Teaching Children about Diversity: Teacher Edition Part II

This Scholarly Mommy's "free time" has sure been limited these days.  You know what though? I started this blog to stay up to date with the world of education.  I may not have been posting much but I have been up to date with the world of educating an almost 2 year old boy.  I am learning so much with this young human being and sincerely enjoying every minute I have with him.  He has recently started talking and I think it is so awesome how he switches back and forth from English and Spanish.  My husband and I are so proud of him as should every other parents be of their children.  For those who celebrate the upcoming holidays: Thanksgiving & Christmas, enjoy! I love this time of year.  We get to spend it with family and basically take time out from hectic everyday life.

As promised Part II of the Teacher Edition:

Evaluating Yourself and Your Classroom

            As multicultural education we must recognize our own bias and prejudice before we try to help others.  Ask yourself, am I bias, homophobic, prejudice, racist, sexist; do I stereotype?  Once you are comfortable to recognize your bias with others, others will be comfortable recognizing it too.  Evaluate your classroom; make sure that it is anti-bias.   The Anti-Defamation League (2002) provides a checklist to identify strengths and needs of the environment, answering “we do this well” or “needs improvement”; some examples follow: 

·         Does the physical environment contain images of people from diverse backgrounds (for example, diverse cultures and religions, and people of different ages)?

·         Does the physical environment include images that counter existing stereotypes (for example, a Mexican physician instead of a Mexican in a sombrero taking a siesta)?

·         Does the physical environment include images of diverse people engaged in everyday dress and activities, as opposed to ancient or ceremonial dress?

·         Does the physical environment include images of people with a range of different abilities, body types, socioeconomic groups, or neighborhoods; do they interact with one another?

·         Does the physical environment include images and toys that counter gender stereotypes (for example, women demonstrating physical strength and men performing domestic tasks, or caring for children)?

·          Do textbooks and other literature include content and illustration that reflect the experiences of people from a diverse background?

You might not have each of the criteria accomplished in your classroom, but each year an improvement can be made.      
      

Conclusion (The Assessment)

           

            It is wrong to think that a curriculum like this is going to magically change the world at once?  Multicultural education is defined differently throughout research.  It does seek to create an environment in which all children are treated and educated equally.  How can the success of this curriculum be determined?  I believe that time will tell.  In a preschool classroom I taught, I knew that the multicultural education was a success.  A three year old knew what country each child was from, some foods they liked to eat and words in their language.  The children would take imaginary trips to each others country and do fun things that they liked to do when they were there.  They even knew where all of there teachers were from and they loved learning about their different countries.  I believe that within time the children’s interest will be greater; not only to know more about the countries they already know about but the countries that are new to them.  It is a great feeling to see these interactions amongst the children.  Some of these materials and activities were not even provided.  I can only imagine the results of multicultural education would be integrated entirely. 
 When you try to measure the success of integrating multicultural education into the classroom you might not be able disappointed or discouraged.  I measure the success depending on the social interaction between the students.  Are they more respectful of each other? Are they interested in learning more about each other?  I consider it a success when just one child has demonstrated these social skills.  I believe that once one student has demonstrated these skills, other will follow. 


Wow? That's it?! Yeap. That was the conclusion to that paper... Not much, huh?! I'm figuring things out as I have this blog.  Even though people enjoy reading research they are mostly interested on what you have to say in an impersonal way.  I guess I had planned to continue with the 3rd series, Teaching Children Diversity" Principal edition but I am kind of bored with that.  I want to express myself more.  Although, I have just with papers I wrote in the past.  I'd like to think I'm a wee bit wiser now (hopefully).  So soon, I will post, What is culture? Mostly just my thoughts, some research thrown in, but that's what its going to be for now.  If you are a principal or administrator and are curious about the paper I wrote on Teaching Children Diversity you can email me thescholarlymommy@gmail.com and I will share it with you.
     

 

Teaching Children about Diversity: Teacher Edition Part I

Being a Stay at Home can sure make you busy and tired!  I feel like I have not posted in forever, this month had been very busy for us.  We went to Puerto Rico to visit my family.  I came back reflecting on the meaning of culture and what it has become.  That will be what I write about next, it might not be something backed up by data but will be my reflection.  I need a lot of time to organize those thoughts though.

I hope I am helping at least one person become more open-minded and helping them realize how important this topic is.  This edition is concentrated on teachers, mostly teachers who teach preschool and the early elementary years although you should not limit it to such.  You can most definitely read and adapt to your focus group, whether you are a Homeschooling mom/dad or you teach high school.

I have researched this topic for many years so I will mostly be adding to this post from papers I have written in the past.  I figure that instead of having it stored away collecting cyber dust, where no one can see it, post it where it may help teachers out there.  I will post in two parts since these papers are so long.  This first section will discuss the classroom, the next section will be shorter discussing Assessment and Evaluation. 

I would like to thank "you all" (a southern phrase I have picked up) for reading my blog and providing me feedback, you may do so anytime by email thescholarlymommy@gmail.com, you can "like" my page on Facebook "The Scholarly Mommy" and you can follow me on Twitter "scholarlymommy".  Thanks Again!!

I will not be copy pasting the whole paper just sections of it.  I have permission from the author, don't worry, she's pretty cool.

How to Integrate Multicultural Education into the Everyday Life of a Young Child

In the next twenty years, fifty-five percent of public school students will be considered part of a racial or ethnic minority group and twenty-seven percent may speak another language other than English (The National Center for Education Statistics, 2005).  Many schools have recognized that this is a fact and have initiated an integration of multicultural education; other schools may be reluctant to do so.  There are a variety of reasons in which a school or a teacher might deny to commence the integration of multiculturalism into the classroom.  Huber (2000) mentions four reasons:

§  Some teachers report that “we are all alike here” or “we don’t see color here” and fail to recognize that culture has a considerable influence on the lives of both children and staff.

§  Teachers may not feel they know enough about another culture to feel comfortable providing materials and answering children’s questions.

§  Teachers may feel that they are already incorporating some multicultural materials in the classroom.

§  A teacher may not know what props or materials would be appropriate for the classroom.

What do teachers need to know in able to provide a genuine multicultural experience in the classroom?  Where should a teacher start?  What materials and lessons should be included?

Many might believe that the purpose of multicultural education is to teach “White” kids about all other cultures.  This is simply not true.  The beauty of multicultural education is that it is used to teach each child of every race about all other races, including the American culture.  By no means should the American culture be left out of the picture.  This curriculum is a way to embrace and equally value cultural diversity within the Untied States (York, 2003).  Each year, before school begins, teachers should try their best to seek information of the children they will have in their classroom.  If this is not possible, the first week of class, the teacher should survey the families, to learn about their culture and traditions.  This can even be part of one of your first projects of the year.  For this purpose the questions are addressed to the children and are filled out with the help of their family.   This survey should have a variety of questions such as this Family History Questionnaire (Derman-Sparks, 1989):

1.      I was born in _____?

2.      My mother’s name is _____.  She was born in _____.

3.      My father’s name is _____.  He was born in_____.

4.      My mother’s parents live or lived in ____.  They were born in ____ and _____.

5.      My father’s parents live or lived in ____.  They were born in ____ and _____.

6.      Did my grandparents or great-grandparents come from another country? Which person?  Which country?

7.      What is my family’s cultural/ethnic heritage?

8.      Does our family have special customs or traditions?  What are they?

9.      Tell a story about a special relative who’s important to our family.

This questionnaire is only an example; many questions can be added or taken out.  Once all this information is gathered it is the teacher’s duty to create and environment where each culture is represented one way or another.  The most important aspect about multicultural education is that children learn and accept themselves.  When this occurs, they are ready to learn and accept other cultures and individuals.   

Play

In Early Childhood Education, it is understood that children learn best through play.  When Kieff (1994) asked a community of teachers and parents to define play, this is what they responded:     

“Play is a child’s work.”

            “Play is the way children express themselves.”

            “Play is fun.”

            “Play is the way children learn about their world.”

            “Play is how children get along.”

A great way to facilitate play in the classroom is through learning based centers, others may call them stations, or areas.  Depending on the space and materials there is a variety of centers that a child may choose to play at:

            - Blocks

            - Discovery/Science

            - Math/Manipulatives

            -  Art

            - Technology/Computer

            - Library/Reading/Quiet Area

            - Dramatic Play

            - Sensory (Sand & Water)

            - Music & Movement

Whether it is integrating a variety of toys and materials or offering activities in such areas,   these centers are a great opportunity to expose children to different cultures. To provide information for teachers that can help the process of integrating multicultural education into a preschool classroom, I will offer a list of toys and materials and activities that can be added to each area.

- Block Area  

 The block area is a great opportunity for children to develop hand-eye coordination and spatial relations.  Multicultural materials such as posters of different types of homes, along with palm leaves, coconut branches, corn husks, pine branches, bark, pine needles, craft sticks, stones, and straw for creating roofs, houses and branches (York, 2003). Miniature people in every day dress that are different in age, culture and abilities, and a wide variety of animals are other items that can be added to his area.

- Discovery/Science Area

So many activities can encourage children to observe, explore, classify, compare and measure.  Children can observe as different types of plants, fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers from many different countries.  This would be a great opportunity to mention how different countries use these items for different things.  Another fun activity is cooking.  Make special recipes such as flan, baklava, and breads from different countries.  A cool experiment that can be offered in the classroom is dyeing cloth as Native Americans did by boiling plants to make dye: beets = red, spinach = green, blackberries = blue (Saul & Saul, 2001).

- Math/Manipulative Area

Want to introduce numbers and counting?  Write the numbers from 1 to 10 in separate pages.  Print out the symbol for that number in another language such as Mandarin or Japanese.  Then use items native to that country to represent the number on that page.  What to introduce patterns?  Bring different fabrics; some may even be hand-made.  These are usually made up of patterns.  See if the children can recognize color and shape patterns.

- Art 

Encourage the children to make self-portraits.  If the children want to use paint, have them mix different colors to create the color that most resembles their skin.  The next day, you can encourage them to make a portrait of their friend as well as mixing different colors to get the color of their friend’s skin.  Later, have them compare the colors.  They will figure out that no two colors are the same.  Teachers can also look at different artists and their techniques.  What inspired that artist to create such art?  Was it their country, or another culture?

- Technology/Computer Area

It’s amazing what children can do with computers these days.  A three year old in my classroom used the backspace to delete another friends name and typed her own name in, then pressed the enter key in order to sign in to the game.  Having a variety of games and child safe website will provide them with real life pictures, video clips, music and games.  Encyclopedias for kids are also a great resource to have when children start to inquire about different traditions.  In http://pbskids.org/ and http://pbskids.org/go/ there are games such as Maya and Miguel, It’s a Big Big World and Dragon Tales among other games that expose children to diversity and different languages.

- Library/Reading/Quiet Area

So much to read in so little time!  There are so many books teachers can use to integrate multiculturalism in the classroom.  Be careful!  Many books can be biased and teachers need review the books before placing them on the shelves.  Here are some guidelines that Stacey York (2003) provides to have in mind when selecting multicultural literature:

- Illustrations:  Are they stereotypical, exaggerated, depicting, or racist?

- Characters of Color: Do people wear suitable clothing?

- Relationship between White People and People of Color:  Are people of color underrepresented in comparison to white?

- Story Line:  Does the book contain loaded words, are the family relations stereotypical?

- Author and Illustrator:  Are they qualified to deal with this subject matter?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to listen to a story in its native language?  Set it up!  Invite people to the classroom.  Many are willing to do so much more than read; they’ll sing and dance with the children, they will bring art activities, just ask!

- Dramatic Play Area 

Children learn to dress themselves, to button, zipper and snap.  Children become mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.  They are chefs, mail carriers, princes and princesses.  This area encourages children to interact with each other.  It is very important to allow children to have freedom of play because they learn a lot about themselves and others.  The dramatic play area can be transformed into so many places, but to accommodate these transformations we must have lots of props!  We can have two types of clothing: those used for celebrations and those that are used as other culture’s daily dress.  It is important to let the children know that traditional clothing is not worn everyday, most of them wear regular clothing similar us (Huber, 2000).  Other props that should be brought in are multicultural play food, cooking utensils, dolls among others.

- Sensory (Sand & Water)


Sensory tables are used to introduce textures and liquids.  Providing different fabrics, soils, and sand can take a child to another place.  A sand table can have toy camels and create patterns that the wind would create on the dessert sand.  In the water table a child can be taken to Alaska where there may be icebergs and learn about the Inuit tribe hunting for blue whales.  It’s a world of possibilities.

- Music & Movement

One of the most powerful resources a teacher has is music.  It’s fun, educational and its freedom to move as you feel.  Provide different types of instruments or make them!  Bring in different styles of music will offer the children a genuine experience of other cultures.  Inviting others to dance for them and with them; inviting others to play instruments for them and with them, are unforgettable experiences. 

Theme/Units

           

            Whether its emergent, project-based, or thematic instruction, there can always be ways of integrating multicultural education.  A thematic unit about ME! is relatively easy to prepare.  In this type of unit you focus on the individual first then others.  How about other units?  One unit that is popular is transportation.  How can we integrate multicultural education in the theme of transportation?  We can start by asking the children, what is transportation?  You might come up with a definition that states it takes you places.  Now many of us that live in the United States instantly think of cars, buses, taxis, planes, boats, etc.  How about the children who are from other countries?  They may use camels, horses, bicycles, and even other people.  It’s important to learn that despite our different traditions and cultures we have many things in common.  

            Another theme you might run into as a preschool teacher is animals.  This topic can go into the Rainforest, the Desert, the Ocean and other places.  Questions we can ask are where these animals live, what countries are they usually found and what is their interaction with the society around them.  Are these animals valued, protected or are they an important resource of food?  It is up to us to listen to children’s conversations and observe the way they play.  Teachers will learn how the children view the world and we can also realize what might be of interest to them next. 

 Birthdays & Holidays

           

            Birthdays and holidays are a great way to involve children in other cultures.  Now is the time to take out the surveys that were filled out in the beginning of the year.  A birthday is an international event.  Birthdays are celebrated differently throughout the world.  Make a classroom holiday out of each child’s birthday.  How would that family celebrate the child’s birthday?  Can it be done?  If so, have the other children participate in activities that the birthday child’s culture usually participates in.  The birthday child will feel very special and the other children in the classroom will have the opportunity to learn more about their friend that has just added one year to their life.     

Holidays are also international.  They may not be the same but most cultures have them.  The first holidays on your list should be those that your families celebrate.  This is a great opportunity to invite families as well as members of the community to be a part of their child’s classroom.  We will all have much to learn from all cultures.  Here are a couple of suggestions for involving parents and community in these celebrations (Bisson, 1997):

- Ask for ideas about what activities would be appropriate to provide for children.

- Welcome family members who would like to come in and lead an activity, such as cooking a holiday dish with the children or helping to decorate the classroom.

- Communicate to families ahead of time about what you are planning to do in the classroom, so parents or guardians can let you know if they have anything to contribute or any concerns. 

Many of these holidays may be religious based.  We have to keep in mind that we want to have a celebration; it should not be a time for preaching but an opportunity to learn about another culture.  Some families might have religious views that don’t permit them to celebrate certain holidays or even birthdays.  It is important to have communication with the families to reach an agreement and understanding about these holidays.  Birthdays and holidays should be a way to celebrate diversity! 

            

Teaching Children about Diversity: Parent Edition

This topic has been difficult to put into words.  I feel that when I talk about diversity I have to be nice to not step on any toes.  That's what has taken me so long to begin writing this entry.  Finally I decided, I'm not going to be careful and just say what I'm going to say.

How to Begin

How do you talk about diversity to your children?  Some may say, my children are too young or they haven't asked about it yet.  Do you know what to say?  This may not be an "easy" topic to discuss or you may not know what to say.  I want to help you.

The first thing to remember is that diversity is not just about people from different countries.  Diverse is anyone who is different than you in any way.  This includes but not limited to race, gender, ability, nationality, sexual orientation, family set-up, economic status, appearance, religion; basically anything that makes us who we are: our culture.

Another question that may be asked in regards to teaching children about diversity is, Why is it necessary?  There are so many answers to that question.

Children begin to construct their identity-to understand who they are-from understanding their own culture and by responding to how others see and relate to them.  To form a positive self-concept, children need to honor and respect their own culture and to have others honor it and respect it, too (Kaiser & Sklar-Rasminsky, 2003).   


The earlier parents become aware of how issues of gender, race, culture and disabilities influence child rearing, the more chances there will be for teachers and parents working together to promote children's anti-bias development (Derman-Sparks, 1989).

I believe it is important to teach children about diversity so they are able to function in the real world.  Many times as parents we shield our children from the world, later when they are independent and confront certain situations they do not know how to deal with them.  Bottom line, we need to teach our children that it's OK to be different.

Setting an example


Children mimic the things we do as early as the infant stage.  Our children watch our every move.  This is how they learn.  We must take this opportunity to set an example and be good role models for our children.  We will directly and indirectly teach our children how to treat others.

We must reflect on our current condition before we begin telling our children treat people a certain way if we are not living up to that standard. 

As teachers and parents, we inadvertently teach our own biases.  It's important for each of us to examine our possible biases and learn how they may influence children-and how to reduce, handle, or even eliminate them (NAEYC, 1989).

Watch out for biases, stereotypes, and prejudism! 

Derman-Sparks & the ABC Task Force (1989) includes several definitions of the terms we discuss:

Bias: Any attitude, belief, or feeling that results in, and helps to justify, unfair treatment of an individual because of his or her identity.

Example: Boys are better at math.

Stereotype: An oversimplified generalization about a particular group, race, or sex, which usually carries derogatory implication.

Example: Portraying a Mexican in a picture as a man wearing a sombrero, taking a siesta wearing a poncho.

Prejudice: An attitude, opinion, or feeling formed without adequate prior knowledge, thought, or reason.

Example:  Assuming Asians are bad drivers.

We all have the right to our opinion and belief but it is our duty to respect others and teach our children the same.  We must agree to disagree being able to hear others opinion and think , "I respect that, but I disagree".

These are ways you can be mindful and respectful when it comes to diversity; teaching your children to act the same:

1.  Use correct terminology/vocabulary to describe people. For example:

-Instead of saying Indian, say Native American.

-Instead of saying deaf, say hearing impaired.

-Use gender neutral terms such as mail carrier, instead of saying mail man.

- Say United States instead of America.  This is a personal suggestion.  We are The United States of America, there is North America and South America, we are not the only America there is.  I feel it is more appropriate to say United States.  Just my opinion.

I don't think that there is a reason to purposely teach these concepts to your children.  There is no reason to point out differences in people.  When talking about a certain group you should be mindful though, and give them an appropriate title.

2.  Don't assume! When in doubt, ask!

- When you are not sure about one's background, just ask! If you don't want to ask, look it up!

-Just because a person might look like they can be from another country, doesn't mean they are. 

3. Respect religions.

- Just because someone doesn't share your religion or spiritual beliefs does not make them a bad person.

- If your child asks about a religion different than yours don't say they are wrong or that they are going to hell.  Explain that everyone has different beliefs, explain what you believe and the difference.  There is no need to teach your children to discriminate against others because they don't believe the same way you do.  This is the perfect time to reflect the belief system that you carry with you.

4. Gender Stereotyping



- If your child mentions that they want to work in a certain field don't discourage it because you may have notions that this career is for a particular sex.  Children will express interest in a certain career when they want to know more about it.  Take this opportunity to teach your child about this interest. 

Bottom line is that we have to teach our children to respect others.  I am not saying that we should erase our own culture and beliefs.  Children should be taught about their heritage, this gives them a sense of identity.  We need to help our children understand that because we think a certain way others should too.  Imagine a world where there were respect towards one another.  Would this world be different than the one we live in?

At home

At home you can do several things to teach about diversity. Here is a list from which to start with:
Provide a variety of books for your child to read from.  Provide books that teach about your heritage as well as others.  Provide books that include pictures of different children and adults, steer away from books that may send the wrong message.

Here is a list of some books that are great tools to teach children about diversity:

How My Parents Learned to Eat  by Ina R. Friedman
I Love My Hair! by Natasha Tarpley
Baby Dance (Harper Growing Tree) by Ann Taylor
Stinky the Bulldog by Jackie Valent
The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

Nowadays, advertisement and media has seen the value of showing diversity.  This is necessary for them to sell a product and to a larger group.  This is a good thing but we should still pick and choose what is appropriate for our children to be constantly exposed to.  If your child watches t.v., expose them to programs that celebrate diversity.  While I do not watch a lot of TV or even have cable, here is a list of shows I am familiar with which I believe are appropriate.  There are probably many more, feel free to add them as a comment if you would like to mention more.

Seseame Street (PBS)
Maya & Miguel (PBS)
Dora the Explorer (Nick Jr.)
Ni Hao Kai Lan (Nick Jr.)

I would also like to provide you with several websites of organizations that address this topics and can give you additional information.

http://www.tolerance.org/
www.naeyc.org/
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/keith.html
http://www.pbs.org/topics/parenting/
http://www.adl.org/

Teaching children about diversity is a life-long commitment.  There will always be an opportunity to teach about this subject.  There may be some topics here you agreed with and some that you did not.  That is okay, it's OK to pick and choose what you want to teach your children and what fits with your lifestyle.  While I am very committed to what say, I can't tell you what to do, right?  This is a choice that you have to make, and whether or not you will choose to teach your children about diversity a little or a lot.  I respect your decision, which ever you may choose, but I sure hope that you can join me in my quest to teach our children to respect and appreciate one another.   

In my next blog I will discuss how teachers can teach about diversity.  This will be a more hands on approach including topics such as activities and toys to use, etc.  You are your child's first and life-long teacher.  This future topic will not exclude parents and home schooled children. 

Teaching Children about Diversity

As I debated what to write about next, I came across a conversation about diversity a group of mommies were having. Then I asked myself, "Why did you even debate about what to write about?" This is my thing, I love discussing and teaching about diversity.

I'd like to open this series with a mini discussion about diversity. I would like to discuss:

• What is diversity?

• What is multicultural education?

Before I get technical, I want to put these terms into my own words.

The topic of multicultural education is very dear to my heart. As a Christian, I see it as loving thy neighbor. People are different and God made us that way. Christ loves everyone without exceptions and I believe that it is our job to love people without exceptions as well. The beauty of this topic is that even if you don't have the same spiritual views as me, you are still open to learn what I think. 

Love is a complicated word, isn't it? You may think, well it's impossible to love everyone. That may be true; it just depends on how you define love. I've had these lyrics stuck in my head this whole week, a song by Kirk Franklin titled, "Love"

Love, a word that comes and goes, but few people really know what it means to really love somebody...

I like how Rich Deem describes love:

Everybody seems to believe that love is a good thing. However, not all agree what is love. Is love that warm touchy-feely feeling a person has when he is with a familiar person? According to the Bible, love is caring in action. Love isn't what we feel, but what we do.

I'd like to add my two cents and say that love is a tree and on that tree there are different branches. Each branch is love but in a different way. This tree has literally millions of branches and all serve their purpose. I'm not even going to try to mention what each of them are. I do want to mention one though, respect. This is one way to love thy neighbor. This may not be the kind of love that makes you want to go hug a person (that's a different branch). This branch helps you accept the fact that others don't think like you.

As a member of society, I preach about multicultural education as love in disguise, teaching about different branches of love especially respect, acceptance and tolerance.

What is diversity?

Very simple. The word diversity means, "different" as in not the same; unlike each other.

When I mention the word “Diversity” or diverse I will refer to differences in people. 

What is multicultural education?

Multicultural education is a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques and responds to discriminatory policies and practices in education. It is grounded in ideals of social justice, education equity, critical pedagogy, and a dedication to providing educational experiences in which all students reach their full potentials as learners and as socially aware and active beings, locally, nationally, and globally (Gorski, 2010).

I especially agree with the last sentence previously mentioned.  Multicultural education provides common ethics in relation to human interactions.  When children learn about multicultural education they are taught how to respect, accept and tolerate others different than them.   

   

Many can agree that the main purpose of multicultural education is to combat prejudice, discrimination, eliminate stereotypes, increase self-esteem and function better in community (Angelo & Dixey, 2001, Derman-Sparks, 1989, Lutz & Kuhlman, 2000, McJilton, 2002).  It is also important to mention that multicultural education does not limit itself by teachings of other countries.  When culture is mentioned, it includes (but not limited to) gender, age, abilities, disabilities and economic status.  Prejudice and stereotyping begins when a person does not have sufficient information on a culture or an individual.  When information and personal experience is provided there is less chance for bias and assumptions.  This culture or individual is now familiar and comments and actions towards them will tend to be accurate and appropriate (LeRose, 2007).  

My next blog entries will be about the following topics:

• How parents can teach their children about diversity.

• How teachers can teach about diversity in the classroom.

• How administrators/principals can promote and foster diversity in their schools.

Reflection

How do you talk to your children about diversity? Have you had any of these discussions? Care to share?

Education in Puerto Rico Needs Intervention, ASAP! Part II

August 10, 2011, nap time here, all is calm. I enjoy the calm, but I need action too! You get plenty of action being a Stay at Home Mom, not a lot of calm which is why I love being a SAHM. Society may look down on women or men who decide to stay home, but who better to teach ethics, morals and values to their children? I'm not by any means, putting down working mothers and fathers; they too are worthy of praise. We should reflect on what we teach our children. This is what makes up our culture and our society.

What does research say about ethics, morals and values?

At the end of my last entry (Education in PR Needs Intervention ASAP, Part I) I said that the major problem and the blame for the poor public education system in Puerto Rico (and the US) is the lack of ethics, morals and values. What is the meaning ethics, morals and values? If you were to look at a thesaurus you would find that these words are synonyms to each other. Does that mean that they have the same definition? The way I see it is that they are a family, each related to one other, each having different functions.

Dictionary.com defines ethics as the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics. Basically, a whole bunch a rules a group of people thought were reasonable expectations for humans to abide by.

Ethics is the study of what constitutes a moral life; an ethics is a summary, systematic statement of what is necessary to live a moral life (Starratt, 2004). Now, I don't want to underestimate my readers but if you are anything like me you need to read this over and over to gain some kind of comprehension (nobody said being a scholar was easy). Let me try to explain. Ethics is the study of what makes up a moral life; an ethics is a way to tell you what you need to do to live a moral life. The people who say what is and is not ethical are called Ethicists.

As Starratt (2004) explains,

Ethicists attempt to bring intelligibility to and draw out the intrinsic logic of what constitutes a moral life-and, of course, what constitutes its opposites-and why.

Now, its not like there is a Facebook group to join called, "Ethicists: we know how to live, yo." These groups have been around forever. Take Christians, for example, the ethicists in this group were those who wrote the Bible, and other Christian leaders who have been an example and had an impact on society.

Dictionary.com defines morals as principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct. In other words, the way you choose to live your life.

Starratt (2004) states:

"Morality is the living, the acting out of ethical beliefs and commitments."

I'm going somewhere with all this I promise...
 

Ethics.org defines values as core beliefs that guide and motivate attitudes and actions. In other words values are principals one believes are the way to live, act or behave.

According with everything that has previously been mentioned, ethics are the rules, morals are the way you follow those rules and values are your thoughts towards ethics and morals. The thing about philosophy is that it can totally be subjective. One group of people may believe it to be this way and the other that way.

In chapter 3 of Starratt's book Building an Ethical School, he discusses The Foundational Qualities of an Ethical Person. I would like to quote just one sentence from this chapter. This sentence I believe gets to the bottom of what I am trying to get to.

"I believe that the truly ethical person acts as an autonomous agent, acts within the supports and constraints of relationships, and acts in ways that transcend immediate self-interest."
 

When Starratt mentions autonomous agent, he means a person that is independent enough to know what is the correct way to behave in certain situations with other people. He also describes this ethical person as one who is constantly trying to achieve excellence, (not a conformist) and who's goal go beyond his/her personal agenda.

When I say that society lacks ethics, morals and values I mean, we've joined that popular Ethicists group who say, "just live your life". We follow trends of a society that don't care what is right or wrong just as long as it benefits thy self. Basically, we only care about ourselves and that close group that surrounds us. We are trying to survive at any means possible.

Puerto Rico! Stop being so selfish and proud! (Most Puerto Ricans are reading this and giving the computer screen the evil eye but I can say it because I know what I'm talking about). How bad are things that commercials have been created and aired on TV asking our society, "Que nos pasa Puerto Rico?" (What is going on with us, PR?) If you don't believe me, watch them for yourself. This campaign was aired on local TV and had several advertisements around the island questioning our lack of ethics, morals and values. Towards the end of the commercial it states, "Puerto Rico can improve, each day there are more of us recovering our values."

　

Easy as that, huh? If only it were that easy, right? Well my job is to make you reflect on our current situation and maybe encourage you to go the extra mile. I'm not perfect, far from it. Of course there are moments (lots of them) when I'm not the most ethical or moral person, but I am conscious of what I do and I do strive (believe it or not) to be an ethical person. I'm sure many of you do too.


Recommendations from The Scholarly Mommy

Now that I have discussed intrinsic ways to improve education (and society) in Puerto Rico (& US), I will discuss extrinsic ways to improve education in Puerto Rico which can also be applied to the US.


Government

Dear Government of Puerto Rico,

Please stop being so selfish. Get off your high horse and serve your country, the reason you went into politics in the first place (hopefully). Stop encouraging the people of Puerto Rico to criticize people of different political parties, rather be an example and work together to make a plan to obtain positive results for our country.

People that work in the government, do you hate your job? Let me tell you how to improve it. Make this your goal: to help each person that you come in contact during the day. Did someone come into your office with an issue? Don't let them leave until you have figured out a way to help them. You may not get a monetary reward but the feeling you will have inside will be very satisfying.

Dead serious,

The Scholarly Mommy


People
 

Dear Boricuas,

In the words of John Lennon, "All you need is love." Love thy neighbor as you love yourself. Let's put ourselves in other peoples shoes, lets have sympathy towards others and become selfless.

Boricuas, I realize that the government that we have dealt with the past several years have not been easy to deal with. Take the secretary of Education for example, he came in and stepped in a pile (nose high) of poop. He was just placed in his position a year ago or so. I'm not trying to defend him but I want you to realize that reform takes time. Don't trash talk him when he starts implementing changes, cause really most of these procedures are necessary in order for schools to improve.

Do you know what you can do instead? You can contact the legislature. Bombard them with letters, emails and phone calls.

•  Request for schools to provide substitutes when teachers are absent. This will not only help student's education but will keep them safe in school, where they belong. Also, the government would be creating more jobs.

•  Request for schools to offer transportation for those students who have difficulty making it to school, and maybe it can become a service offered to all students in public school. Guess what, this would create more jobs too.

Do you think there is no money? Well, a press release from the US Department of Education, dated August 10, 2011, has allotted $153.6 million to the Department of Education in Puerto Rico for the lowest achieving schools.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/puerto-rico-receive-1536-million-turn-around-its-persistently-lowest-achieving-s

I do like the recommendation that the senator of the PPD, Cirilo Tirado suggested. He proposed a civil union: a representative group of educators, professors, parents and other professionals to develop a plan with short term goals as well as long term goals that will promote a positive change for the public education of Puerto Rico (El Nuevo Día, July 28, 2011).

Do it people! Get off your behind. You want to see a change, be the change.

De cora (corazón),

The Scholarly Mommy



Parents

Queridos Padres,

1. Give your child a healthy breakfast to start the day right.

2. Try not to argue with them about past occurrences first thing in the morning so that can have a clear head during class.

3. When your child gets home check their backpack, ask if they have homework, ask them how their day was.

4. Help your child complete their homework, if you can't do it, find some who can.

5. Attend your child's parent/teacher conferences. Ask how your child has been doing. If your child's teacher doesn't do that, call the school and schedule an appointment with him or her.

6. When your child comes home saying they got in trouble or the teacher yelled at them, ask your child about 10 times for the real story. For fear of getting in trouble your child might bend the truth the first time, but by the 10th time of asking, you may get 75% of what really happened.

7. Please follow step 6 before going into school to yell at a teacher.

8. Never argue with a teacher in front of your child, be respectful so that your child learns to be respectful of teachers.

9. Please be aware that your child is not the only student in the classroom, there are probably (at least) 20 more that a teacher has to think about.

10. Finally, try to volunteer at your child's school/classroom. You will know what your child is up to and at the same time help the school.

Sincerely,

The Scholarly Mommy



Teachers/Administrators

 

Dear Teachers & Principals,

Let's face it. You did not become a teacher or a principal for the money. Most of you thought that you can help children learn. You definitely do not get the praise and salary you deserve, but you do it regardless.

A few suggestions...

Although the majority of the population is Puerto Rican, you serve a diverse community, be prepared for such. Everyone learns differently, plan accordingly. Teachers make plans yet be open to facilitate learning. Principals, supervise your teachers but don't dictate every step they must take through out the day.

Ultimately ask, What is in best interest of the student?

A professional article written by Stefkovich & O'Brien (2004) provide a model for explaining the best interests of the student. This model suggests the three Rs: Rights, Responsibility and Respect.

-Rights include: A student's natural rights, universal rights and rights guaranteed by law.

-Responsibility: A student's duty to exercise these rights responsibly.

-Respect: Treating all students with respect and expecting students to respect one another.

Just know, that when you ask: "What is in best interest of the student?", you are talking about ethical implications that need to be considered. I will be happy to assist you with further information on this topic. Just contact me.

Teachers, principals I'm sorry I left you as the last section. I promise I will have several topics focusing on you in the future. But, I must conclude soon, before I lose reader's interest.

Respectfully yours,

The Scholarly Mommy

Conclusion

Finally, right? Well, I'm not about to summarize all I said because I don't like repeating myself. Just know that I talked about improving an education system looking at each individual intrinsically and extrinsically. If I have led you to reflect on the current status of the education in Puerto Rico or your own country and how to change it, I'm accomplishing my goals with this blog. Yet, my job here is still not done.



Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your comments, feel free to post them or email me: thescholarlymommy@gmail.com.