Micro-aggression Awareness

When you are enjoying a group of like-minded people one has the expectation that you would fit in, sharing some of the same ideas and beliefs.  When one is a new member of a particular group, one hopes similar ideas and beliefs can be exchanged as no one wants to feel like the outsider.  I am still surprised by these type of experiences; being a fairly new member of a group, believing I am truly a part of the group, but on the other hand finding out that to some degree I would simply prefer to be the outsider. 

Over the last few days I have been spending time with my husband’s family.  I have been a member of their familial group for about three years now.  While visiting some with some friends my husband grew up with, there was reminiscing of past adventures and experiences that they had growing up.  I listened gaining some insight into my husband as a young teenager.  They all talked, and laughed, remembering days of the past.  At one point a member of the group said, “Don’t you remember, he was a flamer” gesturing with his arm in a downward position. 

I was taken aback and felt as if I was morphing slowly out of the group, watching each person’s expression, surprised at the laughter and the nodding in agreement from all the old friends.  They seemed not to notice my presence, continuing to talk about this one individual.  No one wondered my position on gender differences, or if I had family members or friends that are gay or lesbian.  There was no thought that I might be offended by the conversation.  In addition, no one at the table was concerned or troubled by the prejudices that surfaced during the conversation.  Everyone was comfortable with the flow of the exchanges, except for me.  The circle was however closed off from me; I was an outsider sitting alone with my thoughts.    

The whole exchange left me feeling confused, sad and disappointed in myself.  The reality is I am not part of the group; I am merely someone who married into the group and it was assumed that because I had married in, I shared the same beliefs as everyone else.  I did not know how I was going to become a member, as the gap between our differences was far too wide, more importantly I questioned whether I truly wanted to be part of the group.  Would they accept me for my differences or would they brush off my feelings and ideas?   Sadly, somewhere in my thought process I defended them saying they are nice people and that they really didn’t’ mean anything by what they were saying.  I was also afraid to say anything about how I really felt because my true feelings would further separate me from belonging. 

The experience was rather affirming in the fact that we all on some level perpetuate prejudices and stereotypes through our silence.  The silence rather loudly states it is okay to share damaging beliefs whey they are shared in a private circle, however the silence does nothing to change the stereotypes.  

Culture and Diversity - Definition

The question is simple enough, defining culture and diversity.  I had not realized it would be as challenging as it was and I had to push to get responses.  The individuals I spoke with wondered what I was really looking for and I had to remind all three of them not to give me the answer they thought I was hoping to hear.  I also wanted to see what responses I would illicit from individuals from different generations.  I first asked my husband, 50 years old, who by definition would describe himself as conservative and raised Irish Catholic for.  He hesitated with his response but defined culture as the means by which he gets through the day to day, the routine of the day.  He went on to define diversity as different cultures, people of different nationalities, races, Greeks, Latinos living amongst each other.  My 17-year-old son was next in line; he would define himself as a liberal socialist who intends to be vote in the 2012 election.  Based on how he describes himself as well as the very different social circles he interacts with, I thought he would have been more at ease at giving a response.  Culture for him means, different customs people have, how people act as well as their art and music.  Diversity he felt was simply being different and being around different cultures.  Lastly, I asked one of the teachers in my program who is a 31-year-old African American.  She felt culture is what you feel, who you are and what your people do.  She added culture is also traditions and where you come from.  Diversity is the mixing of people with different beliefs, mixed races living among each other. 

What was most interesting about their responses is the similarities regarding culture.  All the individuals questioned responded that culture is how one acts in their everyday life.  Experiences such as routines, and schedules are part of one’s culture.  What I did not hear was any expression of values and beliefs that are commonly shared among people of the same culture.  I thought each of the participants would have mentioned language in their description as we are surrounded by different mechanism such as phone prompts that ask us to choose in either English or in Spanish.  There was no single attribute; gender, age, social/economic class, other than race mentioned in any of the definitions.  I was surprised that none of the answers included any religious based descriptions, as faith gives meaning to many of the beliefs and values held by a cultural group.  As far as diversity, the answers were once again similar, different people mixing and living among each other.  I think had I probed a little bit, I would have perhaps heard descriptions of groups of people not mixing well together or particular stereotypes that exist among people of difference.  I do feel the fact that living in the D.C. area that we experience culture and diversity every day. Our communities are very mixed, but I do not think the mixing of cultures and living among each other is necessarily by choice but is rather out of economic necessity.  Many people of culture are still closed off to strangers and they tend to interact with people of the same cultural and linguistic background. 

We all know so little about each other and we also lack the desire to get to know one another beyond peripheral definitions.  I think we are so caught up in the fact that our own individual lives and culture are the right way to do things that we ignore the fact that others have ways of doing things that work for them.  To celebrate difference, we have to engage in conversation that involves asking questions and sharing opinions without fear of ridicule.  

My Family Culture

How does one choose just three items representative of family culture?  Even more jarring is being faced with the possibility of starting anew in a new country and you are the minority culture.  My thoughts are jumbled as I am cataloging items of importance that would speak of my family culture.  How much of my family culture do I share all at once; do I focus on the external culture based on my olive-skinned appearance or the holidays we celebrate as a culture? Perhaps those characteristics are too superficial.    

I would most definitely bring a picture of my family, one that included my own children, parents and older brother, but one that included my aunts, uncles and cousins as they made up my entire cultural life.  My history is tied to all of them and growing up they were my social, and emotional circle.  My family, parents included gave definition to who I am, they were the driving force behind many of my choices and decisions.  The importance of my children being in the picture is the testament to the importance of my family culture and I have since passed on that culture to them so that it can be carried forward. 

Me and my children

Me with my mom, children and aunt

Along with the picture, I would bring a recipe of my favorite Greek meal.  My mom passed on recipes to me that I still prepare for my family.  The sharing of food, the different ingredients, the different tastes and textures are one way to get to know someone who is different.  Food connects us to our place of origin and is a non-invasive way to welcome strangers into our midst allowing they an opportunity to get to know us. 

My husband, my mom, my children and a family friend

I would then bring a gold cross that was given to me when I was just a baby and baptized into the Greek Orthodox faith.  The cross represents my religious beliefs.  The cross is also a mechanism that grounds me and provides me hope and understanding for the many challenges my family endured and that I have faced in my life.  My cross is the symbol of what keeps me moving forward.

   

Initially I was torn and saddened that I would be able to only keep one item.  How could I possible give up the picture of my heritage, my family?  I could describe them one by one keeping my story visible.  I could also write my story so that it would be preserved, so I chose to hold on to my cross.  The wearing of the cross would be an obvious, visible object of difference from my new home of which I am a stranger.  It is important for me to be the “different” one, as I cannot possible be like the culture I have now been immersed in.  The cross would raise questions that I would then be able to address, describing not only the meaning behind the cross, but describing the family which first gave me the cross and helped make me who I am.  It would be a constant reminder of my family, the values given to me by them along with the characteristics I display when doing things.  The cross would also be a source of strength and faith to help me survive in this new place. 

A Greek Orthodox Church in Athens, Greece

 I struggled to come up with a third item as I felt the family picture and my cross were sufficient.  I realized that I wanted to be noticed in this different country; I did not want to be like everyone else—that felt too sterile and robotic.  I wanted my characteristics to shine through and I wanted to be able to carry something that would be visible at all times and raised questions.  I believe though conversation we can keep our own culture alive and breathing, preserving it into the future.  I did want to live among the new culture in a peaceful accepting manner, but I also realized I did not want to be like the new culture; I wanted my culture to live alongside their culture.  

International Review

The focus of my work so far has been limited to my immediate Center community, without looking outside to the bigger world or the bigger picture.  The struggles faced by many children around the world are great.  Some children travel miles to get to school, entire families dislocate to be closer to schools while other children live in poverty and filth that affect their health, well being and academic outcomes.   Other children live in warn torn regions persecuted for their religious beliefs.   The struggles are very real with lots of challenges.  Sadly, I had assumed that children living in other countries did not face the same type of cultural prejudices as children here.  I was naïve to think that if children shared similar languages, similar culture and similar history that there would not be a divide among the people as it pertained to education.  I really had the blinders on and thought that what happened outside my own country did not have anything to do with me.  It is difficult to turn a blind eye, especially when culturally diverse groups of people continue to immigrate to this country and into our classroom.  To better provide opportunities for learning, we have to know about the plight and history of all people.  We have to be culturally aware to make learning meaningful.    

The international exploration has been like reading a children’s picture book for the first time in the classroom.  We read children’s books to bring new information to children; we read children’s books to expose children to a new world and environment they would not ordinarily know about; and we read children’s books to reinforce information for children. 

I would like to get to know more about how I can contribute to children in other countries who are less fortunate than myself.  I think that information gathering and assessment will begin with my sharing that information with my current teaching community and my current children and family.  I can help raise an awareness of social issues that impact early childhood education around the world. 

It has been a pleasure getting to know all of you and I look forward to meeting you in future classes.  Thanks to all of you for your sharing and insight and helping me to continue to grow as a student and as a professional.

The International Picture

I visited the UNESCO web site (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/).  This was the first time I had visited this site and found that UNESCO is an organization that seeks to improve education around the world.  UNESCO views education as a positive contributor to social development as well as economic development.  When visiting sites such as this one I feel connected to other professionals around the world seeking to make change in the lives of all children.  UNESCO does focus on children who are poor and come from disadvantaged backgrounds.  The organization wants to provide all children with opportunities to grow in all areas of development, cognitive and linguistic development as well as prepare children for higher schooling.  Similar to our discussions of the week, UNESCO struggles with the concept of quality as it can be defined in many ways, but they do define quality in terms of rich, engaging, culturally and developmentally appropriate learning materials and environments.  The issues facing UNESCO is implementing such a curriculum among differing countries; facilities in various countries are inadequate and put the children at physical risk in terms of their health and safety.  Professionals at UNESCO are a diverse group with differing skill sets.  The professionals are comprised of pre-school teach, and care workers. 

Further investigation of the site brought me to an article, “Children In Early Education and Care”, found at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/quality/ and retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137401e.pdf

The focus of the article was about curriculum guidelines being established by national ministries in many countries.  The guidelines provide a framework for program standards by which early education childhood services are to be delivered.  Through these guidelines, the hope is that centers promote social and cultural values that create positive outcomes for society as a whole. The guidelines will also create a mechanism of communication for parents, children and educators.  When designing the framework guidelines, learning patterns of children, individual needs of children, and the ability to learn through play and hands on participation were all considered. 

Children as we are all learning should be the motivator for change, not individual agendas of the professional and standardized education models.  Teachers must also be able to set aside their own needs for the positive development of children.  That is what prompted my interest in another article, “The Early Childhood Workforce in Developed Countries: Basic Structures and Education” retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001374/137402e.pdf.  The notion exists that all children regardless of background deserve education, however there are varying views of education programs in various countries.  Teachers deliver some programs while childcare or nursery workers deliver other programs.   Many countries are moving towards integrating the two systems working towards creating a more positive, professional role for educators.  The move is a difficult one for many countries as they find it difficult to move away from the notion that some childcare works are more than substitute mothers.  To move away from substitute mothers and move towards educators requires higher levels of education.   Higher levels of education translate to a restructured workforce with additional costs and higher wages.  The same question haunts restructuring of this kind, where will funds come from to cover higher education for teachers and higher wages.  It would seem the United States Is not the only country faced with changing the early childhood education field to better serve the youngest members of our communities.

The last item of interest that I found on the UNESCO site was an international conference hosted in Moscow with its focus on early childhood care and education teacher training.  There is a need to assist countries with creating policies and systems that provide training of teachers while continuing to focus on the developmental needs of young children, especially those children living in poor conditions.  The conference also focused on establishing curriculums that take into account the science and psychology of early childhood development,    

References

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/

Sharing Web Sources - Expanded

While exploring the Australia site, I discovered a site called NYU Child Study Center  (http://www.aboutourkids.org/about_us).    The NYU Child Study Center is an organization focused on the treatment of psychiatric disorders in children.  Further exploration led me to a disorder guide describing disorders from acute stress disorder to social anxiety.  The statistics are sad, “75 percent of mental health disorders have their rood in…childhood…millions of children are never properly diagnosed” (http://www.aboutourkids.org/about_us).  Parents can also utilize the site, as there is a tab for families seeking professional help.  This resource tab helps parents in identifying problems, seeking treatment and even information and facts on medications.  The wonderful feature of the site is that there is a tab to translate articles and information into Spanish. 

I was also able to find a tab for Early Childhood Services to further guide parents and educators to appropriate information.  Through this tab one can find resources for evaluation of problems, consultation services as well as treatment services.

The site was extremely interesting especially since most recently I have encountered a few children in my pre-school program who are presenting quite a few behavioral red flags.  Sadly, the parents of these children are not ready to face what may or may not lie ahead and they are not interested in some of the resources we have available. There is a wealth of resources on the site to help administrators and educators alike from news in the field and important research.

As I revisited Early Childhood Australia, I sought to find some of the same issues we have been exploring the last few weeks.  I began to go through the newsletter and found a newsletter on “Understanding Cultural Competence” and “Learning Outcomes.  The links are as follows; http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eylfplp/newsletters/EYLFPLP_E-Newsletter_No6.pdf

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/eylfplp/newsletters/EYLFPLP_E-Newsletter_No7.pdf

Cultural competence is of great importance to the people of Australia as it plays a role in a child’s healthy development fostering growth in a child’s personal life as well as fostering positive educational outcomes.  One area of importance was to create a community of culture among young children so as to build an inclusive Australian society.  An attempt was made to do just that; in a school system where Aboriginal Torres Strait Children did not attend, a local elder from the Aboriginal Tribe was invited to come talk to the children.  The elder spoke about his culture, sharing with the children his language, stories about his people and information about how the Aboriginal peoples took care of the land.  The children had a great experience. 

Learning outcomes are important for all children.  Learning outcomes are defined as “A skill, knowledge or disposition that educators can actively promote in early childhood settings, in collaboration with children and families”  (www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au).  According to the learning outcomes, children have a strong sense of their own identity and children are connected to and contribute to their world.  Through the learning outcomes young children can become successful, confident and creative learners who then are active, informed members of society.    

Lastly I examined some of the news releases to find any similarities and came across a piece “Quality childcare more important than cost”.  The link is as follows;

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_news/october_2010_new_quality_childcare_more_important_than_cost.html

The problem at hand is that many early childhood education care services are providing poor quality because they are failing to meet basic standards.  Much like here in this country, if standards could be put into place, a greater sense of high quality childcare would be available as well as be more affordable for families.

Through my exploration of the websites, I have found a sense of commitment to young children and not only to their academic success but to their success as human beings.  The commitment seems to translate to advocacy that provides resources and information to create environments where young children can reach their full potential.  Oceans may separate us, but children are all the same; they need to be valued for who they are, and where they come from.  Perfect environments do not exist, but we should all continue to forge ahead to create those perfect environments where children can grow and prosper.

References

http://www.aboutourkids.org/about_us

www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au