Thank you!

When starting this course I was excited to see many familiar names and others who I had never met before.  Over the last 8 weeks we have all explored many topics in diversity and equity.  Many of these topics led to many deep discoveries of hidden biases, personal beliefs, childhoods, and hopes for the future. 

My hope, when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, is that as educators we remain open-minded, maintain open communication, and show flexibility with children and families. 

If I had to choose one goal for the early childhood field, related to diversity, equity, and social justice, it would be:

Continue to seek opportunities to educate teachers, families, and children about the many aspects of diversity, equity, social justice, and culture.  Allow many opportunities for teachers, families, and children to share their own personal experiences openly in order to allow for open communications about diversity, equity, and social justice. 

I want to thank all of my fellow classmates for sharing so many personal experiences, knowledge, and insights about diversity and equity.  Working together has allowed me to discover many of my personal beliefs, values, and culture.  I have greatly benefited through our discussions and blog posts.  As you continue this journey through your master’s program, I hope that you continue to discover yourself and learn all the necessary skills to foster positive development and learning in the children that you teach.  Thanks so much for being such caring early childhood educators!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The new “family” that I am going to be working with as a developmental therapist is from the country of Estonia.  I know nothing about Estonia.  In preparation for this family I have decided to do 5 things that will prepare me to be culturally responsive toward this family.

1.  Locate geographical information on the country, including population and way of living (homes, food, etc).
2. Discover information regarding dominant culture (race, age, family structure, economic class, religious beliefs and language usage).
3. Locate information regarding current educational practices.
4. Gain information regarding medical practices and what resources are available to families in Estonia such as therapies.
5. Research local resources for the families that may be helpful when immigrating into The United States such as local cultural groups, translators, education, medical care, etc).

I believe knowing this information will benefit me and the family by knowing more about the background of the culture to help ease the child into therapy by being able to relate more.  I also think this will allow the family to see that I am a dedicated therapist who strives for what is best for their child. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

It seems that biased beliefs, prejudice, and oppression can be seen on a daily basis, in the news, on television, in conversations, in music, and on the internet.  I have personally been right in the middle of a very heated debate on the internet.  During this debate, I definitely felt oppressed due to my gender. 

A family member of mine posted a link about San Francisco possibly passing a law against circumcision.  He was a strong supporter of this.  Even though I have an opinion in the subject, I did not comment, until I noticed many strong supporters ganging up on a non-supporter.  I simply made the comment that as parents we are allowed to make many decisions for our children when they are infants.  We often choose whether we have our children baptized, whether to formula feed or breast feed, and whether or not to immunize them.  These are decisions that have been delegated to parents according to the parents beliefs according to what they belief is the best for their children, usually in regards to their health.  I have had to make many medical choices for my daughter in regards to what I believe is in her best interest.  Some people agreed with some of the specifics I said, but still didn’t agree with the right to choose circumcision stating that it was mutilation.  Then my family member stated that I had no right to enter into this conversation because I “do not have a penis”. 

This comment left me with the feeling that he felt I was not equal to him, and that he was superior to me due to gender.  I did not respond to his comment because I was not going to participate in a discussion that was obviously sexist.  I wanted to respond that I have just as much say in MY OWN OPINION.  He made me feel as if my own person opinion did not matter!  Not only is that my opinion, but I am a parent, and although I have two daughters, I have the ability of having a son.  My opinion is that my husband and I should be able to decide what we feel is the best decision for our son when it comes to this topic. 

If the discussion was about circumcision deemed as mutilation, the topic of gender rights should have never come up. I believe this family member was frustrated, and knew that oppressing me would be the best way to make me feel inferior to the discussion.  I feel that this family member obviously knew this sexist comment was not appropriate, but did it anyway.  It’s similar to saying that men have no say whether their child should be breast fed or not.  In my household this was a collective discussion between my husband and I when we found out we were expecting.  Sexism still occurs, whether it is deliberate or oppressed feeling or beliefs from the past.  Recognizing them is the first key to overcoming them!