Moving Forward in My Anti-Bias Journey

Social inequities and biases undermine healthy development in all children in one way or the other. Some children are affected deeply by the social messages that attack their racial or cultural identity. Some children may develop feelings of superiority by the biases that support their identity. Children of wealthy families may imbibe messages that material accumulation defines their worth and children of poor families may feel less valued and unworthy. Children of different abilities may be looked down upon by their able peers and feel subordinated by them. Equity and social justice alone can provide freedom for everyone.

Working in the early childhood field, in a multicultural environment, my hope is that all children and families have equal opportunities, have the right to be fully human, without being held back.

My goal is to integrate anti-bias approach into every aspect of the early childhood program, focusing on the similarities and differences that are relevant to the lives of the families and children in my program.  

Keeping on in our anti-bias journey, providing children strong, culturally appropriate program content, equity of access and quality and keeping faith in the possibility of positive change in ourselves, in others and in the programs, can alone make positive change in our world of differences, where all children everywhere will be able to grow up as competent and confident learners and communicators, healthy in mind, body and spirit, secure in their sense of belonging and in the knowledge that they are a valued. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues who has helped me in this developmental journey, without whom this anti-bias learning would have been difficult. Thank you once again for your support. I wish you all the best as you continue to endeavor in your anti-bias journey. My hope is that we would be able to live out our lives as the following acronym depicts to make this world a better place to live in.

Anti-Bias Education

Anti bias education 

Start Seeing Diversity

Children are meaning makers, perpetually learning from their environment. From early on they absorb whatever societal norms, stereotypes and biases they see around concerning various aspects of their own and others identities.

For example, I had one Down’s syndrome child in my class of 18 other typically developing children. Our nursery being a regular preschool catering to typically developing children, I wanted to include children with special needs in my classroom so as to help the coming generations to make meaningful connections with children who are different from them. This probably stems from my experience with my special needs son. Seeing how the world around him behaves- staring, mocking and being sarcastic, I did not want another child with such challenges experiencing the same reactions. I therefore expressed my desire to opening our doors of our nursery for such children with challenges.

 What was upsetting was excepting for two or three of the other children, none of the others wanted to play or even sit next to this child. As soon as this child would come and sit with a group of children playing together, they would just get up and move away. What was even worse was when the parents of other children came to me demanding that I move this child away from my class. Their concern was their children would pick up atypical expressions and behavior from this Down’s syndrome child. The parents had instructed their children to keep aside from this child. It was apparent that the messages communicated by the adults were responsible for developing a bias in children towards this child.

As an educator desiring to teach diversity and social justice, I had to stand up for this child before these parents, making my decision clear that in no way was I willing to consider moving this child away from my class. I also explained to the parents how this child needs this opportunity to lead a normal life as far as possible. Though hesitant they became willing to give it a try for some time. In the classroom, I tried to explain to the other children how their attitude would hurt this child and make her feel isolated and left out. I tried to reason with them why this child too needs a friend. I modeled my thoughts by taking initiative to play with the child and include her in different activities and giving her various responsibilities in the classroom. This enabled others to see her as an individual and value here identity. This also enabled the child with Down’s syndrome to build positive self-esteem and self-concept. Soon children and their families accepted this child and she became part of our classroom community. This experience was a lesson to me about the power of teachers as a role model. Ensuring that this child felt comfortable and involved created a crucial foundation for mutually respectful relationships.

“If the seeds for such negotiation, such as being open to the world, skills of empathy, and critical thinking, can be planted early in life, it would change the society, enable each person to see other’s perspectives. This would have a ripple effect and change globally impacting most isms: sexism, ageism, different abilities and so on”, Nancy Spangler (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).


Reference 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Start Seeing Diversity: Conclusion. [Multimedia]. Diversity, development, and learning. Baltimore, MD: Author.