Stephanie J. Sheehan
In a class discussion, I recently found myself stressing the point that culture is more than the color of one's skin and that people may define themselves in ways that are not visible on the surface. I listened with dismay as the students in my class reduced their rich identities to simply Black or White. As students blurted out comments such as, "I'm Black but my mom's White," or "You're White," I realized the need for the students to learn about the complexities of personal identification. The unit I've created will address this need. In order to ensure that it is age-appropriate and psychologically sound, I've extensively consulted the work of Beverly Tatum, Ph.D., and John W. Santrock, Ph.D. Please refer to the Resources section for more information.
According to Dr. Santrock, identity formation is a life-long endeavor that begins with self- recognition at about 18 months of age and does not end until personal reflection in old age (544). Therefore, it would be unreasonable to expect students to fully understand identity as a result of one unit. By the end of the year, I would like the students to be exposed to people who may be different from them in various ways, to avoid prejudice as much as possible, to learn some additional ways to describe themselves, and to develop a sense of self -pride.
Young children are often unsure of who they are and how to describe themselves to others. I've found that at the beginning of the year, first graders can usually make a few statements about what they look like as well as some foods or activities they enjoy. Santrock states that self-definitions in early childhood are usually reflections of the physical self and sometimes physical activities (366-368), but by the age of 7, children begin to describe themselves in psychological rather than only physical ways and they are also much more likely to describe themselves in terms of comparison to others (434-435). The students in my class will practice relating to others throughout the year as they compare themselves to one another and to characters from books.
According to Dr. Tatum, by the time children enter school, they develop "an understanding of race or ethnicity which is concrete and associated with specific markers-the language one speaks, the foods one eats, the physical characteristics one has" (179). The term
race
refers to category of "people who perceive themselves and are perceived by others as possessing distinctive hereditary traits" and
ethnicity
refers to a category of "people who perceive themselves and are perceived by others as sharing cultural traits"(179). The conversation I quoted earlier from my own classroom showed me that the children were definitely aware of race and color, but it also demonstrated that as first grade students, they were still forming ideas about racial identity and did not understand the ways that adults categorize people. For example, one student referred to his African American mother as White because of her light skin tone. In fact, the idea of
race constancy
, that a person's race will not change during his life, is generally just being formed between ages 6-7 (Tatum 43), so teachers should not be surprised or concerned if they hear students make comments such as, "My mom says that if I keep going in the sun I'll turn black." Nonetheless, teachers need to be careful about the language used in class.
In this narrative as well as in the classroom, I use the word
White
to refer to people of European descent. In American society, Whites are the
majority group,
which is defined as the one that has the "power to determine the values and norms of society to set public policy." The
minority groups
are the ones that "have inferior power and access to resources" (A. Hancock). Therefore, as part of the majority group, the key issue for healthy identity formation for White children in American society is developing a realistic sense of pride in their cultural heritage without being consumed by ideas of superiority and inferiority, or shame (Tatum 107). I believe that exposure to positive images of White people through literature and opportunities to compare and contrast characters of many races with their own experiences will enable young White children to develop positive self-image and an understanding that people are not inferior or superior due to their physical characteristics or group membership.
I use the word
Black
to refer to people of African descent. Though this categorization may at times be confusing to young children depending on the physical traits they see, I use it in order to include African American people of all skin tones as well as people of African descent from outside the US. I explain that White and Black are not terms that relate to the actual color of someone's skin, but words that describe groups of people based on where their ancestors came from and physical features. Black children face many obstacles in terms of forming positive racial identity in our society. Therefore, it is important to encourage students to discuss their concerns, to observe positive Black role models and to see positive images of Black people. It is important to give all children the knowledge ammunition, so to speak, to prevent them from becoming susceptible to believing prejudiced ideas, even though they are bound to be exposed to them.
I use the word
Latino
to refer to a large, diverse group of people, including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, Central Americans, South Americans, and people from Spain. It is important to impart to children the idea that the use of one word for people of this ethnic group does not accurately represent the great diversity among people from so many countries and traditions. It is important for teachers to be aware of the specific country or region a book has been written about and be careful not to make generalizations. If it is not possible to know exactly what Spanish-speaking country a book intends to portray, it is an opportunity to discuss the fact that Spanish is spoken in many places, including the US, and talk to the students about the danger of making assumptions about someone's culture simply based on looks or the words one speaks. It is also important for teachers to respect the native languages of children learning English and encourage fluency in both languages. Tatum stresses the link between the Spanish language and Latino identity formation, and the value of the native language in terms of passing on family values. In fact, research shows that developing skills in one's native language also tends to have a positive impact on learning a new language (139-143).
I use the term
Biracial
to describe people for whom the parents represent more than one race. Although the term applies to children of many types of racial combinations, Black-White combinations are the most controversial, due to the long history of the racial tension between Whites and Blacks in our country, including the only recently changed rule of determining racial category by hypo-descent, or the "one-drop" rule of determining anyone with 1/32 Black ancestry to be Black (Tatum 168). In my experience, I've found that Biracial children are sometimes the last frontier of openly verbal negativity among people that would not necessarily describe themselves as prejudiced. I agree with Tatum when she states, "It is common to hear Black and White adults alike justify their ambivalence toward or outright disapproval of interracial relationships because of their concerns about the hardship the children of these relationships are assumed to suffer" (Tatum 172). Whether these concerns are valid or not, some factors have been linked with positive psychological outcomes for Biracial children. In addition to several factors that teachers cannot control, positive race consciousness and being able to discuss identity issues have a positive effect (Tatum 172-175). In first grade, although Biracial children may have some understanding of what it means to belong to more than one racial group, mono-racial peers may not understand that people can belong to more than one racial group at the same time. This may cause uncomfortable conversations and ultimately may lead to self-esteem issues for the Biracial children (Tatum 179-191). By including positive examples of interracial families in the literature and opportunities to discuss multiracial issues, I intend for this unit to help provide a positive self- image for Biracial children and encourage other children to develop positive images of interracial families as well.
According to Santrock, children in early elementary school begin to develop
social identity
, which is the understanding of the self as part of a group. Group identity formation often brings issues of
ethnocentrism
, which is "the tendency to favor one's own group over other groups," and sometimes
prejudice.
Prejudice is defined as "an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual because of that person's membership in a group" (438). I've found that children in first grade generally do not know what prejudice is, and it can be tricky to explain. I explain that prejudice is having a bad feeling about someone or something without really knowing enough to make that decision. To illustrate this concept, I begin by telling a fictional story about a friend who said mean things about dogs, including my own, because a dog in her neighborhood bit someone. I explain that I felt disappointed that she did not give my gentle, friendly dog a chance. I go on to say that sometimes people don't give other people a fair chance to show who they are inside. For example, sometimes people think badly of a whole group of people, which could be teachers, people with brown eyes, or even people from a certain neighborhood. I then ask the children how they would feel about someone who doesn't like people with brown eyes. Some of the children quickly respond that they know good people who have brown eyes. I then ask them to determine if it is fair to decide not to like someone before you've met him or her. They begin to see that knowing one aspect of someone's identity does not provide enough information to judge the person and that knowing something about some members of a group does not make it true for all group members. This complex idea must be continually reinforced.
Prejudice is a frequent byproduct of misleading information as well as a lack of accurate information about groups of people. We are so bombarded by stereotypes in the media and even in the conversations of loved ones, that even young students have a lot to learn, and possibly quite a bit to unlearn as well. Beverly Tatum offers a compelling example of this when she tells of a group of three- and four-year-olds who were asked to draw pictures of Native Americans. They were confused until the term Indian was used, and then they all drew pictures of people with feathers. Many children also included a weapon such as a tomahawk and showed the person acting aggressively (4). In spite of the prominence of negative and stereotypical portrayals in books and media, children can learn to question the images and the roles of the people they see if they have adults who are willing to discuss these things with them (Tatum 49). I feel that it is important for children to be empowered as young as possible to speak up against words or images that make them or others feel badly. It is almost inevitable that children will hear words of prejudice at some point, so it important to help them see that everything they hear is not necessarily right and to provide positive words and images about various groups of people, in order to counteract the negative ones.
It is important for teachers to be aware that the problem of prejudice can be so pervasive that, "even a member of a stereotyped group may internalize the stereotypical categories about his or her own group to some degree," which is called
internalized oppression
(Tatum 6). For example, some Black children are exposed to messages from the media and even within some families that propose the superiority of having a "whiter" look, including straighter hair and lighter skin and other children are singled out for simply having a look that is darker or lighter than the rest of the family (Tatum 44). For all children, it is important to be very careful not to over-emphasize the beauty of any particular look and avoid statements that reflect negatively on racially identifiable traits (Tatum 45-46). It is important for children to see that there are many ways to look beautiful and many beautiful looks even within each racial community.
It is also important to understand that racism in America is more than prejudice, but a system of privileges to one race and disadvantages to others. The privileges range from the minor conveniences of not being viewed as an example of one's race, to much more important advantages such as better access to health care, housing and loans (Tatum 7-8). Teachers need to be sensitive to the special challenges that children may face as heirs to this system and help provide the skills and confidence they will need to succeed. In addition to self-image problems that arise as a result of racism, minority children often face poverty as well. According to Santrock, these children may experience
socioeconomic stress,
which is the stress poverty creates for children and their families. Specifically, "Chronic life conditions such as inadequate housing, dangerous neighborhoods, burdensome responsibilities, and economic uncertainties are potent stressors in the lives of the poor" (367). Racism and socioeconomic stress often have significant impact on children's performance in school. Many teachers have lower academic and behavioral expectations for lower-class and minority students. They may spend less time trying to communicate with their families, and may provide less help and more criticism than they give their White or middle-class students. Conversely, some well-meaning but equally detrimental teachers offer affection instead of challenges and high standards (431-433). Teachers have great influence in the elementary school years and play an important role in fostering self-esteem and encouraging abilities (430). Therefore, it is imperative to create a positive learning environment, uphold high expectations, and help students set high standards for themselves. It is also important to provide positive images of minority figures and teach about heroes that reflect the students' own cultures.