The –ism that I expect for children and families probably will be racism. I work in a predominately African-American school system. I see other races slowly entering into the school system. The African-American children are not embracing the change. I have seen some of the African-American children tell the white children “Why don’t you go back to the private school you came from? It is hard breaking to hear these types of comments coming from children.
I remember when I worked as a second grade assistant and we were discussing bullying. The children were talking what they had learned about bullying in character education. Myrtle a little told us that she had been bullying sense she was in kindergarten because she was white. I sat there for a moment thinking I had always heard about and experience racism as an African-American, but to see it from someone else prospective really made me reflect on how so many are affected by racism.
Tonetta-
ReplyDeleteIt makes you sick to you stomach to listen to children talk about being bullied at a young age or any age for that matter. It would have made me really think twice about the white girl saying she was bullied for being white. I think back to my childhood and my cousins were bullied for being white living close to the Navajo reservation. It was interesting since they proclaimed that we always bullied them.