Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 

I work at a Christian Daycare, and have been employed there for over the last five years. I am an African American and most of the employees are of the same race, but the administrators are Caucasian and church members. The administrator places all the children with behavior problems in my classroom and then explains to me that she would get fewer complaints if they are with me. She said the other teacher appearance alone might get her complained on. The other teacher is darker skinned, and has other challenges based on her appearance. I felt like it was unfair because it is a lot for me, and if she felt so strongly against the other teacher she should pull her aside and discuss it with her.

Over this week’s reading I have realized that there are a lot of hidden messages that could be misinterrpertated very easily. In the example above the director shouldn’t have discussed her feelings about the other teacher to me, not everyone has the same views when it comes to their appearance. An example of a stereotype that I have experienced is that all light skin individuals are stuck up. I have had people walk away from me, because they didn’t know how I was going to respond. We as individuals need to stop judging people and take the time to get to know them.

Through all the observation experiences this week many parents look at daycare as just a daycare and not as a learning entity. Quality education is what we need to expand the minds of the new generation. The way all the children with behavior issues were assigned to my class was unfair and should be divided into all the classes.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I talked to three individuals about various questions as it relates to diversity and culture. The individuals were:

·         My aunt who is a 48 year old, African American female, who lives in Memphis.

·         A co-worker who is 20 years old and of Spanish decent.

·         My husband who is a manager who has a number of individuals under his supervision.

 

Their definition of culture

·         Aunt: The background of someone.

·         Co-worker: The background and foundation of a person.

·         Husband: The way a person was raised and the beliefs they abide by.

 

Their definition of diversity

·         Aunt: The mixture of people of different races in a close environment.

·         Co-worker: The combination of various cultures that comes together to form a finished product.

·         Husband: Individuals from African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, and etc. that gain information from each other.

There are some aspects of culture and diversity that was studied in this course that was included in the answers from the various individuals. All of the individuals I spoke to have similar definitions of culture and diversity. All of them were simple and not expanded much on. The word culture refers to how particular groups of people live (Sparks and Edwards, 2010) during this course I have come to understand that this topic includes much more than just race and gender but also includes language, social status, religion, and even the individual sexual orientation.

 

No aspects have been omitted, because the course has offered so much information on culture and diversity.

 Other individual’s definition of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics in one main way. When individuals think about culture and diversity, what comes to mind is people’s background. It is so much more that applies to this topic, but many of us define it by what society say.  It includes the language we speak, the religion we practice, and the clothing, housing, food, and rituals/holidays with which we feel most comfortable (Sparks and Edwards, 2010).

 

Reference:

Sparks L. &Edwards J. (2010).Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourself. Washington, DC.

My Family Culture

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

       A description of the three items you would choose:

·         Photo Album with pictures of my children growing up and family in general.

·         The Bible so that I can read and study the word.

·         A laptop so important documents could be saved.

       How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you:

·         A photo album compiled with numerous pictures of my family. I would want to remember my children as they are were growing up.

·          I would take the Bible as the second item because I am a strong believer in my faith. The religion might be different, but that don’t mean I have to change mine.

• A laptop would be third items that I took because all my important documents could be saved in the word document. I do understand that it is a possibility that we would never be able to return, but information like marriage license, birth certificates, social security information, and etc. should be kept.
 
 

If I could only keep one item I would keep the Bible and give up the photo album and computer. The Bible can’t be replaced because that is our study guide for our existent. The photo book would be missed but the children would be present with me so I have to keep the memories just that. The laptop is also important but hopefully the information wouldn’t be needed or the new country would provide us with new documentation.

        

It took time for me to consider the three items that I would take with me because I take everything for granted now that I am older. As a child I grew up in Trinidad and nothing was taken for granted because the culture was different. I got spoiled as I got older. My family is Christians and that would never change whether or not I leave an environment.