Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

     The “ism” that I might expect for the children and families with whom I work are classism and racism.  Within my small county of 8000, the Hispanic population of 570 (6 percent) is far lower than the national average of 12 percent. (U.S. Census, 2006) within most counties, yet we still show little effort in welcoming our new neighbors.  The county is made mostly of blacks at 81 percent and whites at 11 percent.   The new faces, language, and customs have many threatened and unsure as to what will become of our small town and practices.  Most of the families in our area work minimal wage jobs and mostly at the peach industries that employ men, with women left to care for the children.  The women speak little English as their children are left to translate any material being sent home.  Most assignments or paperwork sent home is not completed or returned to school because the parents are not educated, literate or knowledgeable about the resources available within the community.  This is a common practice whether you are speaking regarding the Hispanic or Black population.  Several teachers, within our school, view parents as lazy, not interested in their children’s well-being, uneducated, and continue to want to be supported by the system (those who do and want to work).

     Recently I had several students (5) to qualify for receiving services through the special education department.  However, three of the parents did not speak English and the students were also receiving services through the ELL (English Learning Program). When the students were given the paperwork to take home regarding the meeting date and time their teachers informed me that “hopefully you’ll be able to get some response because we have not all year, maybe they are too busy taking care of their many children to come out and see about this one”.  It was after this comment that I called the parent, who did speak little English to invite them personally to the meeting.  After several days and no response on the notice, I visited our school’s ELL teacher and asked that she call the parents to see if they in fact were attending the meeting and if they needed a translator.  By the next morning, she was responding that the mother would attend and she would be there to translate interpret, and explain the purpose of the meeting and the services her child would receive. After witnessing and imagining how difficult it must have been for this parent, to speak little English and be in a room of six other adults, who did not understand her or her feelings, I thought how lonely it must feel.  It was at this moment that I scribbled a note to our Director that we could start by making this transition easier for non-English speaking parents would be to translate our meeting notice.  She immediately agreed and had it scanned, translated, and distributed to all schools within a few days. 

     I can vividly recall experiencing racism growing up from those within and outside of my race.  I can still hear the names of “blighty” (black/white), albino (because of my lighter complexion and red hair) and not having anyone to express my feelings too. Teachers were not compassionate in that they often triggered the name calling as they would often say, “Hmmm what color would you use to color yourself”.  It is my hope that we lay the foundation in instilling in our little children the value and acceptance of being different and unique while also acknowledging our likenesses.  When we as educators and adults have more information about who we are educating, we strive to provide the proper resources to become well-informed.  Gonzalez-Mena (2008) tells us, we cannot educate or care for the child without taking the family into consideration.  As teachers and leaders within the community, we must see to it that we are embracing all without stereotyping and thinking negatively about others before we know the facts. 

References:

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Foundations of early childhood education. Teaching children in diverse setting. 4^th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

United States Census. 2012. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/1331096.html