Communication and Collaboration in Early Childood

         I like the way President Obama holds his temper.  I have seen blatant disrespect of him on television that I personally know that I would not be able to keep my cool if I were in the same situation.  I don’t think that you have to like everything a person stands for and you certainly don’t have to agree but I do think that each person deserves respect without the hidden racism or criticisms that he often receives.  This may be just because he is the president but either way I feel that someone else in these situations might respond differently.

            I think that his calm demeanor helps to keep situations under control and encourages respect of

 others.  I would want to model myself after him because I have dealt with racism and it is not always easy

to maintain a sense of composure.  For me, keeping my cool and showing others is the ultimate sign of my

strength because I feel that it would take a lot to show people that I can be Godly even if they aren’t.

Personal hopes and goals

            One hope that I would have for myself with regards to working with children and families from diverse backgrounds is that I would be open minded and accepting.  I would hope that I would take the time to get to know the student and their parents before making conclusions about their religion, home environment, and culture.  I would want the same applied to me so I can only reach out and expand my knowledge about people that might come from different backgrounds than me so that I can continue to strive to be the best teacher that I can be.

            One goal that I would like to set for the education field regarding diversity, equity, and social justice would be to inform others of the importance of education and what it takes to help children succeed regardless of their backgrounds.  I think that children from all areas of the globe deserve the opportunity to receive quality education and I think that it should be standard regardless of where you live.  In my opinion children that live in less than favorable conditions should have quality education and services that would help them become great students and want to be positive members of society.  I feel that in order to do this we have to recognize each student as an individual and respect the student’s differences so that we are learning as teachers while we are teaching our students.

            I would like to thank all of my fellow classmates that have given a voice to this topic and that have shared their experiences with me.  I think that as long as we keep pushing forward in a positive manner we can help make our communities better a little bit at a time.  Enjoy your future classes.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As I child I never felt that there was prejudices against me.  Even though I grew up in the projects I never realized that they were projects until I was much older.  I felt that there were biases against Blacks as I go older.  I remember that there were two community centers in our neighborhood.  One that was used mostly by the Blacks and one that was used mostly by the Whites.  Although no one ever said that we had to use one facility or the other it was understood by some that there should have been that division.  Well with my ignorance to the situation I usually went to the mostly White facility.  What I found there was that the people were very nice and respectful. I swam and enjoyed the company of my friends.  I also found that I was more comfortable there.  The facility was nicer and the atmosphere was better.  I think that when we cause divisions in our communities it creates an element of anger and hatred.  It’s hatred for those who don’t think that you are as special as they are but also hatred for yourself.  You want to change who you are to fit in and that’s never an okay scenario.

I believe that this incident diminished equity by encouraging one race of people to feel more dominant than another.  I also feel that it allowed the less dominant culture to feel as though they weren’t good enough which caused them to develop low self esteem issues and issues of low self worth.  On the flip side I think that when this happens communities begin to rally together to make changes for the better good of the people.  My community tried to embrace and bring people together.  We began sharing the centers and there were always events at both centers that invited others to come and take part in.

For me this incident was a learning experience because it allowed me to see that people were afraid.  They were afraid of things that they didn’t know and of change.  I think that this was true on both sides of the color barriers.  People are often afraid of things that are out of the norm for them.  If they feel that change is about to happen and it isn’t what they are use to then it causes them to panic.  Instead of embracing the changes that are for the good of man we tend to shy away and fight to keep things the same.

In order for this incident to become better in the equity department I think that change would have to start inside of one person and move on to the next.  I think that if one person changes the way that they think then maybe the next person will change and so on and so forth.  I believe that if we work together with our communities to make changes it will catch on and eventually people will start to see the importance of caring for others that are different than themselves.