Diversity in Education
Originally posted on Facebook Notes on December 29, 2018
I actually wrote this as an essay for the Family Partnerships in Early Childhood course that I took in my first semester of college and after looking back on it, I thought that this essay would be a good idea to upload as a blog post since I wrote about some of my experience with the disability/disabled community and my life as an aspiring Early Childhood Special Education teacher plus there are people with disabilities/disabled people/differently-abled people of other additional differences too. The assignment was on the subject of diversity and I had to explore the major factors that influenced my beliefs and values regarding diversity and education. Note that some of the information stated in this essay is outdated due to updates in the lives of my family and I.
There were many parts of my education that affected my views of diversity. My family influences, cultural influences, and community influences were the biggest parts that affected my views of diversity. Through my experiences growing up, I have strong beliefs about how a teacher's acceptance and understanding of their students' cultures and differences in general should be. I believe that all teachers should always show full interest and respect for the children and families that they serve no matter what. All of these aspects help to be a successful teacher.
One of the major influences that guided my education was my parents. My parents were very dedicated to being involved in my education by following up on my homework, going to parent-teacher conferences, and by enrolling me in a very well-educating school district full of students from different ethnic groups, races, religions, abilities, and backgrounds. My parents always made sure whether I had homework or not when I came home from school, made sure that I did my homework and studied, made sure that I succeeded in my education, and checked my grades on the school's electronic grade monitoring system. My parents also helped me with my homework when I needed it and when were very supportive about my education to make sure that I succeeded. My parents did everything that they could to make sure that my education was a success.
Another major influence in my education was my culture. My family exposed me to the Catholic religion and I made the religious sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion, and confirmation. By taking my brother and I to church every Sunday, enrolling us in our church's Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) program, which was a Catholic education program for students enrolled in public schools from first to eighth grade, and through making us make those religious sacraments, we were educated in our religion. As a Catholic, I celebrated the holidays that were part of my religion with my family, such as Christmas and Easter. My family has full acceptance of if I ever did decide to change my religion.
In addition to my family influence and cultural influence, my community influence was also a major impact on my education. In all of my four years of high school, I was a member of my school's Buddy Club, a club open to students with and without disabilities to help out and be a friend to the Life Skills students in the school district. Being in Buddy Club made my acceptance of the disability community grow even stronger from working with the Life Skills students so much. It made my acceptance of this cause grow so strong that it confirmed my career path of becoming an Early Childhood Special Education teacher.
My family is a white, Catholic, middle class family that consists four people including myself living in my home, which are my mother, my father, my brother, and I. My maternal grandmother is my only living grandparent. I am Italian and Spanish from my mother's side and Irish and German from my father's side. Both of my parents have working jobs outside of the home and are well-educated. My family is very close and we trust each other enough to tell each other anything.
The child development theory that I think best describes my experiences growing up is Carl Dunst's theory of Family Empowerment Models. My parents and I were very "actively involved in the learning, goal setting, and decisions" part of my education (Dunst, 2002, pg. 46). My parents were very supportive of me in how I did in school. For example, if I got a low grade on a test or any assignment, my parents never held it against me and always knew that I tried my best. They were also always aware of what I was learning about in school, what assignments that I had, what my grades were, and the due dates of projects or any other homework. They always helped me with my schoolwork too if I was struggling with something. My brother was a very active involvement too in all of the aspects of my education, especially helping with any schoolwork I struggled with. The strong support of my family in my education made my stress level about schoolwork at a low rate and gave me a positive attitude about school.
My beliefs about a teacher's role in understanding the culture of the children and families they work with are recognizing the variety of cultures, understanding and having full acceptance of all individual differences, and fully respecting and celebrating all of the children's cultures. Culture means a variety of different things besides race, ethnicity, and religion and this is often forgotten. "Culture or diversity does not just refer to minorities" because it also includes "individuality, their family, genders, abilities, economic level, social status, where they live and where they came from, sexual orientation, educational level, and even appearance, size, and shape" (Community Collaboration, 2016, pg. 137; Gonzalez-Mena, 2008, pg. 137). Having full acceptance and a full understanding of a family's culture helps a teacher to have positive relationships with the families of the children they work with.
Families from all cultures have different beliefs and practice different things as part of their culture. Some people may not practice every single part of their culture though. For example, people may only observe some holidays as part of their religion. This is why "it is important to understand individual differences, as well as cultural beliefs" (Community Collaboration, 2016, pg. 139). In this case, when celebrating holidays in the classrooms, teachers should be aware if any of the children in their class do not celebrate this holiday. Recognizing what the cultures are like of all of the teacher's students makes the students feel comfortable in their classroom environment.
All families' cultural differences should also be fully respected and celebrated in the classroom and school so that children and their families feel comfortable and accepted in the school and classroom environment. In this case, it is "alright for children to talk about their families' religious practices in class discussions. Teachers should be able to share books that show families participating in religious ceremonies and rituals without being accused of teaching about religion. The First Amendment makes it clear: 'Public schools may not inculcate nor inhibit religion. They must be places where religion and religious conviction are treated with fairness and respect.' This point is important to repeat: 'Public schools uphold the First Amendment when they protect the religious liberty rights of students of all faiths or none" (Family Education, 2007, pg. 145). For example, all holidays can be celebrated in the classroom and when lessons about any religion, race, ethnicity, or holiday are being taught, children should always have the freedom to discuss their family's practice of that part of their culture. Even if a child does not celebrate this holiday or observe this religion or has a different race than the one being taught at that time, the lesson educates them about other cultures, holidays, races, and religions and they can get to know their peers better. This means that, "Diverse religious holidays offer rich opportunities to teach about religion in elementary schools. Teaching about religious holidays is permissible, as opposed to celebrating religious holidays, which is not. Studying different religious holidays or festivals may not only add to students' academic knowledge about the world, but also be a way to explore family and community diversity" (Family Education, 2007, pg. 145-146). This method educates students about all cultures and makes them feel comfortable enough to express their culture in the classroom environment.
I plan to always show full interest and respect for children and their families for all reasons. I will have full acceptance of all cultures and differences of the children and their families that I will serve as a teacher. I will be accepting of all religions of my students and their families. I will celebrate all differences in the classroom through lessons about cultures, the holidays celebrated in all religions, disabilities, and all differences. I will include all of the types of diversity in my diversity lessons. As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher, I will also always be accepting of all of my students' abilities and differences and even their family members at all times. I will do whatever I can to make a positive difference in the lives of children of all abilities and to give them the best education they need. My main goal is to be their fully accepting advocate. My career as an Early Childhood Special Education teacher will be self-rewarding and fulfilling.
1. Grant, K., & Ray J. (2016). Home, school, and community collaboration: Culturally responsive family engagement (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
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