Race And Ethnicity In Children

I think that little kids don’t know what racism is, but their parents are the ones that raise them the way they are, being racist. How can we tell when kids are being racist? Well because you see kids at school and they have their own little groups with their own race. Whites with whites, blacks with blacks, Latinos with Latinos, etc. A lot of little kids don’t like playing with kids of a different race, we see that in places like daycare or preschool.

One of the most stimulating aspects of early education is observing and supporting young children as they develop their individual identities. This development takes place within different social contexts where issues relating to human diversity and difference impact significantly on children’s understandings and ways of being in the world. Arguably, our education begins when we are first able to detect causes and consequences, and continue to form the basis of our identity, behaviours and knowledge of the world around us. Glover (1991) in the early 1990s found that as 2-3 year old children became aware of difference they simultaneously develop positive and negative feelings about the differences they observe. For example, racial awareness impacts on their perceptions of skin colour and on their preferences in the social relationships they initiate and foster with other children. An Australian study conducted by Palmer (1990) exemplifies how preschool children were able to make negative judgements based on racial characteristics of young Aboriginal children. Children were reportedly saying ‘You’re the colour of poo… Did your mum drop you in the poo?’ This observation suggests that children as young as 2 years old are becoming aware of diversity and differences of others, and these judgements children are making are often affecting their ability to make sound judgements of others

Prejudice and discrimination can generate social and emotional tension amongst children and by not educating and teaching children the differences between other cultures and beliefs in a positive manner from an early age may lead to resentment and hostility in later life towards other cultures.

There are some groups that none of us has any choice in whether we belong to them or not. Factors such as gender, ethnicity, family and even social status are at birth, groups that we belong to, yet cannot choose, and many of these endure throughout life. Although family, religious beliefs and even social status can be altered in later life, all of these groups are ones that are integral to an individual’s identity and in fact add it in life. However, as a child their influence is perhaps even more important as in these formative years one’s gender, culture, family and even religion actively create individual identity.

When young children do express thoughts of race or being bias, it is often dismissed as either bad parenting, child not knowing what they are talking about, or simply bad behavior in children. Research clearly shows that children not only recognize race from a very young age, but also develop racial biases by age’s three to five that do not necessarily resemble the racial attitudes of adults in their lives (Aboud 2008). Three- to five-year-olds in a racially and ethnically diverse day care center used racial categories to identify themselves and others, to include or exclude children from activities, and to negotiate power in their own social/play networks (Van Ausdale & Feagin 2001).

I think you bring up a very important point, over whether racism (or other forms of discrimination) is innate or learned behavior. While I realize that this subject is controversial, I tend to agree with you that racism is in fact a behavior that is learned. I think the evidence that young children do not care about the race (or religion for that matter) of their playmates, or even their caregivers (such as teachers).

When a child has a different race or religion it can cause prejudice and discrimination

Children and young people can experience prejudice and discrimination from their earliest social encounters with others. Prejudice is an unreasonable or unfair dislike or preconceived negative view of individuals belonging to a particular group. Discrimination is the bigoted behaviour of singling out a particular person or group for different treatment than the others. Both of these unacceptable responses usually arise as a result of ignorance of the benefits of diversity and a primal impulse of ‘group mentality’.

At an early age, children are actively thinking about race. Although their thoughts about race are not as advance compared to those of adults, their juvenile observations and opinions establish a foundation of future stereotypes and biases. When children become attentive to racial differences, the results can either be rewarding or damaging. The origin of racial attitudes among the younger demographic remains unspecified. A correlation between parenting styles and children’s racial attitudes has been considered the primary source, however, multiple research disproves the common belief. While parenting style has a strong impact on children’s racial

One of the most common forms of racism is implicit or subconcious racism. Implicit bias refers to beliefs and stereotypes that are subconscious and have an effect on our actions and the real world.The study of J. King examined students' responses to his single question regarding the reasons for the differences in Black and White children's life chances in the first year of their lives. The study has been done in 1988 and separated students' answers in three main categories : they view the issue either as a result of slavery (Category I), denial of equal opportunity for African Americans(Category II) or as part of a framework of society in which racism is a norm (Category III) ( J.King, 1991) . All responses were divided

This paper will identify the ethnic identifications within individuals. Ethnicity is part of everyone’s identity development. Individuals may have one ethnicity or multiple, depending on their current location, homelands, generations, religion, environment, language/dialect, physical appearance, and more. A cultural individual is considered ethnic either by being first, second, or third generation. According to Phinney (1989), there are four stages of ethnic identity development: diffuse, foreclosed, moratorium, and achieved. They describe when an individual explores or does not explore their own ethnicity, and accepting clarification and understanding of ethnicity. An individual can be placed within these stages throughout their developing lives. It is important to recognize these stages within an individual to better apprehend their identity and where they perceive their own identity in their position.

Discrimination can effect children in many different ways and sometimes you can find yourself judging someone without knowing anything about that certain person.

Similar to my family’s critical role in my personal and social identity’s development, my ethnicity also contributes some of the most noticeable modifications of a social agents affect on an individual’s personal and social identity. Ethnicity provides a sense of belonging to a group and or a place in a globalised society. As for myself, ethnicity on a micro, meso and macro scale has become a major element in my personal and social identity’s

One of the biggest mistakes that the white population makes in Mainstream American society regarding the way they view racism is the way in which they actually think or envision racism. Racism is thought to be events that have happened in history, but that don’t necessarily happen “anymore”. Many of American’s that are white typically think of significant occurrences such as slavery, segregation, wars between races, and internment camps. Racism is viewed very differently for the non-white population. Discussed in lecture by Professor Chernega, “non-whites think of racism in terms of something that happened to them yesterday, today, or even potential racism they will face in the future” (Chernega, 2017). This produces two very different views that two different populations experience simultaneously. There is a reason for this difference in understanding what discrimination means. It is no surprise that blacks have faced a much longer period of discrimination when compared to whites. Another idea that plays a large part in the reason for these differences of understandings is the way in which history is told. Many historic stories are told as if racism is something that only occurred in the past and doesn’t necessarily happen anymore. More often than not, racism is not addressed as a current issue when historic events are explained. Author Kohl discusses the issues regarding children’s literature

Another very common cause for racism is the unfamiliarity of one towards other races. People have the tendency to fear what they do not understand. If a person has not grown up around a particular race before, then the chance of the person being a racist toward that particular group greatly increases. Not always, but when a person has already been supplied with negative stereo types, and does not have real experiences with at least one of the people in that particular group, then the chances of racism tendencies are increased. The explanation recently stated is the reason why it is important for children to be around other races at a young age: to ensure that their minds are used and adapted to being around them. When they are in those situations, subconsciously, they learn traits that counterbalance negative stereotypes that they may learn in the future. (The 4)