“We Don’t Say Those Words in Class!”
Earlier in the school year, one of my students refused to sit at the same table as another child. When our educational assistant asked him what was wrong with that spot, he exclaimed, “I don’t like that girl with darker skin!” The educational assistant told him that that was not a nice thing to say and that lots of our friends have dark skin. She then went on to point out those of his friends with dark skin. The boy responded that those boys were his friends but the girl was not. He then sat grudgingly at the table with the girl as he was instructed to do.
I believe that the message that the educational assistant was trying to convey was that we all look different but we can all still friends. However, even though the message that we are all equal was being presented to this child, he may not have felt this equality because his feelings were not being explored and his issue with the situation was not being understood. Being made to sit at the table with the little girl could have exacerbated his feelings and may have caused some resentment towards the girl and the educational assistant.
“It is critical for teachers to address injustice and develop equity-based pedagogies, because children form ideas about fairness and their own sense of identity within the larger world during these early years (Boutte, 2008, as quoted by Hyland, 2010, p. 82). An anti-bias educator would have taken into consideration that many things could be the cause of such a remark and it was her responsibility to uncover and counter any biases by intervening, providing follow up activities, and instilling a positive self worth in all of the children through this process (Derman-Sparks and Edwards, 2010). In that moment, an anti-bias educator would ask a lot of questions in order to assist both of the children with exploring their biases and feelings in that situation. Some questions to begin such a conversation may include:
Why did you say you don’t like her?
What makes you feel that way?
How do you think she feels when you say you don’t like her?
Has someone ever said words that hurt your feelings?
How do you feel when he said those words?
As children answer these questions, an anti-bias educator can listen for signs of biases and explore those topics deeper with the children through more questions and conversation or by moving on to a follow up activity that could include the entire class.
In this situation, it may have been uncovered that this young boy doesn’t want to play with girls in general and therefore, the initial focus by the educational assistant on skin color did not help this boy work through his gender bias. The use of persona dolls would be a next step in encouraging children to critically analyze this gender-biased situation and offer solutions for when this situation rises again.
References
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Hyland, N. (2010). Social justice in early childhood classrooms. What the research tells us. YC:Young Children, 65(1), 82–89. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?sid=975019b4-efdc4b16bcf9704fdf96ef0b%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU 9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ehh&AN=47964034