Continuing the Journey...

This week, I would like to take the time to thank my Walden Family and send out "Well Wishes" to everyone.  One hope and goal I wish to accomplish is raising awareness to the culture of oppression that is innate to most societies. I am hoping awareness will change individual perspective which will eventually change collective perspectives.  In the words of Frederick Douglass: "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men".  Therein lies why I believe in early childhood; the teachers I train will benefit from the information I received from this class thus presenting a diverse perspective to the children in our care.
One very idealistic view I have for the early childhood field is for the professionals to cater to the emotional state of those around them, children and adults alike.  Only by truly believing in and living a life that respects diversity will we actually be able to teach children how to do so thus beginning to remove the culture of oppression and build a culture of mutual respect for individualism.
This class has been extremely enlightening.  I am finding that it is something that I am passionate about because I have began to apply it to my personal and professional life.  I find myself getting frustrated when those around me fail to understand why certain things are forms of oppression but understand this is a journey for me who was lucky enough to have taken this class but others are not even aware thus making it my responsibility to do so.
I thank Dr. Sheri for her dedication to the field and appreciate the time and the comments throughout the past eight weeks.  I appreciate her and my colleagues for the support and openness we share in recent weeks and hope and pray everyone's success in the future.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Annie P. :)

Serving Foreign Families

As early childhood professionals preparing to serve families from foreign countries should one aspect of preparedness taken into account.  Issues such as the language spoken, the dominant culture practiced, gender roles, family structure, and customs popular with children are things that can arm a professional with tools to provide effective service.  Understanding a country's history and how it came to be today might also give professionals great insight into a country's practiced culture.
Were I, a literacy coach, tasked with serving a family from Istanbul, Turkey, the very first thing I would do is research the history of the country and the city and some popular customs and beliefs.  I would learn family structures, religion practiced, and popular customs and beliefs.  I would need to know some cultural aspects that I could possibly do that might be taken offensively because I do not wish to alienate them from the program.
After doing research about country and Istanbul, I have learned the following and more:

1. Government: Republican parliamentary democracy (CIA Library, 2013)
2. Their independence day: October 29, 1923 (CIA Library, 2013)
3. Their flag:
4. Ethnic groups: Turkish 70-75%, Kurdish 18%, other minorities 7-12% (2008 est.) (CIA Library, 2013)
5. Languages spoken: Turkish (official), Kurdish,  (CIA Library, 2013) Arabic, Armenian, Greek (National Geographic, 2013)
6. Religion practiced:  Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews) (CIA Library, 2013)
7. 87% of the population is literate (National geographic, 2013)
8. Istanbul is the only city in the world that lies on two continents, Europe and Asia. (Turkey travel centre, 2013)
9. The country suffers from numerous military coups(1960, 1971, 1980, 1984) (CIA Library, 2013)

The information provided above will help me understand the families culture which will better equipped me with tools I need to respect the family's individuality.
In addition to doing research, I would prepare in the following ways:

1. Elicit the help of an interpreter after learning the language spoken by the family.
2. Create a diversity board with the flags of all the countries of the families we serve in addition to pictures of historical sites from all the countries
3. I would create a list of questions and/or a to-do list inquiring about the language, the family structure, the religion practiced, a list of things they find unacceptable, and provide them with a family handbook in their language, a list of expectations the program will have of them, a list of skills and teachings to which their child (ren) will exposed.
4. Make sure that my teachers are as informed as I am about the family.

The interpreter will help us communicate.  The diversity board with pictures of historical site is an attempt to make them feel welcome and provide a piece of home at school.  The list of questions is to keep my teachers and I informed because research only provides general information and a baseline for knowing the right questions to ask the family.  Ensuring that my teachers are as informed as I am will provide effective service to the family.


References:
http://www.turkeytravelcentre.com/blog/culture-traditions/
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/turkey-facts/

Experiencing Bias, Prejudice, & Oppression

Witnessing bias, prejudice and oppression is a natural occurrence for individuals belonging to social identities considered inferior and/or invisible.  Almost daily I witness teachers telling crying students “Nothing is wrong with you so stop crying”.  My male friends constantly dish out sexist comments such as “women are sensitive, emotional, “trifling”” as if men can do no wrong.  My female counterparts tear at each other every chance they get.  My co-workers have been known to step on one another in order to get ahead and I find myself falling into stereotypes about other groups.  A co-worker approached me last week and stated “That was so unprofessional, this is why I don’t deal with your people” and thought that because she was biracial (black and white) her comment was not racist.  Even after I challenged her by stating “For one you’re grouping me in with African Americans and I can tell you my culture is somewhat different. Secondly, you’re invalidating my heritage by stating that I do not know how to be professional because you have deal with one or two or even three black people who were unprofessional.  Your statement is even more disrespectful because we have been working together for four year and have never known me to be unprofessional.  You, yourself have stated that I might be the most professional of all your co-workers.”  I shake my head at these types of interactions and prior to this diversity course I probably would not have challenged her on the comment.

            To be quite frank the interaction did not incite all negative feelings because of the diversity class in which I am currently enrolled.  I did realize how passionate I have become about issues of diversity but understood that she was a victim of her environment and if I continue to allow instances such as this one go on unchallenged I would be just as responsible as society for the isms it created.  I would be supporting the inequity it creates for those social groups who are marginalized and oppressed.  From our interaction I could easily assume that the likelihood of our organization hiring a black own business was slim to none but because I challenge her on the comment and made her realize how much she valued me as an employee and how sound my work ethics was, I challenged the racists recordings (Margles & Margles, 2010) she inherited from her culture and reminded her of her black half.  I showed her the “your people” she referred to in that statement included her father and how would he feel if he overheard her statement.  I believe I did use the opportunity to create greater opportunities for equity and forced her to reflect on the comment she made.

References

Margles, S., & Margles, R. M. (2010). Inverting racism's distortions. Our Schools/Our Selves,

19(3), 137—149