Professional Hopes and Goals

In our society today we have no choice but to work with a diverse group of people.  Our country has so many different cultures that a person would have to lead a very sheltered life not to be involved with others of different cultures.  One hope I have when thinking about working with children and families who come from different backgrounds is to remain open minded and understanding of the different backgrounds.  I hope I can give the children and their families that I work with the best possible support for what ever they need.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is for the field as a whole to keep an open mind about differences.  The early childhood field needs to work towards making the children and families from other cultures feel more comfortable by keeping their needs in mind.  Their needs are slightly different than a family from America because a family from America can understand what is going on.  At my school we are getting more and more Spanish speaking families and Asian families.  My two kindergarten colleagues both have students and families who do not speak English.  The early childhood field needs to find a way to service these families.

I would like to thank everyone for their posts and comments.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this class.  I have learned so much.  I wish we had a couple more weeks to continue learning about diversity.  I enjoyed everyone and hope to see you in the next class.  Thanks!!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

My family's country of origin is the country of Nicaragua.  I am familiar with the name but nothing else.  In doing this assignment I learned that Nicaragua is populated mostly by Mestizos, Amerindian and white mixed.  White is the second largest of the the population while blacks make up only a small portion.  There is also a small population of Amerindians who are unmixed descendants of the countries indigenous inhabitants.  While Spanish is the principal language, English is taught in high school.  The black population speaks English Creole as their primary language and Spanish as their second language.  The most popular sport is baseball.  Most Nicaraguans are Roman Catholic.

Five ways I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive to this family are:
1. research the culture, food, and language of choice,
2. find out how the education system works and what level the child will be on,
3. learn a few important words in the families language so I can have some sort of communication line open,
4. plan a multicultural day so everyone in the class can learn about each others culture and make the family feel welcomed by showing interest and,
5. have pictures, music, food etc. to make the family feel more welcomed and comfortable.

I hope these preparations will give myself and the family some sort of connection.  I want the family to feel at home rather than outsiders in a foreign country.  These preparations will give me the chance to become more acquainted with how the family lived  and possibly what they expect from me.  The preparations will benefit the family and I because I will have a little understanding of how they lived, ate, and so on.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As an African-American female I have experienced and witnessed many instances of bias, prejudice, and oppression.  Living in Louisiana doesn't help.  Many people down here are still stuck in old ways.  I can recall an experience of bias and prejudice earlier in the summer.  My boyfriend and I went into a small family owned grocery store that sells cooked food for lunch.  There were two white ladies in front of us and a white lady serving.  She was very pleasant with them but when she got to us she acted as if she didn't want to serve us.  An African-American lady came to help her and instead of sending her to the next customer, a white man, she went to him and sent the African-American lady to help us.  We noticed immediately what she did and discussed it when we left the truck.

The white lady made it very obvious that she did not want to help us.  She had one attitude when helping the customers of one race but a very nonchalant attitude when it came to helping us.  Equity was diminished when she changed her attitude and did not serve us.  We were not given equal service.

This incident brought up some very hurtful feelings.  I hate that people still look at skin color and make a judgement.  The color of my skin does not tell you who I am.  Watching someone serve someone in a nice and pleasant manner then get to you and is completely different is very hurtful but is also a reminder that everyone is not over skin color.

Greater equity could have been achieved simply if the lady would have served us in the same manner as she did the previous customer.  If the lady serving would have kept her nice and pleasant attitude this story would not have made my blog site.