Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is mutual learning.  I hope that I will use what I learn from children and families to better help them and hope they will learn as well.  I will research and integrate their culture to help build and become a part of a strong support system for the child.  I feel that by working together we can create a shared understanding of each other and what is best for the child.  The goal can only be achieved if we can establish a connection of respect for each other and our active roles. 

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to continue working with other fields in collaboration.  A lot of the issues stem from other non-traditionally related disciplines.  For example, classism deals with economics and ableism can be linked to city planning or even the field of architecture.  Politics, government, medicine and science and the information they hold can help progress in the Early Childhood field and make an even greater impact on society.   I feel that other disciplines can offer perspectives, insights and support when it comes to issues of diversity, equity and social justice. 

I would like to say thank you to all of you my colleagues.  I wish you all the best of luck as you continue your studies and hope you truly enjoy your time off, you deserve it!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Think for a moment about the following two statistics:

-About 195 different countries exist in the world today.

-According to the U.S. census bureau, the United States’ population includes individuals and families from 150 different countries.

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting and you receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family.  In order to complete this assignment, first choose a country you know nothing about as this family’s country of origin.

Five ways I can prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards a family from Yemen is by:

1. Identity- Understanding my own cultural identity, I believe, is the first step to being culturally responsive.  You have to be able to share who you are if you want others to do the same in order to work together.  Also, I can draw on similarities and comparisons to better connect with families.
2. Resources- Gathering information, going to a cultural event, learning the history and communicating with people can all help my understanding of the elements of that culture.
3. Integration- Integrating the culture creates a sense of acceptance, excitement, respect and comfort that helps make deeper connections with children and families.
4. Language- It is important to incorporate the home language somehow.  This can be done visually and verbally.  If the language in the early childhood setting is different from the home language I would make it known that since the child and/or family is learning a new language then I would like to learn their language as well.  This way everyone is learning and experiencing similar feelings.
5. Involvement- Involving the family helps everyone see that they matter in the child’s life from family members to myself as an early childhood professional.  Also, family members can act as cultural resources for myself or the greater community.

I hope that these preparations will benefit myself and the family in a few ways.  I hope that it will be a learning experience for all.  This simple idea can help subside any power relations and focus on the more human experience of getting along, learning new insights and building a relationship that centers around doing what is best for the child.  I hope to create a partnership of communication, support and trust that can come from investing the time and effort in culture and family.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

One memory of when I experienced prejudice happened in middle school when a girl in my class told me that I should speak English because this is America.  I was speaking with a friend of mine in Spanish and she made it very clear that this was not acceptable.  I remember feeling a range of emotions when I heard this.  Mostly, I wondered where this young person learned to have such strong feelings about other languages and cultures.  I felt offended and shocked. 

This incident diminished equity. The girl was trying to make my friend and I feel like we were wrong.  She did not treat us with respect or fairness and instead tried to make us feel inferior for not speaking the language of the dominant culture, her culture.  She then tried to justify her statement by reminding us of where we lived and thought that we should only be using the language of the dominant culture. 

I think what would need to change to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity, is that girls experiences.  There would have to be a change in the cultural environment where this took place.  More diversity could have made a significance in this incident as well.