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Week 6: The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Here is what I think is a huge bias experience that had recently happened at my husband’s graduation from college.  We invited family/friend to come and watch my husband walk to get his diploma and our family/friend told his daughter to not stand up or yell while he walked across the stage.  Our family/friend told her that is rude.  All the other families stood up and yelled when their member was walking the stage to receive their diploma and continue to tell his daughter that those families were being disrespectful.   I could not believe that she said that to her and all the families that stood up where black and Hispanic.  I told her that there is nothing wrong with yelling for joy, especially since this is one of your dad’s greatest accomplishments and it took him a long time to realize he need to have this education to move on in his life.   I also said, “Do you not think that your dad will yell when you finally walk the stage to receive your diploma, O yes he will.”  Later I explained that our family/friend just place a judgment or everyone that stood up to yell congrats and clap for their family member.  There is nothing wrong to rejoice over someone we know has accomplished something they have worked hard for and is making a difference in their lives. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I listened to a video this week and Dr. Derald Wing Sue (2011) states, the unintentional and invisible nature of microaggressions that occur are the perpetrator of a microaggression experience themselves as good, moral, decent individuals; but it makes it very difficult for them to understand that, in some way, they have made a statement, engaged in a behavior that has been offensive and reveals some bias or stereotyping on their part.    Therefore, I feel I have seen firsthand an example of microaggression through my own child after attending a graduation ceremony.  As we are walking back to the car, my child hears a song playing out of a car that was on a country station.  As we go by the car, she looks into the car and said, “OMG, he’s black jamming to a country song.”  I looked at her and said, “Why did you say that?” and she said, “Because this is not typical of a black person to listen to country music.”  I explained to her, that she has just stereotyped that person because she does not know what that person’s background is all about.  I also explained, that you can’t say what is typical or not typical because of the color of that person’s skin either.  I have always tried to show my children that the color of your skins does not tell who you really are as a person and once the skin is gone, we all have the same color blood, organs, and bones.   I hoped that I raised my children too not stereotype others and they really need to think before they speak because comments like that could have offended that person listening to country music. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

After contacting several people and asking them what their definition of culture and diversity was, this was their responses...

Culture…

• the things that make up your life as a group, such as music, food, art likes/dislikes, holidays, and the particular way you celebrate those holidays, the way you raise your kids and how you treat elders.
• I think culture is when people, generally of a common area, share like values, beliefs, customs, moral values, food preferences etc. Although everyone doesn't necessarily have to believe or think exactly the same, but there are common ties that bind them together.
• is how you think, feel and at times what you believe in based upon your environment.

Diversity…

• all the different ways those items from culture are displayed. How vastly different one group of people enjoy -live life
• how vastly different one group of people enjoy-live life versus another group.
• is the differences in people. The differences in thought, preferences, race, beliefs, moral values, customs. Diversity can be within a culture or trans-cultural.

I was amazed that most of their answers were related to culture and diversity.  One way that influenced my thinking about culture and diversity is the way one of the answers were stated, "How vastly different one group of people enjoy-live life."  This is how most of use should be doing with our lives. ENJOY-LIVE LIFE!

My Family Culture

My family means everything to me so trying to imagine what I would take with me was a hard decision for me to make.  The first thing I would take is my bible, because if a catastrophic event happened my faith would need to be built back up and I know that God would always be with me where ever I am.  The second thing to show others about my family would be a family photo album to look back and remember all the good times.  The third thing would be my notebook full of how to make anything out of everything, because if I had to start all over I would have to learn how to wash my clothes, grow food, and how to make drinking water.  If this happen I would be scared of what would come next and figure out how to survive.  It is not hard to tell others about your family and we would all have to work together if we were all going to survive.  I have learned over the years after becoming a teenage mother how to make things in order to save money and that is one major thing I have taught my children to do. 

When I Think of RESEARCH......

When I think of research I think of a "puzzle" and start to think where and how do I start.  I have never been good at doing research or writing about research.  Throughout this course I have learned how to narrow down a topic to focus on one area that multiple areas.  It also takes a lot of time and can be beneficial to others to read and learn about the results, especially in the early childhood field and not all research is helpful.

 

When I received my text book titled “Doing Early Childhood Research,” I thought what have I gotten myself into which frighten me and will I make it through this class.  I have done research before but have always had a hard time looking up the information or is the information for my project was beneficial to me.  Now I know how to scan articles and understand how the article is written up to provide the information I need for my research project. 

Planning, designing and conducting research reminds me of a huge puzzle. Therefore, when planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood field it is essential to have validity of the data and knowing the importance of the ethics in any research project. 

The challenges I encountered was trying to figure out the important information to add into my research simulation and writing out the hypotheses.  With the step by step charts each week and the comments from the teacher, I was able to complete and understand what information was important and how to write out my hypotheses for my research simulation.

As an early childhood professionals I will most likely never conduct research but will look into other research to gain information that will benefit me in the early childhood field.  It is important to continue learning and reading about new research for early childhood education in order to stay up with new insight to improve child’s developmental progress. 

 

This class was very beneficial to me and learning more about research.  Thanks to all my classmates for the comments through our discussions and blogs, you all have added more insight to my understanding of research.

WK5 "The Research in Practice Series" Early Childhood Australia.....

I looked into what Early Childhood Australia does for research and they have what is called Research in Practice Series (RIP). 

The site states, “The Research in Practice Series is a practical, easy-to-read resource, offering effective new approaches for those challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children. Early Childhood Australia's Research in Practice Series is an essential resource for those involved in the early childhood field. The books are idea-rich and to-the-point. The Research in Practice Series focuses on the practical, 'hands-on' aspects of early childhood – making them ideally suited to early childhood workers. However, the wide range of topics covered throughout the series offers something to anyone interested in children's early years.”

I love the fact that the research page provided book that anyone could purchase and that they are all “idea-rich, to-the-point, and hands-on.”