Soooo.......... At the end of the contemporary pedagogy class we watched a video on children's perception towards individuals from different ethnic backgrounds. I hate we ran out of time. I was intrigued by the video. I always presumed that people formulated opinions and thoughts about different ethnic groups based on stereotypes that they learn during their adolescent years; not to mention just association with peers in general.
But it was obvious to me that the children in this video weren't taught to feel any particular way towards any ethnic group. The honestly just felt the way the felt. I've racked my brain for the past week trying to understand what the major influence in pre-teens thoughts on diversity could be..........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTYn1WRCuoU
I argue about that they were taught to feel these ways. People learn by observing. Simply by observing society they have learned to feel certain ways towards these ethnic groups. Its unlikely that it was intentional, but they did learn to feel the way that they do.
ReplyDeleteI found this video to be disturbing- I've been thinking about it this week. I think it really speaks to the tough job we as educators, parents, and members of society face of engaging kids in discussions about diversity issues.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tiffany in that people learn by observing. Infants and toddlers learn by mimicking their parents. And that mimicking can translate to how the parents perceive individuals based on appearance. If a parent responds better (say smiles more or is more friendly toward) an clean shaven individual versus a scruffy/bearded person, kids pick up on that is "the thing to do" in that situation. The same can be said for interpretation of identity markers. So how does one adjust these behaviors? It's hard to break a habit that has been a part of one's development since infancy. But I'm not saying it can't be done.
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