THE PERSONAL SIDE OF BIAS

 The New Family in Preschool 

The story that hit me most when I found this assignment was the scene about a family who was coming to the school for the first time. The child is already 4 Years of age and the staff of the school are already experts, trained and skilled at ensuring that children gain independence as early as possible. This is the message of the dominant culture of both the school and I suppose, the nation at large where the school is located.

Now, this new child approached the school, the classroom, being totted by the mum, and in addition, is feeding from the bottle.  

The teacher's welcome message was "Oooh, This child is way too big to be doing that".  Facing the mother, she continued " You do not need to be carrying them around, if you keep doing that they are never going to learn and they will not become independent". She went on to support this claim with the writing of renown child development authors such as Piaget and Erickson. Adapted from Laureate education, 2011

Analysis

This family was a target of bias and it was a very rude and stack version. the child is being attacked and so are his parents. Worse of all was to make the parents feel dis-empowered right before the child, and to make the child wonder at his parents and probably, loose some confidence in his home and family culture. 

Equity projects fairness and justice. The teacher has no clue why this family has adopted this feeding style, and why they choose to still cuddle and carry their child at age 4. There was a need to know before that prejudiced expression.  Prejudice is an attitude, an opinion or feeling formed without adequate prior knowledge, thought or reasoning (Derman- Sparks & Olsen Edwards 2012 ). It is obvious that the teacher has judged the parents as incapable of quality parenting and also the child as never going to learn and be independent.
 As long as the parents were not heard, this experience diminishes equity.

This incidence brings up to me the fact that there are many good intentions that are not needed because they would not meet the required need. Actions, some tagged interventions, may be borne out of good intention, but as long as the teacher is not in awareness of how her privileges and bias play at others who do not carry the notions that are acceptable to her, she will continue to make this mistakes.  So the summary of this is that anti bias education is a must for everyone who work with children.

This incidence could have been turned into an opportunity for greater equity if the teacher received the family first, without any micro aggression expressed. Then listen and take time to know the family, their values, beliefs and a little history of the child. She could then tell the family about the program's culture, their practice and standards,; then propose workability, present partnership and empower the parents on how to support the child so that he 'she can succeed in his new environment. 

With this suggestions and proposal, the family is empowered to support transition and cultural continuity is allowed to blossom. The child will adapt better and the program will flourish better. Greater equity is realized, of course, the family's need is better met!


References

Laureate Education Inc, 2011 (DVD) Perspective on diversity and equity.                                                             

 

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.            Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).