The assignment this week was to think of a personal experience with bias, prejudice, or oppression. I feel luck that it took some deep reflection to remember a time when I felt looked down upon due to one of my social identities. The time I remember was in high school. I was living well below the poverty level with my immediate family- my mother, father and 7 siblings. I lived in a community fifteen miles from the closest part of town that consisted of mainly poor families, many of the houses did not have electricity or running water. I lived in a house that was only heated by a wood stove in the cold Alaskan climate; often during the winter months thick ice formed on the inside of the windows. I shared a bedroom with my two sisters. I felt lucky that I did not have to share the other bedroom with my five brothers! I rode the bus for an hour and a half to and from school each day, walking to the bus stop at 6:00 in the morning. I smelled of wood smoke and cigarettes from my father.
Classmates often commented in regard to where I lived. One comment that I remember in particular that hurt my feelings was, " You live... that's why your face looks like that." I felt like I was viewed as a lesser person because I lived in an undesirable part of town and did not have any money. It made me angry and embarrassed. I was angry at my parents and my peers. It made me jealous of others and embarrassed by my family. Their perception of me, affected my self-perception.
By experiencing judgement based on my class, I has to learn not to care about what other people thought about me. I learned not to let other people affect my goals, values, and self-esteem. I separated myself from the people that were rude to me and tried not to interact with them. I was too young to react in any other way besides anger and jealousy. If I could have calmly expressed myself, I am not sure if it would have changed their perspective or not. I never knew how to react. Today I have sympathy for anyone who experiences bias because I know how it feels. I think that if children were taught to have empathy from a young age many people might experience fewer micro aggressions.
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience. I know how difficult it can be to share a side of yourself with others. I am sorry that you had to experience bias at a young age but impressed and proud of the way you handled the situation. Not all young people are able to respond in the same fashion you did all those years ago. I am an early childhood teacher in an Early Head Start Program and are solely focusing on a young child's social-emotional development. I think it is important to all children to learn and understand their own feelings and other people's feelings. I teach in a toddler classroom and I do my best to support their social-emotional development through various age-appropriate activities and remind them it is natural to them to have various feelings in different situations. I want them to know their feelings have a meaning and not to let others change their personal views and understanding of how they feel. I have to agree, it is important to young children, their families, and early childhood professionals to know that importance of understanding their own emotions and those of others. We will have an understanding of how to support the next generations to come and hopefully it will be enough to make a difference and make microaggressions history if possible.
Thank you for sharing your story. I do believe more children need to be taught about how their words and actions affect other people. It would be ideal if these teachings could start at home at a young age. Since we know that not all homes teach these skills it is extremely important that children receive these teachings in their early childhood education settings. I think many times the children who are verbally or physically hurting other children are really hurting inside themselves. They just do not know how to probably handle their feelings.
ReplyDeleteMary,
ReplyDeleteI completely share your opinion. We can reduce so many inequities by teaching children empathy for others and respect. So many things happened at school simply because teachers chose to overlook them and focused on imparting only knowledge and academic skills to children. Racism and classism begin in early childhood itself when teacher or children hold biases and prejudices themselves that can only help to perpetuate injustice and be damaging to society as a whole. Teachers can make a difference and this is why I believe we should all be trained to strive for equity and social justice. Caroline
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I like the way you handle the overall situation. You have exhibited to be a strong minded person. I have learned that people is not aware that they are insulting a person feeling. I think they should have put themselves in your place to think of the many privileges to have in life. I commend you for being an active individual and finding your way of dealing with adversity.