A FORUM FOR COMMUNITY ISSUES : Making a Difference : One Teacher’s Approach: Stopping Racism Early

Not only can 3- and 4-year-old children recognize racial and gender bias when they see it, they can understand behavior, says Louise Derman-Sparks, a teacher at Pasadena’s Pacific Oaks College. By the time a child is 8 years old, she adds, it may be difficult to effectively erase bias. And she believes some traditional approaches to eliminating prejudice may not accomplish what’s intended.

Her book, “Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children,” written with the help of preschool teachers, has been adopted in teaching programs and pre-schools in Southern California and nationally.

Goals of Anti-Bias Training:

* Develop each child’s positive self-and group identity.

* Help the child have confident, understanding interactions with people from all backgrounds.

* Teach children to recognize biases of all kinds, as they affect themselves and others.

* Show children how to stand up for themselves and for others. Show that injustice can be corrected.

Anti-Bias Education Methods:

* Give the child books and toys that show many races and cultures accurately and as they are today.

* Discuss differences, such as skin color, especially when asked.

* Teach that the dominant culture is not homogeneous: It is actually divided into several smaller groups.

* Find ways for children to spend time with children from other groups.

* Talk about people who have fought prejudice.

* Teach he child how to protest injustice.

Traditional Anti-Bias Approaches and Why they Don’t Work

Dominant-Culture Approach: Dominant-culture children are seen as the “norm,” making all others feel inferiors. Minorities are taught to conform.

Color-Denial Approach: Based on the belief that noticing difference promotes prejudice, its message is: “We are all Euro-white, or ought to be.”

Tourist-Multicultural Approach: Treats all but the dominant culture as quaint and reinforces stereotypes; by stressing holidays and traditional dress, it does not picture other cultures in their daily lives or modern settings. This is currently the most common approach to dealing with diversity.