Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Essay

Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois was significantly different from where I was born in Morristown, New Jersey. One of the most startling differences was apparent in the make-up of the student body. In Morristown, I attended an elementary school with a diverse student body; many of my schoolmates were African American and I remember even at a young age, students regardless of race interacting all-together without any sense of stigma attached to it. In that sense, while attending elementary school, since it was the norm to have friends of different races, I did not think very much of my race.

As a teacher, it is important to know and understand the racial and cultural identities of both yourself, and your students. Knowing about your students’ backgrounds is a great way to make the classroom a safe and welcoming environment. Not all educational settings emit a feeling of safety to its students, and that needs to be changed. In this paper, I will discuss how my racial and cultural identity may be the same and may differ from my students, as well as some ways in which the institution of education can be changed to be more racially and culturally inclusive.

My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.

As a young child, I lived life colorblind, unable to grasp the concept of race or skin color. Growing up in Florida as the only Asian in my elementary school and never being bullied for being different, I assumed everyone was white, including me. But then came that earth-shattering epiphany: I realized I wasn’t white. I started to notice that not every supermarket sold Pocky or bubble tea and that it’s not common to get money in shiny, red envelopes on New Year’s. I realized that not everyone knew how to use chopsticks, that not everyone ate rice with every meal, and that when some people spoke slowly to me, it’s not because they were trying to articulate, but because they thought I didn’t understand English.

A popular notion says a child is born “color-blind” and remains color-blind until they reach adolescence. The problem with this concept is that people believe it to be a positive idea. However, it actually presents a damaging ideology – it suggests that race should not be a factor when trying to determine the type of person an individual is. I see it as an unsophisticated approach to view people because race is a vital part of our existence. Race is an attribute that makes individuals differ from one another, and the problem is not the differences in the colors of our skin. The problem is that we attempt to detach ourselves from the reality of being racially different. Racism will seem to inevitably exist, and in order to even try to end the malice, parents should begin teaching children about racism the right way.

Growing up as the only white kid in my elementary school classes didn’t feel ostracizing, but was my first lesson in diversity and cultural respect. Despite my the economically, socially, and racially diverse surroundings, I came from a conservative home, and was often isolated from a diversified mindset. Still, the diminutive self-awareness I was fostering began to grow, under heavy influence from a sixth grade teacher. Ms. Ray talked about subjects that I was unaware adults could discuss, presenting the option

According to Belonging, Being & Becoming, the Educators’ Guide ‘we need to ‘think about our own values, beliefs and attitudes related to diversity and difference and acknowledge and address any bias that we may hold’. As well as critically examining our own assumptions, ‘cultural competence’ requires early childhood educators to take a strong approach to countering racism and bias when we encounter it. This will require educators to make a conscious decision to promote children’s cultural competence in order to build and maintain an inclusive Australian society.

This unique experience from such a young age paints a clear memory in my mind that denotes that diversity is important because it gives people a new perspective on life. People that move through life totally unaffected by the reality of diversity, sheltered from the harmless encroachment on their social organization, lack the ability to be able to fully understand people from different backgrounds or races that they meet in the real world. Being exposed to diversity in all forms at a young age helps develop in people humility, compassion, consideration,

Racism is a big problem in today’s modern society and it has been going on for many years. In his book, Prejudice and Your Child, author Kenneth Clark asks his readers, “Are children born with racial feelings? Or do they have to learn first, what color they are and, second, what color is “best”?” Many years ago social theorists argued that racial and religious prejudices are inborn, that they are inherent and instinctive. These theorists believed that children do not have to learn to dislike people who differ from them in physical characteristics; it was considered natural to dislike those different from oneself and to like those similar to oneself. However, research over the past decades has refuted these earlier theories. Social scientists are now convinced that children learn social, racial and religious prejudices in the course of observing and being influenced by, the existence of patterns in the culture in which

Middle school learners are perhaps the most diverse group of students in education today. The differences that exist in every classroom, including gender, socio-economic class, linguistic and cultural background, learning style, and intellectual capacity, is increased by individual differences in developmental level. While all middle school students will progress through different developmental levels and display the characteristics inherent in each, they will reach and conquer these developmental milestones at difference times. Because of this difference in developmental maturity, students may also be at their most vulnerable, as they progress through stages they don’t understand and can’t control.

Educator must decide between two racist impulses. The first racist impulse is “to treat all people as human beings rather than race group members” and the second impulse is “to recognize people’s real experience as race group members in order to assist them and treat them equitably” (Everyday Antiracism in Education, M. Pallock Ph.D,

Truthfully, I detest riding behind buggies. They are marginally faster than walking pace, hard to pass by, and honestly, dangerous vehicles all around. Now if you don’t know what a buggy is, this is a very confusing opening to an essay. Allow me to clarify. I live in the middle of nowhere, so when I realized this was an essay on diversity, I couldn’t discern where to begin. However, my humdrum hometown of Middlefield Ohio, holds more diversity than can be said for the large majority of Ohio. We are host to the 4th largest settlement of Amish in the world. They ride in horse drawn carriages called buggies. Given the horse drawn aspect, now you can understand why they move so sluggishly. Now, these people live a very different life from you or I.

“The problem was never that we saw color. It was what we did when we saw the color. It's a false ideal. And while we're busy pretending not to see, we are not being aware of the ways in which racial difference is changing people's possibilities” - Verna Myers. It’s keeping some individuals from doing great things and making changes, so if we don’t stop to think about how we are reacting towards these people nothing will change. If we keep reacting negatively, all their opportunities will keep slipping away. By judging people for things that that they can’t help, it can change lives. You may not realize this now, but Race can affect anything from where you live, the job you have, your income, your health, your success in life, to even your children’s success in life. So race clearly does matter. One of the things that we tend to do that is not very helpful is not talking about race. Race is not a bad word. If we stop talking and stop asking about it, ”it doesn't make that inequality go away, it just makes it harder to study, harder to understand, and therefore, harder to combat.” - Jennifer

People’s life experiences make them who they are in life. These events, teach individuals how to appropriately act with somebody of a different race, as well as demonstrated all the diverse types of people there are in the world. As a child, I came across numerous boys and girls, of various hair hues and skin tones, at spots where children congregate. It did not seem to matter at the time what the person looked like on the outside, all I perceived was a new child to play with and someone to call a friend. It is inspiring to me, that children, more often than not, are blind to racial differences. Sadly, as people grow older they start to become aware of others racial dissimilarities.

Each year, an increasing number of people from different countries immigrate to the United States. Some of them come to look for a better education for their children. Consequently, there is an increasing number of children of different races in the U.S. preschool and kindergarten system, which not only leads to racial diversity, but also causes stereotype and discrimination among children. There is a wide belief that children are too young to recognize races, however, the racial awareness pervasive and develops very early in children’s life (Stabler, Johnson, Berke, & Baker, 1969). In order to make children have correct racial awareness, their cognition of races should not be ignored and accurate education of races should be provided. The purpose of this paper is to figure out following questions. First, do children, ages 3-6, recognize differences in race and ethnicity (racial awareness)? Second, do they have racial stereotype and discrimination (racial attitude)? Third, what or who affect the formation of racial awareness and attitude of children (3-6) in preschool and kindergarten?