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Dear Baker Families,
One of the books in my classroom library is A Door Made for Me, by Tyler Merritt. In the story Tyler is a young boy, left alone on a porch when his white friend is invited into a house. Tyler is told to stay outside because he is black. I pulled it out to read to my class recently after a student told me, “This is my favorite important book.” When I asked what Tyler’s friend could have done instead, the same child said “He should have just stayed outside with him!” The students in my class have proven time and again that they have the capacity to understand, empathize, and speak out for fairness. Children thrive in spaces where they can see themselves, be themselves, and are trusted with big ideas and important conversations.
Teaching young children about race (and racism) is a critical part of our social justice curriculum, and happens throughout the school year here at Baker. The importance of this cannot be understated; racism exists in our country and continues to affect us all. I recently read that racism is like a language immersion program. In these programs the teaching of the language isn’t explicit, yet children learn because they are surrounded by it. It is the same for racism: children pick up on the racism that is part of our society - they don’t need to be explicitly taught. Because of this, we need to make sure our teaching about race and racism is explicit. One of the ways we do this as a school community is by taking part in Unite Against Racism.
The YWCA, who sponsors Unite Against Racism, has this to say on their website:
We Unite Against Racism every day by raising awareness about the impact of institutional and structural racism and by building community among those who work for racial justice.
This year, Unite Against Racism is an opportunity for Baker students and faculty to center the anti-racist work that happens in classrooms, but it is also an opportunity to reflect on and renew our efforts in this area. The YWCA’s critical reflections and changes to this event have served as a model for us, raising the bar so that we continue to reevaluate and refocus our anti-racism efforts going forward.
An article that I read recently states the obvious: Avoiding race conversations is privilege: White teachers and families can choose to avoid these conversations, deeming them irrelevant or unimportant for their white children. Black families have to prepare their children to live in our racist society, and therefore don’t have this privilege. Here at Baker, we understand we must have these conversations.
In order to learn about race, children need the time, space, curriculum, and supports to talk about and make sense of what they are seeing and noticing. It requires teachers to embrace the conversation, even if they experience uncertainty or discomfort while doing so.
From Viewpoint: Creating Anti-Racist Early Childhood Spaces Young Children Summer 2021
My introduction to anti-racist teaching came in the form of a book, Anti-Bias Curriculum by Louise Derman-Sparks, that I received about 30 years ago. It taught me that early childhood teachers could create classroom environments designed to acknowledge and reflect all kinds of differences. Better yet, teachers could encourage discussion, honor questions, and challenge biases and misconceptions. My younger sister had spina bifida, and I had never seen images of families that represented mine, never had an opportunity to speak about her, and I had certainly never been taught to challenge unkind comments about disabled people.This is why anti-bias curriculum resonated with me and has held an important place in my teaching practice ever since.
At every age there is an appropriate way to have these conversations. I have the privilege of working with our youngest learners in laying this foundation.
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