Addressing Biased Behavior about Race and Gender


See the attachment “Creating an Anti-Bias Learning Community: Diversity of Race and Gender”  form. Consider how you would  build help children get to know themselves better, build respect for  others, and combat stereotypes and prejudices that arise in the setting  in which you work with young children and their families through the  four aspects of creating an anti-bias learning community:

  • Positive interactions with children
  • Positive relationships with and among families
  • The visual and material environment
  • Curriculum planning

Next, read through the statements below  that reflect children’s misconceptions about race or gender differences  and may signify the beginnings of internalized privilege or internalized  oppression. Select one statement (either race or gender-related) to be  the focus of your analysis.

Race:

  • “Am I red, teacher? That girl said I’m a Red Indian. Why did she say that, I’m not red!!” (Boy, 6)
  • “I don’t like dark people – dark people are bad guys!” (Girl, 3)
  • “People with slanty eyes are scary. I’m glad I don’t have slanty eyes.” (Girl, 5)

Gender:

  • To a boy wearing boots with a flower pattern: “Tommy is a girl! Tommy is a girl!” (boys, 5)
  • “Rosie is big and ugly! She looks like a boy!” (Girl, 3½)
  • “Only boys can play with the big trucks!” (Boy, 3 )

Now, consider how you could use the  statement you chose to proactively challenge stereotyping and address  the diversity issue(s) in order to help children in the process of  learning to honor and respect race or gender differences.

Using  the attached  form, record the child’s statement you selected in the upper  right-hand box. Then, for each of the four anti-bias learning community  elements listed on the left-side of the form, come up with at least two action items that will address the misconceptions or biases indicated in  the child’s statement.

Review Chapters 6 and 7 of attached Anti-Bias Book