Journal #1

 Reflections on “What is Anti-Bias Education?” in Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves  

Journal Entry #1:

Reflections on “What is Anti-Bias Education?” in Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (Chapter 1 pp.1-10)

● What is a fragment of the reading that resonated with you?

● What feelings arise with the reading?

● What are some connections that you have made as you were reading?

● How does this text reinforce or challenge my existing ideas or assumptions?

● How will you take care of yourself as you process these feelings and topics? What are some next steps for you?

1

What Is

Anti-Bias Education?

1

We fi nd these joys to be self-evident: That all children are created whole,
endowed with innate intelligence, with dignity and wonder, worthy of respect.
The embodiment of life, liberty, and happiness, children are original blessings,
here to learn their own song. Every girl and boy is entitled to love, to dream, and
belong to a loving “village.” And to pursue a life of purpose.

—Raffi , “A Covenant for Honouring Children”

Early childhood educators have deep faith in
the principle that all people deserve the oppor-
tunities and resources to fulfi ll their complete

humanity. Moreover, we have a unique role in making
this principle real, in promoting all children’s chances
to thrive and to succeed in school, in work, and in life.
A basic principle in early childhood work is that when
educators treat children as if they are strong, intel-
ligent, and kind, children are far more likely to behave
in strong, intelligent, kind ways. They are more likely
to learn and thrive and succeed.
But what happens when children receive mes-
sages about themselves of disapproval, of disdain,
of dislike? What happens when children do not see
themselves or their families refl ected and respected
in their early childhood programs? When adults do
not actively guide children’s thinking about diversity,
how do children make sense of information—accurate
or biased—about people who are different from
themselves?

“I don’t want to sit next to her. She talks funny,”
comments a 3-year-old, regarding a new teacher who
speaks English with a strong accent.

“I don’t want to!” defi antly states a 4-year-old from a
single-mom family when the teacher announces they
are making cards for Father’s Day.

“You can’t be the princess! Princesses have blond
hair!” announces a White 4-year-old to an African
American friend.

“No girls allowed. No girls allowed. We’re big. We’re
superheroes. No girls, no girls,” chant three 5-year-old
boys from the top of the climbing structure.

“This is supposed to be a happy painting. Why are
you using all that black paint?” observes a teacher to a
young child at an easel.

“Martin’s daddy is going to drive on our fi eld trip.
He’s going to bring his new car! Isn’t that wonder-
ful? It’s blue and shiny and brand new!” announces a
teacher at circle time.

Each of these statements, whether made by
teachers or children, sends a negative message about
self-worth—evidence of harmful lessons learned
about oneself or about others. In an anti-bias class-
room, teachers intervene with immediate and follow-
up activities to counter the cumulative, hurtful effects
of these messages. In an anti-bias classroom, children
learn to be proud of themselves and of their families,
to respect human differences, to recognize bias, and
to speak up for what is right.

“Don’t say ‘No way, José; it will hurt José’s feelings,”
explains a 4½-year-old to a 4-year-old in a preschool
where teachers carefully teach not to use hurtful lan-
guage about another’s identity.

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2 Anti-Bias Education

In a preschool where the teacher engages children to
examine stereotyping and omissions in their books, a
5-year-old writes in awkward printing, “This book is
irregular. It doesn’t have any women in it.”

Why teachers do anti-bias education
Anti-bias work is essentially optimistic work about
the future for our children. Anti-bias teachers are
committed to the principle that every child deserves
to develop to his or her fullest potential. Anti-bias
work provides teachers a way to examine and trans-
form their understanding of children’s lives and also
do self-reflective work to more deeply understand
their own lives.
Teachers’ accounts of what drew them to anti-
bias education in their practice illustrate their deter-
mination to make life better for children and also the
deep hopefulness of this work. Perhaps you will hear
your own “voice” in theirs:
Lupe Marks, a Head Start teacher:

I remember that many adults put me down when I was
a child, like saying, “Oh, she is just a little Mexican.”
These comments really affected how I felt about
myself, and I vowed I wouldn’t do the same to someone
else. As a teacher, I wanted to break the cycle.

Lee Lesser, a preschool teacher and community col-
lege instructor:

Hearing children say disturbing things, to which I did
not know how to respond, was one big reason anti-bias
curriculum attracted me. One European American girl
told an Asian American boy, “You’re stupid.” When I
asked her why she said that, she said, “Because he
doesn’t know how to talk.” Another time an African
American parent asked me for advice. Her light-skinned
daughter didn’t want to play with a Black Barbie doll
and had told her that a Latino boy whose skin was
about the same shade as hers wouldn’t want to marry
her because she was too dark for him. These events
had a big impact on me and made me realize I needed
support in my anti-bias journey.

Merrie Najimy, a primary school teacher:
I think everyone who does anti-bias education has a
turning point in their life that makes them pick up the
work. As a Lebanese Arab American child, I was invis-
ible in school curriculum and materials. Now I see my
responsibility as a teacher to make sure that students
of color in my classroom do not have that same expe-
rience. At the same time, I have to figure out how to
get White kids to expand their thinking to understand
that they are not the only people in the classroom, the
school, the town, the country, the world.

Mary Pat Martin, a community college instructor:
The anti-bias education approach put into words
everything in my life that I always thought was right
about equality and justice. It gave me the tools to put
into practice what I always knew was the right way for
me to do early childhood education.

Brian Silveira, a preschool teacher:
Anti-bias curriculum changed the way I looked at child
development and the world. I probably wouldn’t be
such an activist today without it. We are creating a
better world.

The vision of anti-bias education
The heart of anti-bias work is a vision of a world in
which all children are able to blossom, and each
child’s particular abilities and gifts are able to flour-
ish. In this world:

l All children and families have a sense of belong-
ing and experience affirmation of their identities and
cultural ways of being.

l All children have access to and participate in the
education they need to become successful, contribut-
ing members of society.

l The educational process engages all members of
the program or school in joyful learning.

l Children and adults know how to respectfully and
easily live, learn, and work together in diverse and
inclusive environments.

l All families have the resources they need to fully
nurture their children.

l All children and families live in safe, peaceful,
healthy, comfortable housing and neighborhoods.

This vision of anti-bias education also reflects the
basic human rights described in the United Nations
(1989) Declaration of the Rights of the Child:

l The right to survival.

l The right to develop to the fullest.

l The right to protection from harmful influences,
abuse, and/or exploitation.

l The right to participate fully in family, cultural, and
social life.

In order for children to receive all these rights,
their society, their families, and those responsible for
their care and education must work to provide every-
thing that each child needs to flourish. A worldwide
community of educators shares the vision toward
which anti-bias education strives. They adapt its
goals and principles to the needs of children and
families in their specific contexts.

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3What Is Anti-Bias Education?

families; foster families; gay/lesbian-headed families;
families with a parent or other family member with a
disability or who is homeless, unemployed, or incar-
cerated; newly arrived immigrant families; families
separated by military duty; and on and on. This invis-
ibility or visibility in the classroom’s physical envi-
ronment undermines some young children’s positive
sense of self, while teaching other children that they
are specially deserving.
Given the continuing societal inequities into
which children are born, anti-bias education raises
these questions for early childhood educators:

l How does living in a highly diverse and inequitable
(unjust) society affect children’s development?

l What do children need in a diverse but inequitable
society to grow up healthy and strong?

l What do early childhood educators (and families)
need in order to respond to this challenge?

This book looks at these three questions and
provides a set of strategies for teachers who want
to see themselves as champions for all children and
their families. Anti-bias education is needed because
children live in a world that is not yet a place where
all of them have equal opportunity to become all
they could be. We know children need to feel safe and
secure in all their many identities, feel pride in their
families, and feel at home in their early childhood
programs. We also know that children need tools to
navigate the complex issues of identity, diversity,
prejudice, and power in their daily lives so that they
may learn, thrive, and succeed.
Rita Tenorio, an experienced early childhood
educator, puts it this way:

Racism and other biases are part of our society and
part of what children have to learn to deal with, to
become savvy about. They have to be ready to take
what is their right to have: respect, decent jobs, a
decent education. What we are about in education is
preparing children for the future—giving them what
they need to be successful. We need to give children a
critical perspective and appropriate tools. Those they
will need no matter what they become in life.

The four goals of anti-bias education
Anti-bias education has four core goals, each of which
applies to children of all backgrounds and influences
every arena of our programs. As illustrated in the box
“Gears,” each goal interacts and builds on the other
three. Together, they provide a safe, supportive learn-
ing community for all children. Effective anti-bias
education happens when all four goals are part of
your program.

Stop & Think: Imagine
Because of societal inequities, too many children still do
not have access to the “basic human rights” due them.
Imagine a world of justice and equal opportunity for all.

n What would that world look like for each of the chil-
dren you work with?

n What would that world look like for the program you
work in?

n What would you add to the “vision of anti-bias educa-
tion” list?

Bias is built into the system
Early childhood teachers want children to feel power-
ful and competent. They strive to welcome children
and to show respect to their families as best they
know how. However, beyond individual teachers’
hopes, beliefs, and actions is a society that has built
advantage and disadvantage into its institutions and
systems. These dynamics of advantage and disadvan-
tage are deeply rooted in history. They continue to
shape the degree of access children have to educa-
tion, health care, security—in a word, access to the
services necessary for children’s healthy develop-
ment. These dynamics also greatly affect the early
childhood education system, despite whatever values
individual teachers may have.
Inequity of resources, and the biases that justify
that inequity, have an enormous impact on children’s
lives. It is important to remember that it is not human
differences that undermine children’s development
but rather unfair, hurtful treatment based upon those
differences.
One major dynamic of advantage and disadvan-
tage that especially affects early childhood practice
is that of the “visibility” or “invisibility” of certain
kinds of people and cultures in a program. Too many
early childhood materials focus on children and
families who resemble the stereotypes of American
culture as it is most commonly depicted—middle-
class, White, suburban, able-bodied, English-speaking,
mother-and-father (nuclear) family—as if these were
the only types of children and families we work with.
Books that accurately and positively depict children
from low-income or rural families are few in number.
While there are increasing numbers of authentic and
respectful books about children of color, they do not
yet cover all of America’s many ethnic groups and
cultures. Only a handful of toys, pictures, songs, post-
ers, and the like, depict the full range of family struc-
tures, such as shared-custody families; single-parent

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4 Anti-Bias Education

Gears
At a conference in Berlin, Germany, on early childhood anti-bias education, teachers from 31 child care
centers, participants in a national initiative organized by Projekt Kinderwelten (a nonprofit, nongovernment
organization), displayed storyboards documenting their work. One center had a wonderful way to show the
relationship among the four anti-bias education goals. They made four wooden, interlocking gears—each
representing one goal. When you moved any one of the gears, the rest also moved.

Goal 1 . . . moves Goal 2 . . . moves Goal 3 . . . moves Goal 4

Goal 1
Each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confi-
dence, family pride, and positive social identities.

This is the starting place for all children, in all set-
tings. A basic goal of quality early childhood edu-
cation work is to nurture each child’s individual,
personal identity. Anti-bias education adds to that
goal the important idea of nurturing social (or group)
identities. Goal 1 strengthens social, emotional, and
cognitive development. As children develop a strong
sense of both individual and group identity, they also
develop more tools for success in school and in life.

Guidelines for teaching Goal 1

l Build on self-concept activities you already do by
also exploring the children’s various social identities
(e.g., racial, cultural, gender, economic class). Each
of chapters 5 through 11 offers many ideas for how to
do this in each arena. You may also want to read What
If All the Kids Are White? (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey
2006) for further ideas about social identity issues
and activities.

l Remember that respectfully making visible and
supporting all of the children’s families is an essen-
tial element in nurturing a positive sense of self for
each child. (See chapter 9 for more information on
families.)

l Support children fully in the social identity aspects
of Goal 1 before you move on to any of the other goals.
This is essential. As Bill Martin (1970) says in his poem
“I Am Freedom’s Child”: “As I learn to like the differ-
ences in me, I learn to like the differences in you.”

Goal 2
Each child will express comfort and joy with human
diversity; accurate language for human differences;
and deep, caring human connections.

In an anti-bias approach, encouraging children to
learn about how they are different from other chil-
dren and learn about how they are similar go hand
in hand. These are never either/or realities because
people are simultaneously the same and different
from one another. This is at the heart of learning how
to treat all people caringly and fairly.
From infancy on, children notice and are curi-
ous about all kinds of differences among people.
They also develop their own (often surprising)
explanations for the differences that they observe
and experience. By preschool, children have already
developed ideas about many aspects of human diver-
sity—including ideas that may seem quite strange to
adults. Moreover, many children already have begun
to develop discomfort about or even fear of specific
kinds of differences.
Some teachers and parents are not sure they
should encourage children to “notice” and learn
about differences among people. They think it is
best to teach only about how people are the same,
worrying that learning about differences causes
prejudice. While well intentioned, this concern arises
from a mistaken notion about the sources of bias.
Differences, in and of themselves, do not create the
problem. Children learn prejudice from prejudice—not
from learning about human diversity. It is how people
respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

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5What Is Anti-Bias Education?

Moreover, a difference-denial approach, which
ignores children’s identities and family cultures, runs
the risk of making invisible the many children who do
not have the social identity of the dominant group.

Guidelines for teaching Goal 2

l Strike a balance between exploring people’s simi-
larities and differences. We share similar biological
attributes and needs (e.g., the need for food, shelter,
and love; the commonalities of language, families, and
feelings) and we live these in many different ways.

l Developmentally, it is best to teach children by
beginning with what they already know and have
experienced. Therefore, it is important to explore the
many kinds of diversity present among the children in
the group, even when they come from similar racial,
cultural, economic class, and family backgrounds.
This will set the stage for learning about diversity in
their larger communities beyond the classroom.

l Further broaden children’s knowledge of diversity
by acquainting children with groups of people who
live and work in their larger neighborhood and city.
Preschoolers learn best about people as individuals,
not as representatives of groups or countries.

l Avoid a “tourist curriculum” approach to diversity,
as described later in this chapter.

Goal 3
Each child will increasingly recognize unfairness,
have language to describe unfairness, and understand
that unfairness hurts.

Children cannot construct a strong self-concept or
develop respect for others if they do not know how
to identify and resist hurtful, stereotypical, and inac-
curate messages or actions directed toward them
or others. Developing the ability to think critically
strengthens children’s sense of self, as well as their
capacity to form caring relationships with others.
Furthermore, being able to think critically about the
world is a skill important for later school success.

Guidelines for teaching Goal 3

l Assess children’s misconceptions and stereotypes.
First, find out their thinking and feelings about a
particular kind of diversity (e.g., a person who is deaf,
a person who is White or American Indian, a person
who is homeless). Note comments children make in
informal conversations or play (see the box “Dealing
with Misinformation”). Hold planned conversations
to draw out their ideas; use a picture, a question, or a
book to spark their insights.

l Plan activities that help children learn how to con-
trast inaccurate, untrue images or ideas with accurate
ones.

l In the same activities, build children’s budding
capacities for empathy and fairness.

l Support critical-thinking activities, which pave the
way for their learning to take action to make unfair
things fair.

Taking into account the social background of
children as we make plans for teaching them helps to
make education equitable and fair. For example:

In an inclusive kindergarten classroom in a public
school, the teacher does a unit with the children about
“handicapped” parking spaces. They look at photos of
these spaces and at the signs that people put in their
cars so they can park there. When they find out that
some teachers are inappropriately parking in their
school’s handicapped parking spaces, the children
make “tickets” to put on those cars, and the inappro-
priate parking soon stops—thus moving naturally into
Goal 4.

Goal 4
Each child will demonstrate empowerment and the
skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice
and/or discriminatory actions.

This fourth building block of anti-bias education is
about helping every child learn and practice a variety
of ways to act when:

l another child behaves in a biased manner toward
her or him

l a child behaves in a biased manner toward another
child

l unfair situations occur in the center/classroom

l unfair situations occur in the children’s immediate
community

Children’s growth on Goal 4 strengthens their
growth on the other three goals. If a child is the tar-
get of prejudice or discrimination, she needs tools to
resist and to know that she has worth (Goal 1). When
a child speaks up for another child, it reinforces his
understanding of other people’s unique feelings
(Goal 2). When children are helped to take action,
it broadens their understanding of “unfairness” and
“fairness” (Goal 3).
Biased behaviors among children such as teasing,
rejection, and exclusion based on some aspect of a
child’s identity are a form of aggressive behavior and
are just as serious as physical aggression. The old
saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but

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6 Anti-Bias Education

Overhearing a child telling classmates that adopted
children were “thrown away” by their “real parents,” I
knew I needed to deal with this misinformation imme-
diately. I told the children that two doll “classmates”
had told Rachel (one of our persona dolls) that “she
had been thrown away by her real parents because
she was a bad baby.” I invited the children to explore
Rachel’s feelings of hurt, sorrow, and anger. One of the
kids said Rachel might feel afraid that she would be
“thrown away” again if she did something bad.
I then asked the children what they knew about
adoption. “What do you think? Were those [doll] kids
right about adopted kids being thrown away?” Only
one child, herself adopted, knew something true
about adoption. I acknowledged her information and
reassured her: “Barbara knows some real information
about adoption. That’s right, Barbara.”
The next step was asking about where to get
correct information: “Rachel needs to find out the

truth about adoption right away. How do you think she
can get real information? Whom could she ask?” The
children had several ideas: “Her mom.” . . . “Her Bubbe
[grandmother].” . . . “Maybe her teacher knows.” . . .
“A book about being adopted.” I supported their ideas.
Then I added to the story, telling how the doll got
reliable information, and I related an accurate explana-
tion about adoption. (Remember that if you need to do
some research to be sure you have the correct infor-
mation in a similar situation, tell the children you need
to collect the true information and will talk with them
about it the next day.) We ended by my asking, “Are
there other things you would like to know about adop-
tion? Who has a question?” I answered a few more
questions and ended the discussion.

Source: Adapted from T. Whitney, Kids Like Us: Using Persona
Dolls in the Classroom (St. Paul, MN: Redleaf, 1999), pp. 107–10.
Used with permission.

Dealing with Misinformation

names will never hurt me” does not apply. Children’s
developing sense of self is hurt by name-calling, teas-
ing, and exclusion based on identity. And children
who engage in such hurtful behaviors are learning to
be bullies. An anti-bias approach calls on teachers to
gently but firmly intervene, support the child who has
been hurt by the biased behavior, and help children
learn other ways of interacting. Anti-bias education is
a necessary partner of conflict-resolution education.

Guidelines for teaching Goal 4

l Be alert for unfair practices that directly affect
children’s lives. You may be the first to identify the
problem, or the children may bring a problem to your
attention.

l Engage the children in dialogue about their feelings
and ideas regarding the specific situation. Provide
information about the situation, as appropriate.

l Consider the interests and dynamics of your
group of children. Do they care about the problem?
What kind of actions would help them appropriately
address the issue?

l Consider the children’s families. Learn how each
family teaches their child to handle being the target
of discriminatory behaviors. Explain why you believe
it is important for children to learn several ways to
respond. Incorporate diverse strategies based on
what families do.

l Plan and carry out an action to address the problem
(see the example below and the box “Children Figure

Out What Actions to Take”). If one action works,
great! If it does not, try again with a different activity.

A teacher in a Midwest college child development
center helps children address the problem of racial bias
in a calendar sent to them in which all the children in
the pictures are White. After carefully looking at the
pictures and discussing their observations, the children
decide the calendar is not fair because it does not
show many kinds of children. They dictate a letter to
the company, but do not receive a response. Their
teacher then helps them create a petition using the
words from their dictated letter. The children collect a
hundred signatures from the college students on their
campus. The company replies to the petition, promis-
ing the next calendar will show many kinds of children.

Chapters 3 and 4 will help you to understand
how to go about putting these four goals into prac-
tice. Chapters 5 through 11 will help you focus on the
various specific aspects of identity for which children
need support.

Educational principles for putting
anti-bias goals into action
Now that you have a grasp on what anti-bias educa-
tion hopes to accomplish, here are some principles
for using the four anti-bias education goals.

l The four anti-bias education goals are for every-
one, and everyone benefits.
Social inequities and biases undermine healthy
development in all children, in one way or another;
and all children benefit from being made visible and

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7What Is Anti-Bias Education?

At circle time, the teacher explains that a group of the
doll boys were playing Fort with the outdoor climbing
equipment. Jamie, a girl persona doll, wanted to join
in, but the boys declared, “Only boys can play in this
fort. You do not know how to play.”

Teacher: How do you think Jamie felt? Has this
ever happened to you? Can girls play that game
too? What could Jamie do?

Children: She could tell him he hurt her feelings.
. . . I would climb into that fort anyway. . . . I’d go
find someone else.

Teacher: You have many good ideas. Jamie has
many choices of what she can do. It depends on
how she feels. She could try to work it out, or tell
the boys to let her in, or she could go find some-
one else to play with. What could she say if she
wanted to try to work it out with them?

Children: “Girls can too!” . . . “How would he like
it?”

Teacher: Those are all great ideas. What if she
wanted some help? Where could she find help?

Children: Her friends; she could go get ’em. . . .
Maybe the teacher? . . . Make her own fort.

Teacher: What if she’s feeling bad? What could you
do or say to help her feel better?

Children: I’d give her a hug. . . . “Don’t listen to
him. He’s wrong!” . . . “I’ll play with you. I like you.”

Teacher: We could also make a sign that reminds
everyone that everyone can play where she or he
wants. What should we write?

Children: “Girls can play where they want to.
So can boys.” . . . “Don’t hurt kids’ feelings.” . . .
“Friends can help you.”

The teacher makes up the sign and posts it where
the children can read it. Later, when incidents occur
among them to which their “rules” apply, she reminds
the children of what the sign says.

Source: Adapted from T. Whitney, Kids Like Us: Using Persona
Dolls in the Classroom (St. Paul, MN: Redleaf, 1999), pp. 142–44.
Used with permission.

Children Figure Out What Actions to Take

equitably included in daily classroom activities. Some
people wonder how White children fit into an anti-
bias approach, thinking that diversity issues only
really affect children of color. However, the continued
realities and messages of inequity in our society and
world also negatively affect White children’s sense
of self and attitudes toward others. Nurturing White
children’s healthy identity and their positive atti-
tudes toward others is an essential part of anti-bias
education.
Conversely, some people wonder whether anti-
bias education is primarily for White children. Carol
Brunson Day offers her insights about this question:

People of color often have the feeling that anti-bias
education is work that Whites need to do, because the
sources of racism come from White history and cul-
ture. They question its relevancy for children of color,
for whom they believe empowerment is the key issue.
White children definitely need anti-bias education.
So, too, do children of color, although the specific work
differs from that with White children. Education to pre-
vent internalized oppression by fostering strong per-
sonal and social identities and to counter prejudices
about other groups of color are two essential tasks that
are part of the larger anti-bias work. We also need to
create alliances to achieve our shared ultimate goal of
a more equitable society.

l Anti-bias education activities pay attention to the
realities of children’s lives.
The four anti-bias education goals create a frame-
work for teaching all children, but a one-size-fits-all
curriculum is not effective in anti-bias work any more

than it is effective for any other aspect of early child-
hood education that is developmentally (culturally)
appropriate. There are different kinds of inequity and
power issues connected to each area of diversity, and
each one affects children’s development in a some-
what different way.
Some children need support to resist social mes-
sages of racial or cultural inferiority, which under-
cut their positive identity; others need guidance to
develop a positive self-concept without absorbing
social messages of superiority. Children of wealthy
families need help resisting the message that material
accumulation defines their worth; children of poor
families need teachers who make them visible and
respect their lives. Some girls will need extra support
to develop their math and science abilities; some
boys will require help to develop skills for having nur-
turing, cooperative interactions with their peers.
Anti-bias educators also design their work based
on the specific cultural backgrounds of the individual
children and families they serve. Here is some useful
advice from African American anti-bias educator Anne
Stewart:

As teachers, we know that developing strong self- and
group identity, being rooted in home culture, and hav-
ing skills to resist messages that undermine confidence
enable children to succeed in school and afterward.
Ask yourself, “What is already in the culture to which we
can tie ABE goals?” For example, African American fami-
lies understand that kids must have pride in themselves
to do well in school and in the world. Families, however,

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8 Anti-Bias Education

may not make the connection between school success
and children learning to change the world in which they
live—even though the connection is real and there is a
long history of African Americans acting on it.

l Anti-bias education is developmentally
appropriate.
As in all other areas of early childhood curricu-
lum, teachers tailor and scaffold anti-bias education
materials and activities to each child’s cognitive,
social, and emotional developmental capacities. They
plan and choose learning experiences that stimulate
children to explore the next step of new ideas and
skills and allow each child to apply new understand-
ings and behaviors in his or her daily life.
Principle 8 of NAEYC’s position statement on
developmentally appropriate practice—“Development
and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple
social and cultural contexts”—makes explicit that anti-
bias education is developmentally appropriate. So,
too, does the principle of “Creating a caring commu-
nity of learners.” As the position statement explains,

Because early childhood settings tend to be children’s
first communities outside the home, the character of
these communities is very influential in development.
How children expect to be treated and how they treat
others is significantly shaped in the early childhood
setting. In developmentally appropriate practice, prac-
titioners create and foster a “community of learners”
that supports all children to develop and learn. (NAEYC
2009, 16)

l Anti-bias planning uses both child- and teacher-
initiated activities.
Children’s questions, comments, and behaviors
are a vital source of anti-bias curriculum. They spark
teachable moments as well as longer-term projects.
However, it is not sufficient to do anti-bias activities
only when a child brings up a relevant issue.
Teacher-initiated activities are also necessary—
be they intentionally putting materials in the environ-
ment to broaden children’s awareness or planning
specific learning experiences around issues or areas
that matter to families and the community. Teacher-
initiated activities open up opportunities to uncover
and help children explore ideas. We do not wait for
children to open up the topic of reading or numbers
before making literacy and numeracy part of our daily
early childhood curriculum. Because we have decided
that these understandings and skills are essential for
children, we provide literacy and numeracy discus-
sions and activities in our classrooms. The same is
true for anti-bias.
A balance between child-initiated and teacher-
initiated activities is as vital in anti-bias education as
in any other part of the early childhood curriculum.

l Anti-bias learning does not happen in one lesson
or one day.
Anti-bias education is not just a set of activities
for occasional use (although that is often how new
anti-bias educators begin). It is a focus that perme-
ates everything that happens in our program. All
learning proceeds unevenly and requires many les-
sons on the same topic. Children need multiple ways
to think about and experience the ideas and skills of
anti-bias work, too.
As children first begin to talk about identity and
fairness issues, they may make more, rather than
fewer, biased comments than before. But such com-
ments are a natural part of the anti-bias process—it
takes many attempts before they learn a new way of
thinking about difference, so children need to be free
to ask questions and share their ideas.

l Anti-bias education calls on teachers to know
themselves.
As you saw in the quotes from teachers early in
this chapter, teachers themselves are on a journey
as they work with children, families, and colleagues
on the four anti-bias education goals. Broadening our
understanding of ourselves is both a challenge and
a reward of being anti-bias educators. (See chapter 3
for further discussion of this topic and suggestions
for getting-to-know-yourself activities.)
Anti-bias education work is a journey with many
paths and rhythms; each person chooses her or his
own (see the box “What Do the ABE Goals Mean to
Me?”). Some teachers focus on their own growth and
the changes they make in their own work. Others
move on to conversations with other adults—
colleagues, families, friends. Many anti-bias educators
also decide to engage in change work beyond their
classroom.

l Anti-bias education avoids the pitfall of tourist
curriculum.
One of the most common mistakes teachers new
to anti-bias work make when incorporating diversity
activities into their program is to do “tourist curricu-
lum.” Tourist curriculum, a superficial educational
approach, does not make diversity a routine part of
the ongoing, daily learning environment and experi-
ences. Instead it is curriculum that “drops in” on
strange, exotic people to see their holidays and taste
their foods, and then returns to the “real” world of
“regular” life. That “regular” daily learning environ-
ment is shaped by the cultural norms, rules of behav-
ior, images, and teaching and learning styles of the
dominant U.S. groups (middle-class, White, suburban,
able-bodied).

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9What Is Anti-Bias Education?

Several teaching behaviors signal a tourist curric-
ulum, including tokenism, trivializing, misrepresenting,
and stereotyping. (See the section “Tourist Curriculum
Is Hazardous to Growing Children” in chapter 4 for an
explanation of these practices.) The most frequently
seen example is when a teacher does activities about
“other” cultural groups as part of a holiday/special
unit, and then the group disappears from the curricu-
lum until the same time the following year.
This kind of teaching about diversity communi-
cates messages (even if unintentionally) that under-
mine respect for different ways of living. One message
is that the dominant way of life must be the “normal”
or “right” way, as it is the daily experience of school.
Another message is that because “other” cultural
groups are only occasionally part of the curriculum,
they must be less important than the dominant
groups. Through these messages, tourist curriculum
in essence undermines the core goals and values of
anti-bias education.

l Anti-bias education rests on strong relationships
among staff and between staff and families.
Many teachers find that raising issues of diversity
and inequity with other adults is more challenging for
them than working with children is. This is not sur-
prising. A kind of “emperor’s new clothes” syndrome
in our society (i.e., thinking it’s better to pretend not
to see what is in front of our eyes) keeps many of us
silent about anti-bias issues. However, collaboration
has the benefit of providing more effective anti-bias
education for the children and a richer, more com-
plex, and more effective experience for the adults.

What we do matters
Anti-bias education work in early childhood is shaped
by a deep-seated belief in the importance of justice,
the dream of each child being able to achieve all he or
she is capable of, the knowledge that together human
beings can make a difference. Listen to the voices of
children who have experienced anti-bias education at
school or at home. They give us hope and direction.

Several 3-year-olds (Asian, White, and Latino) are at
the art table playing with small mirrors while they paint
on paper ovals. As they look at their eyes, Jesse starts
crooning to himself: “Oh, pretty eyes, pretty eyes. Lots
of different eyes, pretty eyes, pretty eyes. Brown and
blue, pointy, round. Pretty eyes, pretty eyes.”

Two preschool girls are playing Indians by whoop-
ing and pretending to have tomahawks. Miriam (age
4) stops them by saying, “Stop! That isn’t like real
Indians. Mrs. Cowell is Cherokee, and you will hurt her
feelings!”

A kindergarten teacher shows the children a magazine
picture titled “Brides of America.” All of the women
pictured are White. She asks, “What do you think
of this picture?” Sophia, whose family is Nicaraguan,
responds, “That’s a silly picture. My mom was a bride,
and she doesn’t look like that.”

A mother relates the following anecdote: “When I
picked Jonah up from kindergarten the other day, he
said, ‘Mom, Kevin had tears in his eyes and his face
looked sad and he told me that a bigger kid pushed him
off the bars at recess. So Zena and I went to go find the
boy and ask him why he did it. We couldn’t find him,
but then we found him on the field. We’re not allowed
to go on the field, but we had to because we had to save
Kevin.’ After he told his story, I reflected, ‘Wow. You
are a really good friend, Jonah.’ He said, ‘Yeah, when I
see something unfair, Mom, I change it.’”

Why do we do anti-bias education work? We do it
because we live in a world that is not yet a place where
all children have equal opportunity to become all they
are. A worldwide community of educators shares the
vision toward which anti-bias education strives, adapt-
ing its goals and principles to the specific needs of the
children and families they work with.
We invite you to be a part of this community, and
we hope this book will provide some beginning maps
for your journey.

“What Do the ABE Goals
Mean to Me?”

Consider the four core anti-bias education goals as
they apply to your own daily life and work. How do
you assess yourself on each? (You can do this exer-
cise by yourself or with your learning partners.)

1. (ABE Goal 1) To what degree, or in what ways, do
I nurture construction of a knowledgeable, confi-
dent self-identity and group identity in myself?

2. (ABE Goal 2) How do I promote my own comfort-
able, empathetic interactions with people from
diverse backgrounds?

3. (ABE Goal 3) In what ways do I foster my critical
thinking about bias?

4. (ABE Goal 4) Under what circumstances do I
cultivate my ability to stand up for myself and for
others in the face of bias?

5. What are the challenges to achieving these goals
in my life?

6. What might be ways for me to develop each of
these goals in my work? in my personal life?

Source: Adapted from C. Lamm, “Anti-Bias Perspective
Seminar,” unpublished manuscript (ECE Department, Fullerton
College, CA, Spring 2007). Used with permission.

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10 Anti-Bias Education

The Vital Connection between Anti-Bias Education
and Peace Education

by Diane Levin

VOICES FROM THE FIELD

For children to become truly responsible and caring
members of a global community in which diverse

people cooperate and resolve confl icts without vio-
lence and war, the foundation needs to be laid early.
Doing this well requires taking into account how
understanding similarities and differences affects chil-
dren’s development and learning. From birth onward,
children’s attention is often drawn to what they don’t
know—to the novel and different rather than to the
familiar. Children naturally use similarities and dif-
ferences among people, objects, and events to help
them defi ne and understand their world—a parent
or familiar caretaker from a stranger, a bottle from a
breast, or a rattle from a pacifi er.
As children try to relate what is different to what
they already know, they learn new lessons about the
world. These lessons can contribute to their reacting
to differences with trust and tolerance or with fear
and violence. The lessons set the tone for how chil-
dren will deal with differences among people through-
out life—differences in how they look, act, and think.
The lessons also infl uence how children deal with
differing points of view during confl icts. For instance,

if two children want to play with the same ball, a con-
fl ict can result from their differing ideas about who
should have the ball. Children who have learned to
deal with confl icting ideas by working differences out
justly and peacefully are more likely to fi nd a way to
share the ball than are children who view differences
with suspicion and threat.
We play a vital role in how children learn to think
about and deal with similarities and differences. It
is by helping children begin to develop positive atti-
tudes, values, and skills about diversity when they are
young that they will learn what it means to respect
and stand up for themselves and others in the face of
injustice, and come to a just and comfortable relation-
ship with diversity among people as they grow up.
Our efforts will help children develop the strategies
they need to break the cycle of violence in their own
lives and in the wider society.

Source: Adapted from D. Levin, Teaching Young Children in Violent
Times: Building a Peaceable Classroom, 2d ed. (Cambridge, MA:
Educators for Social Responsibility; Washington, DC: NAEYC, 2003),
Chapter 6: Anti-Bias Education.

10 Anti-Bias Education

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