2011) UNESCo and Proctor & Gamble launch partnership to promote education for young girls and young women

Mustafa, R. (n.d.)  Every child has the right to education

Sharing Resources

I read a paper called Focusing on results in Promise Neighborhoods, which is a recommendation for federal initiative.  This paper outlines Harlem Children’s zones initiative to help selected local communities to dramatically improve outcomes and opportunities for children and their families.  The initiative will be diverse in its approach, reflecting local needs and context.  Promise neighborhoods strives to achieve

·         Children are healthy and prepared for school entry

·         Children and youth are healthy and succeed in school

·         Youth graduate from high school and college, and

·         Families and neighborhoods support the healthy development,  academic success and well-being of their children

To enable communities to gauge their progress two types of indicators should be present.  The first would be an indicator that allows communities to track progress year to year.  Clear federal guidance and expectations about which indicators could be measured and viewed as signs of progress.  The second type would be and indicator of capacity to achieve the results.  An example of such and indicator would assess quality of teaching, which is a critical indicator of improving students’ academic success.

Attention to closing gaps will ensure that Promise Neighborhoods expand opportunities for the children and families who otherwise face the greatest barriers to success.  Promise Neighborhoods will evaluate their neighborhood data as well as for a larger jurisdictions and regions and set targets as it relates to closing gaps in health, academic success and college entry/graduation between children and families served within Promise Neighborhoods and children and families in the city, the school district or the region.  The effort concentrates on closing gaps that exist in terms of racial, ethnic or language acquisition disparities for children and families in the Promise Neighborhoods, so that all children in the neighborhood area are provided the opportunities and support needed to succeed.

This initiative addresses inequity for all children.  It will address some of the barriers immigrant families and ELL children face regarding early education.

Reference:

Casey, A. (2010)  Focusing on Results in Promise Neighborhoods Retrieved at  www.hcz.com

Alternative

The podcast that I listened to was about TJ Skalski is Principal of The Mother Earth’s Children’s Charter School, the first Indigenous charter school in Canada. There are only 13 charter schools in Alberta .  Originally from the Blood Reserve and raised in southern Alberta, she eventually left to complete her education, including a Masters of Education degree.

Surrounded by Mother Nature, recently moved from Wabamun into the former Saint John’s School of Alberta located 35 minutes southwest of Stony Plain, AB on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River near Genessee. 

TJ Skalski talks of her life and describes the differences between her and the children she services.  She says the reason she is not like to families she services is because of a strong work ethic of her mother and her strong grandparents.  The children she services are damaged, scared, wounded, hungry, depressed and not feeling of any worth.   Through the vision and mission of the school, which is to re-invest in children and creating a community where culture and language is a priority and is revitalized.  Culture and language is absolutely essential to the survival and progress of the people.   TJ Skalski believes in building dreams and hope in the children.  She believes in inspiring children to want to do something with their life.  She shows the children there is more beyond the walls of what they see.  The work she is doing is very similar to our Head Start program here in the United States.  Her program takes into account the whole child, inclusive of a child’s culture and language and provides service to the family.  In addition this school is addressing inequities of culture and poverty for these children and families.

Reference:

World Forum Foundation Radio. Includes links to podcasts of conversations with early childhood professionals. http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/radio.php

As part of its Global Children’s Initiative, Harvard University Center is launching its first major programmatic effort outside the United States.  The center is going to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families in Brazil.

The Center working with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of São Paulo, and Insper. This collaboration represents an opportunity for the Center to work with Brazilian scholars, policymakers, and civil society leaders to adapt the Center’s programmatic model for the local context in order to bring about more effective policies and programs that will, ultimately, foster a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable society.

Together, these organizations will engage in the following activities:

•Building a scientific agenda and community of scholars around early childhood development;

•Fusing and translating scientific knowledge for application to social policy.

•Strengthening leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers;

•Adapting the Center’s existing print and multimedia resources for a Brazilian audience.

 This collaboration is a great effort toward equity and excellence for the Brazilian people. 

Reference:

Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/