A Special Note of Thanks

Dear Dr. Snider,
The class on Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice has exponentially broaden my understanding of diversity and equity, and I am in disbelief on how narrow minded I was before taking this course!
I am also very grateful for being a lot more prepared to welcome 21st century children and their families.
Thank you for your class and words of encouragements!
MarieFrance 

Professionals Goals and Hopes

 

 DIVERSITY

One of my hopes is to welcome children and families from all diverse backgrounds in a way that feels comfortable and true to them. In that light, I need to trust that my vision for a 21^st century school guides my passion, showing in the family reception, and marks the start of a productive and warm relationship for the benefit of the child.

I hope that parents and educators teamwork strive to offer children the most successful school experience and a future that will have also be shaped by children with a voice.

 

EQUITY 

 

In order to promote social justice and equity, schools must be accessible to all children from birth. With a universal school system, children from underprivileged families can be exposed to literature and receive similar intellectual and physical stimulation than their affluent peers whose parents give them access to books, music, movies, social  and physical activities.  

 

                                 SOCIAL CHANGE - UNIVERSAL SCHOOL  

 

To my wonderful colleagues Briana, Deanna, Janet, Mahitab, Michelle, and Pearlyn,

Thanks to you, my sense of collegiality has strengthened! Now, I feel empowered by the support you provided me throughout these eight weeks and by the incredible insights you shared on early childhood education. Your love and advocacy for our young population make me hopeful that from our joint efforts a more just tomorrow for children is possible. Week 6 was introduced with a quote by Robert Kennedy:

Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.—Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator and Attorney General (1968).

I hope we stay in touch via our blogs or personal email addresses. Here is my email address:

mfmariefrance@yahoo.com                                      

We are too involved in our master’s program at this point but when we graduate, I hope we can continue and develop our relationships for children’s benefit, our own, and again children’s benefit.

Good luck on your next class!

Collegially,

MarieFrance

 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

 

YEMEN

(www.worldatlas.com) 

 

 

 

North and South Yemen united as a country in 1990 to avoid fighting over oil that had been discovered along their borders. Yemen’s capital is Sana’a (North Yemen) with the economic capital referred to as Aden (South Yemen). Yemenis are ethnically Arabs and they speak Arabic (Countries and their Cultures, 2013). People are mostly farmers or herders. Then industry employs only 5% of the work force. Yemen has a very young population with more than 50% under the age of 15.

Being a little savvier about Yemen’s economic resources, I would ask the family from which of the 6 zones they come from and what jobs they held. Did the mother work in education or in health care as I read those were women’s jobs. Also, knowing from which cultural and economic zone they family originates would give clues on the type of house they lived in, their potential dialect, and cultural habits. When the family comes in, I (a woman may initiate a handshake) would greet the family with a light handshake and offer the choice to sit on the cushions along the wall or at the table.

With the goal of preparing to welcome a family from Yemen, I would feverishly uncover Yemen’s surface culture, an easy way to start peeling off the different layers of what constitutes a country’s culture. Music, food, and spirituality come to mind right away. Then, I would learn what the custom is regarding greeting and good-byes, and inquire on the education system in Yemen.

 

                                                             Sana'a

 

Song of Sana'a

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdHbypelaJQ

"The "Song of Sana’a" was proclaimed a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by the Director-General on 7 November 2003. A preparatoryassistance of US$ 20,000 was granted to the Permanent Delegation of Yemen by theUNESCO/Japan Funds-in-Trust for the Preservation and Promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage in view of establishing a candidature file and an action plan (UNESCO,  2011)

Reference

UNESCO. (2011). Key Facts and Figures on Yemen/UNESCO Cooperation. Retrieved from: http://www.unesco.org/eri/cp/factsheets/YEM_facts_figures.pdf

Yemenite Sacred Chants

http://www.allmusic.com/album/les-chantres-yemenites-sacred-songs-from-sanaa-mw0000588342

Yemenite Songs by Ofra Haza
Sample her songs on the following website
http://www.allmusic.com/album/yemenite-songs-mw0000196994
"Ofra Haza's death on February 23, 2000, at the age of 41 deprived the world of a lovely woman, a great vocalist, and a fearless cultural advocate. Fifty Gates of Wisdom, her 1985 album of boldly reimagined traditional Yemenite songs, brought her international fame, and decades later, it retains its ability to delight and inspire. The set list consists of secular tunes plus examples of a festive devotional style called diwan, which is common to all Oriental Jewish communities and can be sung in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Arabic. Each group has specific traditions, but the Yemeni variant is especially remarkable for its poetry, much of which was written by rabbis as far back as the 17th century. Most diwan consist of three separate sections: the a cappella nashid (prelude), the shira (singing), during which celebrants bang on copper trays, empty gasoline cans, or whatever else is handy, and a postlude called the hallel, or song of praise. The unusual percussion accompaniment came into use following the destruction of the Temple, when Jews were forbidden to play conventional musical instruments, and also as a result of periodic oppression by Muslim fundamentalists. In Haza's hands, these sinuous tunes are further spiced up by drum machines and synthesizers, pumping out the hypnotic dance beats that catapulted the album onto dancefloors throughout the world. It important to remember that this recording long predated the flood of world/techno fusions that have since overwhelmed the marketplace. Transglobal Underground, Afro-Celt Sound System, and Scandinavian groups like Garmarna all owe Haza a debt of gratitude. But despite the historic electronic flourishes, it is the siren-like charm of the singer's voice that creates the most indelible impression" (allmusic, 2013).
Reference
allmusic. (2013). Ofra Haza. Yemenite Songs. Overview. Retrieved from: http://www.allmusic.com/album/yemenite-songs-mw0000196994

Continuing with food, the following blog written by Dr. Lamya Almas was a lot of fun perusing because it offers an amazing array of Yemeni recipes mostly inspired by the blogger’s mother:  http://yemeniyah.com/about/. Since I love Middle Eastern food, I may even scout out for a local Yemenite restaurant and try out my newly acquired knowledge about Yemeni food and ask for a Mutabaqiah Yemeni which is a sort of egg calzone. Lentils, peas, and rice are staple foods. Since generosity and hospitality are shown by making and serving coffee, I will make sure to have coffee and learn how to make it in a satisfactory traditional way.

After learning about music and food, I learned that Yemen’s main religion is Islam. There are two main groups of Muslims namely Sunni and Shi’a. I expect that the new family is Muslim, although they could also belong to one of the smaller Jewish, Christian, or Hindu groups.

Developing more familiarity with the country of Yemen will help me show the family that I am ready to work collaboratively so their children succeed in school. Since their children will bring their home culture to class and go home with the newly created class culture, it is important that parents and educators support children in their “creative transformation of culture” (Smidt, 2006). In the initial contact with the family, carefully listening to the family’s story will bring invaluable information on how to best serve the child. After the initial conversation, learning about the family’s cultural approach on education, asking them if they know about the U.S. educational system, what they like or what simply would not be appropriate for their children. As the educator, knowing how I can best support children in their learning and acknowledge students’ accomplishments even if they differ from the school dominant culture (Smidt, 2006).  In other words, I will inquire about the “physical and social settings of children, the culturally regulated customs and practices, and beliefs or ethno-theories of parents” (Smidt, 2006). Finally, children’s cultures define my curriculum.
References
Countries and Their Cultures. (2013).Yemen. Retrieved from: http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Yemen.html
Smidt, S., (2006). The Developing Child in the 21 st. Century: A Global Perspective on Child Development. Routledge.

 

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

 

 

When my older sister’s fiancé visited her at home, it was not unusual for the two of us to play. He would take on the role of big brother playing with his younger brother. Then, I grew up and was not enticed to play like a boy anymore. Having lost a playmate, I understood that my sister’s fiancé could be disappointed. However, the way he expressed his disappointment made me feel that he had lost any interest in me and that I had become invisible because I was a girl. This is what he said or what I remember him saying “It’s too bad that I can’t play with Marie anymore the way I did before when I could play with her like a boy.” This gender microaggression exemplifies an institutional prejudice toward girls/women: girls/women measure less than boys/men, and boys/men represent the valuable segment of society. A little later, the same young man not liking the cleanliness of the bathroom exclaimed “With three girls in the house, how can the bathroom not be clean?” Thanks to my future brother in law, my future was clearly outlined and I had better start right learning the ropes of a perfect house wife. Unfortunately, each incident struck me with full force and I was unable to turn them into opportunities for greater equity.  It is only after turning forty that I started to empower myself and whenever I felt strong enough attempted to change incidents of that sort into teaching moments for equity. For example, one of my daughter’s friends whose family enjoyed the help of a hired woman remarked one day as I was cleaning behind the kitchen sink tap “You are finally cleaning this” and I assured him that he could feel free to take care of this whenever he felt like it. Not highlighting the young man’s rudeness and offering him to notice his prejudice provided a better teaching opportunity.

 With the knowledge of how I have been influenced to believe prejudices toward women in my childhood, as an educator I strive to recognize gender prejudices in children’s literature, movies, and television shows. Although raising questions each time I witness an inequity, I have to be mindful not to impose my views on others since my personal views would then become biases. Rather, engaging a conversation on the meaning and purpose of a page in a book may help raise awareness and shift behaviors. In these interactions, my own biases are kept in balance, enriched, and redefined with other people’s views.      

 

Another example of institutional prejudice can be found in the movie “Men of Honor” (2000) where Carl Brashear, an African-American, dreams to become a Master Chief Navy Diver.  Brashear is confronted with racism and has to overcome many hardships and obstacles.  As I was looking for information on the movie and the book written by David Robbins, I came upon a TV review raising a doubt about the main character’s integrity, therefore invalidating the purpose of the movie which to my understanding was to increase awareness on an American coming from a minority group whose dedication to his country and his courage would take him against all odds to the top level of his military career.  Here is the quote from Simels’ review in TVGuide:

“Heroes are hard to find, so it feels churlish to carp about a film that tells the true story of sailor Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who overcame systemic racism to become the U.S. Navy's first African-American deep-sea diver. On the other hand, it's a little odd that nobody involved — certainly not screenwriter Scott Marshall Smith or director George Tillman Jr. — seems to have noticed that it's also the story of a guy who literally cut off a limb to achieve a career goal. No disrespect to the real-life Brashear intended, but reasonable viewers might see this act as more masochistic and creepy than uplifting (Simels, n.a.)”

Interestingly, this article weaves biases and prejudices with positive comments and succeeds in creating a doubt in readers’ mind as to Brashear’s actual intention and the validity of his racial struggle.

Reference Simels, S. (n.a.). TV Guide. Retrieved from:  http://movies.tvguide.com/men-of-honor/review/134888

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 

 

 

Surely providing students with a safe environment means teaching them what to do and when to do things. There exists a fine line between teaching guidelines and imposing power over them. In a combined first and second class this week, a female first grader was subjected to the microaggression of a female second grader. Although this interaction involved two young girls, the issue at stake involving power puts weight in the scale of gender microaggression.

At the end of class, the teacher calls students one by one and asks them to get up, push in their chairs, and get in line, all in the target language. Most of the children are in line and the teacher calls the third to last student, a first grade girl. After giving her instructions to this student, the teacher directs her attention to a student who was engaging a conversation with a peer. Then, the teacher hearing “Yes, the teacher told me” and seeing that the student whom she had asked to get in line was standing in the middle of the classroom asked what the problem was. The first grade student answered that a (second grade) peer was saying that the teacher had not asked her to get in line and that she was not following instructions. The teacher confirmed that she had given her permission to join the line. Once in line, the teacher asked the first grader if the teacher had given instructions to get in line and the first grader acquiesced. The teacher continued and asked the student if she was doing the right thing by getting in line, and she replied yes. Then, the teacher encouraged her to continue to do what she was doing if she knew she was doing what she was supposed to and not give up her position of power.

 

 

Since the second grader had engaged in a power struggle with the first grader, the teacher needed the situation so the microaggression could be turned into a positive outcome. Rather than focusing on the second grader’s point of view, the teacher chose to help the first grader empower herself when she knows she is doing the right thing, not give up her rights, and stand tall.

Was it appropriate to disregard the second grader’s behavior in that case and risk making the student feel dismissed in what she thought was right? Since the second grader took upon her to take a leader’s role and boss her classmate, the teacher not paying attention to her attempt of gaining power stopped the student’s behavior. Also, not giving the second grader any attention turned the focus back on the first grader who was doing the right thing, and allowed her to feel proud of herself.

Microaggressions can take many forms namely racial, gender discrimination, sexual orientation, and are frequently unconscious and unintentional. However, those unconscious and unintentional microaggressionss are the most damaging. In this light, it is important to learn to recognize microaggressions in school and address them immediately.  Teaching children how to empower themselves may palliate a future where they will have to deal with discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in Everyday Life [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/

 

 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Before taking the class on “Culture, Diversity & Equity", my definition of culture and diversity would have been short because I would not have dared or thought to include the many influences listed in chapter one of Gonzalez-Mena’s book Diversity in Early Care and Education (2008):
“Race
Gender
Age
Abilities and disabilities
Language
Social class including status and economic level
Ethnicity and national origin
Religion and/or spiritual practice
Original geographic location of family, where I grew up, and present location (if different),
Sexuality, including sexual orientation” (p.9)

Even though I was aware of two levels of understanding for the term “identity” namely conscious (name, nationality, ethnicity, etc.) and the unconscious identity that one builds throughout their life developing their true identity, I did not apply this understanding to the word culture.   

Asking three of my friends what their definition of culture and diversity was, confirmed that we first consider others according to what surface culture reveals about others i.e. gender and assumptions from skin color such as ethnicity and religion which categorizes people into political camps (Ngo, 2008).

It was fun to sift through my friends list to select three of them that offer a different background, and I feel lucky that only one could not get back to me. The first set of definitions comes from a music teacher, an Asian-American woman in her twenties. Since we have had a few laughs on the account of misleading term Asian-American, it is best to express one of my friend’s identity as Taiwanese- American, since she was born in the United States of Taiwanese parents. The following is her definition of culture and diversity:

“Culture is the unique combination of one's heritage through the parents (past) and the forces of society that the individual has grown up in (present).”
“Diversity is the culmination of a vast range of different people from all backgrounds and ethnic groups.”

Clearly, her definition of culture includes interactions between the past and the present, the microcosm of family bathing in the macrocosm of society. I would say that the overarching unconscious force within each individual is missing from this definition.

Following is a second set of definitions from a nurse, a Caucasian woman in her sixties. Since we also shared good laughs around the misleading term Caucasian, it is fair to say that my friend is Italian-American being born in the U. S. from Italian parents. This is what she wrote regarding the terms culture and diversity:

“Thinking about culture; the environment/atmosphere that provides a reference for attitudes, ways of living, ways of thinking, ways of doing things, etc. Culture can be inborn, adopted, expanded, and changed. It’s not stagnant.”
“Diversity is the presence of many different cultures.”

If the definition of culture also referenced the “set of often unconscious rules that govern everything we do, impacted by gender, race, ethnicity, abilities, etc.”, the definition of diversity would be succinct and to the point (Laureate, Inc. 2011)

A third set of definitions was provided by an American male in his fifties. Is it appropriate to say Caucasian-American? Is there a Caucasian continent, north or south? What follows are his definitions of culture and diversity:

“Culture is about traditions of beliefs passed on through different expressions of society, teaching, religious, and political organizations that are expressed in many different ways such as music, news, and other sources.
From a cultural aspect, diversity is good because it causes people to think beyond the world they create for themselves. Diversity allows one to participate in the global society. If one would live in an isolated world, one would be isolated from diversity and would not experience the fullness that life can offer. There are always two sides of the coin; if you live in a non-diverse area, there is a richer life because there is no competitive culture. In a non-diverse culture, roots go deeper and one can draw from the culture in fuller ways. When the culture is too diverse, there is a shallow way of living. For example, when indigenous tribes were toppled over by the dominant culture, they could not compete with the import of new ideas which ruined what they had. Indigenous ideas were no more holistic and the people could not put their ideas back together.”

This last comment exemplifies an Objective Family Diversity defendant scrupulously trying to justify how a culture, perhaps a dominant culture, was able to crush another or others.

Thanks to this reaching out exercise, I am humbled to have been the recipient of heartfelt thoughts regarding important topics such as culture and diversity; important topics because they are in direct correlation with the education of our youngest population.

References

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education (5th ed., pp. 8–13). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Copyright 2008 by McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.. Reprinted by permission of McGraw-Hill Education, Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Culture and Diversity [Video webcast]. Retrieved on May 25, 2013 from https://class.waldenu.edu

Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond "culture clash": Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

 

 

 

 

 

My Family Culture

My father asked each of his daughters what they wanted to have from their mother. Our mother had just passed away. When my mother would wear her new watch, she was very proud and beamed of happiness as if the watch gave my mother renewed strength and hopes to better perform against her illness. The faithful tic-tac of my mom’s watch made feel close to her almost as if she was talking to me. Her passing taught me that even what you hold the dearest to your heart only lasts for a while and that no memorabilia can ever replace one’s loss. With this in mind, what 3 things would I take with me if I had to leave everything else behind? No doubt that I would take a picture of my family portraying my husband, my daughter and her husband, and my pets (2 of which were rescued by our daughter). Also, I would take a small round mirror with the picture of my 6 years old daughter wearing pig tails with red ribbons and a big smile with a missing tooth, and saying how much she loves life. The third thing I would want to travel with is a tiny envelop with ashes materialized by Sai Baba wrapped up with a horse hair that my daughter found on the ground of a ranch and offered me.    First, the photo of my family will remind me of my identity, who I am. It will also serve as my support in times of hardship when I think that nobody understands me and my life feels unreal. The photo will ground me, tell me that in the past I lived in circumstances where I had a family, with people who loved me and understood me. The photo of my family is a link to sanity. Perhaps, my hosts will be interested in learning about new ways and with this picture in hand; I will be able to explain my family culture and that of the dominant culture at the time. Secondly, the mirror connects to a past where my family had recently moved to California and we were all learning new ways. My daughter was wearing a charming white dress with tiny red dots that were passed on by the school director whose daughters had enjoyed wearing. This was a time of happiness, discovery, and learning. Third, my husband met our friend in an astronomy association in France. Both families shared similar interests and our relationship developed over the following six months after which we moved to the U.S. As a practitioner of Hinduism, he went to India a few times and once brought back a couple of tiny envelopes filled with ashes that Sai Baba manifested in one of his celebrations.  This item connects my family to the past and the future, to the visible and invisible, and is bound by a strong tie to life with the horse hair, a tie to our daughter who was then a teenager and on her way to becoming a responsible adult. In summary, the above represents what my family went through, the culture we have developed, and the ties that bound us together. If I had to involuntary leave my home for any reason, I would question the instructions. Therefore, if I were told that of the three items I could only bring one, I would be disappointed but not too surprised. Of the three items, I would cherish the most the photo of the people closest to me. By and large, this exercise revealed that my family’s culture is not centered on “race, ethnicity, religion, class, parenting patterns, economic, and language” as I used to think (Laureate, Inc, 2011). Undoubtedly, those aspects of culture are factored into my family’s culture but what came out of this exercise is that my family is more dependent on building relationships through interests in human nature, than on cultural differences. It seems to me that showing an interest in children and families’ culture should start from a genuine interest in people: children and their families. To my surprise, love of one’s family and relationships took the precedence over all other aspects of culture. What I learned from taking on the role of a refugee in a place where my culture and perhaps language were unknown highlighted that being recognized and valued as a whole complex human being was crucial to my well-being. Since I had lost everything else, my new hosts would serve me well if they showed genuine interest and compassion in everything I may represent for them. If they wanted to create another relationship where their culture and mine would mesh, I would be honored as being the foundation of our new relationship.