Month: March 2019

Terri

Educational Institutions in our Community

We are fortunate to have amazing cultural institutions in our neighborhood.  The Skyscraper Museum, right next door, helps us document the history of our school — from photographs of our building going up in their archives to resources of our changing neighborhood. The Museum of the American Indian, a branch of the Smithsonian, has provided our teachers and students a number of amazing learning opportunities that open our eyes to different stories and histories of indigenous peoples of the Americas. And we have the China Institute on Rector and Washington, Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, across the street.  We are surrounded by a richness of educational and cultural institutions. We are so lucky to have these resources so close by! They inform us and challenge us to think more widely about the world.

Often these exhibits are inspiring and uplifting.  Sometimes, they are sobering.

This spring, the Museum of Jewish Heritage is opening an exhibition on the history of Auschwitz.  The purpose of this exhibit is to  explore “the dual identity of the camp as a physical location—the largest documented mass murder site in human history—and as a symbol of the borderless manifestation of hatred and human barbarity.”  As part of this exhibit, the Museum will exhibit a freight car that was used to transport Jews from the ghettos to Auschwitz.  The train car will be installed on the plaza in front of the Museum.  It will spark conversations in our community that may be challenging and informative. Children will have questions about it and we adults will need to think about how to answer their questions that are truthful and developmentally appropriate.

I did some research on some ways we can talk to our younger children about the Holocaust. First, it is important to note that there is wide agreement that we not talk specifically about the Holocaust with children younger than 9.

We can, however, make sure that we inform children accurately in developmentally appropriate ways and we want to make sure our responses to their questions build empathy and resilience. When we answer their questions, we want to be sure to 

  • Start slowly
  • Be honest but be careful what you say
  • Emphasize tolerance and respect
  • Insure your children that they are safe
  • Take action together to make the world better

That might sound like:

The Museum is a place where we can learn about Jewish history.  There have been some sad parts in the history of Jewish people.  They have been excluded and have been treated unkindly.  The Museum is telling one of those stories right now.  Later, when the Museum changes the exhibit, we can go there to learn about the amazing history of the Jewish people. 

There are some sad stories in history.  We learn from these and how people are resilient and how we can do things better than they were done in the past.

You can also begin with an example from your child’s own life in which your child or a friend was treated unfairly because of skin color, religion, or some kind of disability and talk with your child about how this felt. Then, together, you can practice speaking out against injustice:

  • “Talk like this makes me uncomfortable, I don’t like those words…”
  • “The train car is part of a sad part of history when people weren’t treated fairly. It is there to remind us of these stories and to think about how we can treat people kindly.”

You can also talk to your children about your own family’s traditions and how you help others and each other to help overcome adversity  There is research that shows that children who have knowledge of the ups and downs of their family story are more resilient than children who know little or who only know the good parts of the family story. “The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative.”

Here are some resources that can help you navigate these conversations. You should always preview resources before sharing them with your child.

How should you talk to your children about the Holocaust?

Discussing the Holocaust with Children

Books for children about the Holocaust

The Number on My Great-grandpa’s Arm (video)

The Museum is also holding a community meeting on Wednesday evening, March 27, to discuss the exhibit.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.

Terri

Talking about Race

Last fall, I received a phone call from a friend asking for some advice. Her first grade white son had said something racially insensitive towards the only Black child in the class. My friend wanted to make sure that she responded in a way that made sure the Black child felt safe and that her son learned why what he said was wrong. Just as importantly, she was thinking about how she was raising her White children to become more conscious and conscientious about the experiences of others.

When I grew up, and even when I was raising my daughter, the idea was that we should all be “color blind” so that we treat everyone equally. We assume our children are unaware of race and difference and that we adults can raise children to be non-prejudiced if we support this “color blind” approach. In fact, young children begin to absorb their cultural and racial identity in infancy and notice physical differences such as skin color, hair texture, and gender anatomy as toddlers. A color-blind approach reduces our ability to see difference.  If we do not see race, we cannot play a role in working to create a world with greater equity and justice.

At 276, a key component of our vision for our students is to help them become compassionate and caring individuals.  This means that we need to help children navigate the issues of race and difference that permeate our society.  Children hear about race and racism in the news, in the books they read, and on the playground. As adults, we need to help them process this information.

At the February PTA meeting, my principal report focused on the anti-bias and anti-racism work we are doing at 276.  This work is essential to achieving our goal of educating for respect. It helps us teach children how to live and work in a diverse world, builds empathy leading to children who are happier and more successful, builds strong social relationships and collaborative skills, acts as preventive measures to reduce mean behaviors and bullying, and will help us leave our children a kinder, more compassionate and humane world.  This is especially important because, according to FBI data, we have seen a 17% increase in reported hate crimes in the US in 2017. This was the third consecutive year of an increase! Of the more than 7,100 hate crimes reported last year, nearly three out of five were motivated by race and ethnicity.  The other two major causes were religion and sexual orientation.

Our faculty takes the social responsibility of educating children seriously. Together, we study our own identities, read widely, study history, and think about how we respond to acts of bias. The Southern Poverty Law Center publishes educational resources on anti-bias and social justice education that we find useful. In addition to social justice standards, they also have resources that help us be proactive in helping students become aware of bias and help us react in educational ways to acts of bias.  In order to effectively engage our students in learning about race, identity, and difference, we have to thoughtfully examine our own experiences, conscious and unconscious beliefs, and knowledge of race and differences.  This can be messy work, but we are committed to it.

There are three areas that we focus on at 276. In ways that are aligned with student age and readiness, we work to build

  • Accurate knowledge and pride in one’s own identity. This includes understanding history and the contributions of one’s group to society.  It also means that we have to help children understand the diverse stories that people within a group have.
  • Accurate knowledge about and appreciation of the history and contributions of other groups. Again, we have to make sure that children understand the diverse stories and experiences of individuals in a group.  In the US, we have a tendency to focus on only one aspect of a story. For example, African American history is confined to slavery and the civil rights movement and Jewish history is limited to early immigration stories and the Holocaust. We can counter this single story narrative by reading widely in fiction and non-fiction.
  • Understanding of how racism has shaped history and current social issues (this tends to happen as students get older.)

But sometimes children make mistakes as they grow and become aware of their identities and navigate social pressures.  When necessary, we apply the following four steps in responding to biased behavior.

  • Interrupt – Clearly tell the speaker or actor “I don’t like words like that. They are hurtful.”
  • Question – Reflect with the speaker about their actions/words. “Why do you say that? What do you mean? Tell me more.”
  • Educate – Help them understand the history and impact of those actions. “Do you know the history of that word? How else could you say that?”
  • Echo – When others speak up, thank them for speaking up. “I agree that is offensive and we shouldn’t act/talk that way.”

As I have been learning more about this topic, I have been finding some resources that I have found helpful.

  1. Raising Race-Conscious Children: this is a resource to support adults who are trying to talk about race with young children. This is a link on their website for strategiesto help your children become race conscious.
  2. Embrace Race: this is an online community to discuss and share best practices for raising and caring for kids, all kids, in the context of race.
  3. SURJ Families: This Facebook group for families is a subgroup of Showing Up for Racial Justice. It provides resources and an opportunity to share experiences.
  4. Raising White Kids: A recent book on how white children navigate race in their schools and communities.