As a teacher in a high
poverty school district, I hear young children interact with each other inappropriately
quite frequently. The window to my class
faces the playground and I am able to hear many conversations from
children. I can recall hearing a high
pitch scream coming from a group of children. I quickly ran to assist but much
to my surprise it was only a group of children acting out being
cheerleaders. Right in the middle of the
girls cheering was a little boy—he was the “head cheerleader.” Without success, I tried to get in the middle
of the circle to investigate. So I decided to just watch from the outer
circumference. The “head cheerleader”
had all the dance moves, timing and flips of a real cheerleader. I was amazed
at the ability of that child. I started
to clap at the end of his routine.
Another child approached me and said, “Mrs. Honore’ why you clapping for
that faggot?” I was appalled that a Kindergartener knew that derogatory term. So
I asked, “You didn’t think he was good?” He replied, “I hate gays cuz they
always trying to act a girl. And my big
brother said he likes to punch them in the nuts!” These types of comments were from an
influential person in that child’s life. The authors of a text say, “Children
are influenced by others’ attitudes about gender behavior” (Derman-Sparks &
Edwards, 2010, p. 92). I felt sad
because he is being taught to discriminate against homosexuals at an early
age. This child has the power to
influence other kids because he puts credibility to his comments when he said
his big brother said this. Negativity
perpetuates at an alarming rate.
I would respond to a family member who is
opposed to a homosexual caring for and /or educating his child by first trying
to understand their rationale behind their decision. I would attempt to encourage the family
member to judge the person by his or her merits and not their sexuality. I would make sure the family member has some
facts and statistics related to homosexuality and teaching. Also, I would make
sure my families know facts about sexual identity. Additionally, I would even allow the misinformed group to
have an open forum with a lesbian, a gay and a transgender. I think people are afraid of the
unknown.
Resources
Derman-Sparks,
L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children
and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
