Professional Hopes and Goals

The one hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to be able to meet the needs of each child and family. The one goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to demonstrate the knowledge of diversity, stand up for justice and provide the respect and dignity to each and every child and family the same. I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their views, comments and support during my journey to success.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

In order for me to prepare myself for working with a diverse group is to make sure that I have no hidden biases, that I respect and welcome all children and families and that I am competent area of being compassionate, nurturing and empathetic as well as having the resources and education to understand difference (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). My family’s country of origin is the United States. The five ways in which I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards a family that is emigrating from Asia, is to learn more about the families cultural background, their language, beliefs, values and family structure. Having the knowledge of a family’s background from another country is very important because you will be able to help the family adjust and feel comfortable, demonstrate respect, respond and be more attentive to their needs (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  

 

Reference

 Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Wahsington, DC: NAEYC.

        

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I witnessed prejudice, intentional microggression and bias on the local news, when an openly gay guy was beat up in public because of his sexual orientation. The guy was coming out of a store and four guys jumped him. It was in the early afternoon and people were outside witnessing the violent attack (WSBTV.com, 2012). This incident diminished equity by separating and treating individuals or a group of people that have different sexual orientation unfairly. This incident was injustice and a demonstration of prejudice. This incident made me feel sad because no one should have to be a target of any form of prejudice or discrimination because they are not considered as normal in society. The first thing that came to my mind is that, the victim could have been my family member or child. The law in the state of Georgia is to protect people from this type of behavior; this type of behavior is considered as hate crime and a felony (Bagby, 2012). I believe that the state laws and more rights need to be implemented to help protect people of the LGBT community. Even with society views of what is normal, LGBT are human too and deserve the same respect and justice as anyone else.  

Bagby, D. (2012, May 30). LGBT inclusive hate crimes bill introduced on last day of Ga. legislative session. Retrieved from http://www.thegavoice.com/news/georgia-news/4392-lgbt-inclusive-gate-crimes-bill-introduced-on-last-day-of-ga-legislative-session 

WSBTV.com. (2012). Grand Jury indicts 4th man in videotaped beating of gay man. Retrieved from http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/grand-jury-indicts-4th-man-videotaped-beating-gay-/nLKN9/