When my mom was dating my dad who is Okinawan. My mom's grandma who is pure Japanese did not approve my dad because he's Okinawan. She believed that Okinawans are lower class people and did not have pure white skin like the Japanese. But my mom didn't care about my dad's ethnic background or how he looked. My mom loved him for his personality and was respectful towards her and others.
Overall I believe prejudice, racism, and bias will always be around but hopefully minimized to a very small percentage. From the story Raising Issues of Race with Young Children explains how children at age six are already experiencing racism or bias. For example, "The brown kid can't be in our group." By preventing these actions and beliefs teachers are inputting multicultural and anti-racism in the curriculum. Children are able to understand and mature enough to learn what's going around our environment. But how well are children are going to apply it? How well parents, teachers, and families are able to support multiculturalism and anti-racism?
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteOur text showed many applications of anti-bias/prejudice. I especially like the "Me Pocket" that reflected the cultural and socioeconomic diversity of each families. Teacher's need to be purposeful about teaching and modeling social justice and equitable practices. Allowing children for opportunities would help them apply anti-bias/prejudice. Opportunities include having discussions and writing letters to people that has power to change circumstances or situations for the individual involve. There may be people that would not be as enthusiastic as others about multiculturalism and anti-racism but we just need to remember what it stands for. You mentioned about minimizing to a very small percentage prejudice, racism and bias, how do you think we can accomplish this? How small should the number be? Is it something we can quantify?
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteHow might parents, teachers, and families support multiculturalism? Will it be dependent on how each group defines multiculturalism? Can there be one definition especially among different experiences?
Is the teacher positioned to develop a common understanding or is it the responsibility of society? What if societal ideas are limiting to certain people? Should teachers disrupt biased understandings?
Jeanne
Aloha Bree,
ReplyDeleteI agree that prejudice, racism and bias will be around for a very long time. I believe that we as educators of young children can make a difference in their lives regardless of the negative biases and attitudes that surround them. We can do this by making children feel important as individuals no matter what the color of their skin is or what they look like. I know we can't "fix" everything, but we can encourage multiculturalism and diversity within our classroom environments. We need to take advantage of "teachable moments" when questions about culture or skin differences arise. My question is, "how can we be sure children will understand that no matter what our differences are, we can still get along with each other?"
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteAs teachers we are only part of the solution in helping people work through prejudice, racism and bias. I believe as long as there are people, there will be differences and there will be prejudices racism and biases our only hope is that we can play a part of educating our children to accept people as they are and learn to live harmoniously together. Making each one feel comfortable in the classroom is important, making them feel a part of the group is essential, and helping children work together despite differences is a must. How do we help children do this on a daily basis?
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your family history regarding your Okinawan father. Most people don't even know that there is a difference between Japanese and Okinawan people. My mother's father was also against her dating my dad because he thought my dad was Korean. My dad is Japanese but my mom's father swore up and down that he was Korean. I guess it's a good thing we both have somewhat defiant parents or we wouldn't be here. I also found it interesting that you mentioned that your Great Grandma didn't like your dad's dark skin. I'm full Japanese but I'm really dark for some reason. I wonder what people would think of me if I went to Japan?