The Scholarly Mommy

Teaching Children about Diversity: Teacher Edition Part II

2011-11-08T14:49:00.000-05:00

This Scholarly Mommy's "free time" has sure been limited these days. You know what though? I started this blog to stay up to date with the world of education. I may not have been posting much but I have been up to date with the world of educating an almost 2 year old boy. I am learning so much with this young human being and sincerely enjoying every minute I have with him. He has recently started talking and I think it is so awesome how he switches back and forth from English and Spanish. My husband and I are so proud of him as should every other parents be of their children. For those who celebrate the upcoming holidays: Thanksgiving & Christmas, enjoy! I love this time of year. We get to spend it with family and basically take time out from hectic everyday life.

As promised Part II of the Teacher Edition:

Evaluating Yourself and Your Classroom

As multicultural education we must recognize our own bias and prejudice before we try to help others. Ask yourself, am I bias, homophobic, prejudice, racist, sexist; do I stereotype? Once you are comfortable to recognize your bias with others, others will be comfortable recognizing it too. Evaluate your classroom; make sure that it is anti-bias. The Anti-Defamation League (2002) provides a checklist to identify strengths and needs of the environment, answering “we do this well” or “needs improvement”; some examples follow:

· Does the physical environment contain images of people from diverse backgrounds (for example, diverse cultures and religions, and people of different ages)?

· Does the physical environment include images that counter existing stereotypes (for example, a Mexican physician instead of a Mexican in a sombrero taking a siesta)?

· Does the physical environment include images of diverse people engaged in everyday dress and activities, as opposed to ancient or ceremonial dress?

· Does the physical environment include images of people with a range of different abilities, body types, socioeconomic groups, or neighborhoods; do they interact with one another?

· Does the physical environment include images and toys that counter gender stereotypes (for example, women demonstrating physical strength and men performing domestic tasks, or caring for children)?

· Do textbooks and other literature include content and illustration that reflect the experiences of people from a diverse background?

You might not have each of the criteria accomplished in your classroom, but each year an improvement can be made.

Conclusion (The Assessment)

It is wrong to think that a curriculum like this is going to magically change the world at once? Multicultural education is defined differently throughout research. It does seek to create an environment in which all children are treated and educated equally. How can the success of this curriculum be determined? I believe that time will tell. In a preschool classroom I taught, I knew that the multicultural education was a success. A three year old knew what country each child was from, some foods they liked to eat and words in their language. The children would take imaginary trips to each others country and do fun things that they liked to do when they were there. They even knew where all of there teachers were from and they loved learning about their different countries. I believe that within time the children’s interest will be greater; not only to know more about the countries they already know about but the countries that are new to them. It is a great feeling to see these interactions amongst the children. Some of these materials and activities were not even provided. I can only imagine the results of multicultural education would be integrated entirely.
When you try to measure the success of integrating multicultural education into the classroom you might not be able disappointed or discouraged. I measure the success depending on the social interaction between the students. Are they more respectful of each other? Are they interested in learning more about each other? I consider it a success when just one child has demonstrated these social skills. I believe that once one student has demonstrated these skills, other will follow.

Wow? That's it?! Yeap. That was the conclusion to that paper... Not much, huh?! I'm figuring things out as I have this blog. Even though people enjoy reading research they are mostly interested on what you have to say in an impersonal way. I guess I had planned to continue with the 3rd series, Teaching Children Diversity" Principal edition but I am kind of bored with that. I want to express myself more. Although, I have just with papers I wrote in the past. I'd like to think I'm a wee bit wiser now (hopefully). So soon, I will post, What is culture? Mostly just my thoughts, some research thrown in, but that's what its going to be for now. If you are a principal or administrator and are curious about the paper I wrote on Teaching Children Diversity you can email me thescholarlymommy@gmail.com and I will share it with you.

Teaching Children about Diversity: Teacher Edition Part I

2011-09-28T22:35:00.015-04:00

Being a Stay at Home can sure make you busy and tired! I feel like I have not posted in forever, this month had been very busy for us. We went to Puerto Rico to visit my family. I came back reflecting on the meaning of culture and what it has become. That will be what I write about next, it might not be something backed up by data but will be my reflection. I need a lot of time to organize those thoughts though.

I hope I am helping at least one person become more open-minded and helping them realize how important this topic is. This edition is concentrated on teachers, mostly teachers who teach preschool and the early elementary years although you should not limit it to such. You can most definitely read and adapt to your focus group, whether you are a Homeschooling mom/dad or you teach high school.

I have researched this topic for many years so I will mostly be adding to this post from papers I have written in the past. I figure that instead of having it stored away collecting cyber dust, where no one can see it, post it where it may help teachers out there. I will post in two parts since these papers are so long. This first section will discuss the classroom, the next section will be shorter discussing Assessment and Evaluation.

I would like to thank "you all" (a southern phrase I have picked up) for reading my blog and providing me feedback, you may do so anytime by email thescholarlymommy@gmail.com, you can "like" my page on Facebook "The Scholarly Mommy" and you can follow me on Twitter "scholarlymommy". Thanks Again!!

I will not be copy pasting the whole paper just sections of it. I have permission from the author, don't worry, she's pretty cool.

How to Integrate Multicultural Education into the Everyday Life of a Young Child

In the next twenty years, fifty-five percent of public school students will be considered part of a racial or ethnic minority group and twenty-seven percent may speak another language other than English (The National Center for Education Statistics, 2005). Many schools have recognized that this is a fact and have initiated an integration of multicultural education; other schools may be reluctant to do so. There are a variety of reasons in which a school or a teacher might deny to commence the integration of multiculturalism into the classroom. Huber (2000) mentions four reasons:

§ Some teachers report that “we are all alike here” or “we don’t see color here” and fail to recognize that culture has a considerable influence on the lives of both children and staff.

§ Teachers may not feel they know enough about another culture to feel comfortable providing materials and answering children’s questions.

§ Teachers may feel that they are already incorporating some multicultural materials in the classroom.

§ A teacher may not know what props or materials would be appropriate for the classroom.

What do teachers need to know in able to provide a genuine multicultural experience in the classroom? Where should a teacher start? What materials and lessons should be included?

Many might believe that the purpose of multicultural education is to teach “White” kids about all other cultures. This is simply not true. The beauty of multicultural education is that it is used to teach each child of every race about all other races, including the American culture. By no means should the American culture be left out of the picture. This curriculum is a way to embrace and equally value cultural diversity within the Untied States (York, 2003). Each year, before school begins, teachers should try their best to seek information of the children they will have in their classroom. If this is not possible, the first week of class, the teacher should survey the families, to learn about their culture and traditions. This can even be part of one of your first projects of the year. For this purpose the questions are addressed to the children and are filled out with the help of their family. This survey should have a variety of questions such as this Family History Questionnaire (Derman-Sparks, 1989):

1. I was born in _____?

2. My mother’s name is _____. She was born in _____.

3. My father’s name is _____. He was born in_____.

4. My mother’s parents live or lived in ____. They were born in ____ and _____.

5. My father’s parents live or lived in ____. They were born in ____ and _____.

6. Did my grandparents or great-grandparents come from another country? Which person? Which country?

7. What is my family’s cultural/ethnic heritage?

8. Does our family have special customs or traditions? What are they?

9. Tell a story about a special relative who’s important to our family.

This questionnaire is only an example; many questions can be added or taken out. Once all this information is gathered it is the teacher’s duty to create and environment where each culture is represented one way or another. The most important aspect about multicultural education is that children learn and accept themselves. When this occurs, they are ready to learn and accept other cultures and individuals.

Play

In Early Childhood Education, it is understood that children learn best through play. When Kieff (1994) asked a community of teachers and parents to define play, this is what they responded:

“Play is a child’s work.”

“Play is the way children express themselves.”

“Play is fun.”

“Play is the way children learn about their world.”

“Play is how children get along.”

A great way to facilitate play in the classroom is through learning based centers, others may call them stations, or areas. Depending on the space and materials there is a variety of centers that a child may choose to play at:

- Blocks

- Discovery/Science

- Math/Manipulatives

- Art

- Technology/Computer

- Library/Reading/Quiet Area

- Dramatic Play

- Sensory (Sand & Water)

- Music & Movement

Whether it is integrating a variety of toys and materials or offering activities in such areas, these centers are a great opportunity to expose children to different cultures. To provide information for teachers that can help the process of integrating multicultural education into a preschool classroom, I will offer a list of toys and materials and activities that can be added to each area.

- Block Area

The block area is a great opportunity for children to develop hand-eye coordination and spatial relations. Multicultural materials such as posters of different types of homes, along with palm leaves, coconut branches, corn husks, pine branches, bark, pine needles, craft sticks, stones, and straw for creating roofs, houses and branches (York, 2003). Miniature people in every day dress that are different in age, culture and abilities, and a wide variety of animals are other items that can be added to his area.

- Discovery/Science Area

So many activities can encourage children to observe, explore, classify, compare and measure. Children can observe as different types of plants, fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers from many different countries. This would be a great opportunity to mention how different countries use these items for different things. Another fun activity is cooking. Make special recipes such as flan, baklava, and breads from different countries. A cool experiment that can be offered in the classroom is dyeing cloth as Native Americans did by boiling plants to make dye: beets = red, spinach = green, blackberries = blue (Saul & Saul, 2001).

- Math/Manipulative Area

Want to introduce numbers and counting? Write the numbers from 1 to 10 in separate pages. Print out the symbol for that number in another language such as Mandarin or Japanese. Then use items native to that country to represent the number on that page. What to introduce patterns? Bring different fabrics; some may even be hand-made. These are usually made up of patterns. See if the children can recognize color and shape patterns.

- Art

Encourage the children to make self-portraits. If the children want to use paint, have them mix different colors to create the color that most resembles their skin. The next day, you can encourage them to make a portrait of their friend as well as mixing different colors to get the color of their friend’s skin. Later, have them compare the colors. They will figure out that no two colors are the same. Teachers can also look at different artists and their techniques. What inspired that artist to create such art? Was it their country, or another culture?

- Technology/Computer Area

It’s amazing what children can do with computers these days. A three year old in my classroom used the backspace to delete another friends name and typed her own name in, then pressed the enter key in order to sign in to the game. Having a variety of games and child safe website will provide them with real life pictures, video clips, music and games. Encyclopedias for kids are also a great resource to have when children start to inquire about different traditions. In http://pbskids.org/ and http://pbskids.org/go/ there are games such as Maya and Miguel, It’s a Big Big World and Dragon Tales among other games that expose children to diversity and different languages.

- Library/Reading/Quiet Area

So much to read in so little time! There are so many books teachers can use to integrate multiculturalism in the classroom. Be careful! Many books can be biased and teachers need review the books before placing them on the shelves. Here are some guidelines that Stacey York (2003) provides to have in mind when selecting multicultural literature:

- Illustrations: Are they stereotypical, exaggerated, depicting, or racist?

- Characters of Color: Do people wear suitable clothing?

- Relationship between White People and People of Color: Are people of color underrepresented in comparison to white?

- Story Line: Does the book contain loaded words, are the family relations stereotypical?

- Author and Illustrator: Are they qualified to deal with this subject matter?

Wouldn’t it be interesting to listen to a story in its native language? Set it up! Invite people to the classroom. Many are willing to do so much more than read; they’ll sing and dance with the children, they will bring art activities, just ask!

- Dramatic Play Area

Children learn to dress themselves, to button, zipper and snap. Children become mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. They are chefs, mail carriers, princes and princesses. This area encourages children to interact with each other. It is very important to allow children to have freedom of play because they learn a lot about themselves and others. The dramatic play area can be transformed into so many places, but to accommodate these transformations we must have lots of props! We can have two types of clothing: those used for celebrations and those that are used as other culture’s daily dress. It is important to let the children know that traditional clothing is not worn everyday, most of them wear regular clothing similar us (Huber, 2000). Other props that should be brought in are multicultural play food, cooking utensils, dolls among others.

- Sensory (Sand & Water)

Sensory tables are used to introduce textures and liquids. Providing different fabrics, soils, and sand can take a child to another place. A sand table can have toy camels and create patterns that the wind would create on the dessert sand. In the water table a child can be taken to Alaska where there may be icebergs and learn about the Inuit tribe hunting for blue whales. It’s a world of possibilities.

- Music & Movement

One of the most powerful resources a teacher has is music. It’s fun, educational and its freedom to move as you feel. Provide different types of instruments or make them! Bring in different styles of music will offer the children a genuine experience of other cultures. Inviting others to dance for them and with them; inviting others to play instruments for them and with them, are unforgettable experiences.

Theme/Units

Whether its emergent, project-based, or thematic instruction, there can always be ways of integrating multicultural education. A thematic unit about ME! is relatively easy to prepare. In this type of unit you focus on the individual first then others. How about other units? One unit that is popular is transportation. How can we integrate multicultural education in the theme of transportation? We can start by asking the children, what is transportation? You might come up with a definition that states it takes you places. Now many of us that live in the United States instantly think of cars, buses, taxis, planes, boats, etc. How about the children who are from other countries? They may use camels, horses, bicycles, and even other people. It’s important to learn that despite our different traditions and cultures we have many things in common.

Another theme you might run into as a preschool teacher is animals. This topic can go into the Rainforest, the Desert, the Ocean and other places. Questions we can ask are where these animals live, what countries are they usually found and what is their interaction with the society around them. Are these animals valued, protected or are they an important resource of food? It is up to us to listen to children’s conversations and observe the way they play. Teachers will learn how the children view the world and we can also realize what might be of interest to them next.

Birthdays & Holidays

Birthdays and holidays are a great way to involve children in other cultures. Now is the time to take out the surveys that were filled out in the beginning of the year. A birthday is an international event. Birthdays are celebrated differently throughout the world. Make a classroom holiday out of each child’s birthday. How would that family celebrate the child’s birthday? Can it be done? If so, have the other children participate in activities that the birthday child’s culture usually participates in. The birthday child will feel very special and the other children in the classroom will have the opportunity to learn more about their friend that has just added one year to their life.

Holidays are also international. They may not be the same but most cultures have them. The first holidays on your list should be those that your families celebrate. This is a great opportunity to invite families as well as members of the community to be a part of their child’s classroom. We will all have much to learn from all cultures. Here are a couple of suggestions for involving parents and community in these celebrations (Bisson, 1997):

- Ask for ideas about what activities would be appropriate to provide for children.

- Welcome family members who would like to come in and lead an activity, such as cooking a holiday dish with the children or helping to decorate the classroom.

- Communicate to families ahead of time about what you are planning to do in the classroom, so parents or guardians can let you know if they have anything to contribute or any concerns.

Many of these holidays may be religious based. We have to keep in mind that we want to have a celebration; it should not be a time for preaching but an opportunity to learn about another culture. Some families might have religious views that don’t permit them to celebrate certain holidays or even birthdays. It is important to have communication with the families to reach an agreement and understanding about these holidays. Birthdays and holidays should be a way to celebrate diversity!

Teaching Children about Diversity: Parent Edition

2011-09-06T15:13:00.000-04:00

This topic has been difficult to put into words. I feel that when I talk about diversity I have to be nice to not step on any toes. That's what has taken me so long to begin writing this entry. Finally I decided, I'm not going to be careful and just say what I'm going to say.

How to Begin

How do you talk about diversity to your children? Some may say, my children are too young or they haven't asked about it yet. Do you know what to say? This may not be an "easy" topic to discuss or you may not know what to say. I want to help you.

The first thing to remember is that diversity is not just about people from different countries. Diverse is anyone who is different than you in any way. This includes but not limited to race, gender, ability, nationality, sexual orientation, family set-up, economic status, appearance, religion; basically anything that makes us who we are: our culture.

Another question that may be asked in regards to teaching children about diversity is, Why is it necessary? There are so many answers to that question.

Children begin to construct their identity-to understand who they are-from understanding their own culture and by responding to how others see and relate to them. To form a positive self-concept, children need to honor and respect their own culture and to have others honor it and respect it, too (Kaiser & Sklar-Rasminsky, 2003).

The earlier parents become aware of how issues of gender, race, culture and disabilities influence child rearing, the more chances there will be for teachers and parents working together to promote children's anti-bias development (Derman-Sparks, 1989).

I believe it is important to teach children about diversity so they are able to function in the real world. Many times as parents we shield our children from the world, later when they are independent and confront certain situations they do not know how to deal with them. Bottom line, we need to teach our children that it's OK to be different.

Setting an example

Children mimic the things we do as early as the infant stage. Our children watch our every move. This is how they learn. We must take this opportunity to set an example and be good role models for our children. We will directly and indirectly teach our children how to treat others.

We must reflect on our current condition before we begin telling our children treat people a certain way if we are not living up to that standard.

As teachers and parents, we inadvertently teach our own biases. It's important for each of us to examine our possible biases and learn how they may influence children-and how to reduce, handle, or even eliminate them (NAEYC, 1989).

Watch out for biases, stereotypes, and prejudism!

Derman-Sparks & the ABC Task Force (1989) includes several definitions of the terms we discuss:

Bias: Any attitude, belief, or feeling that results in, and helps to justify, unfair treatment of an individual because of his or her identity.

Example: Boys are better at math.

Stereotype: An oversimplified generalization about a particular group, race, or sex, which usually carries derogatory implication.

Example: Portraying a Mexican in a picture as a man wearing a sombrero, taking a siesta wearing a poncho.

Prejudice: An attitude, opinion, or feeling formed without adequate prior knowledge, thought, or reason.

Example: Assuming Asians are bad drivers.

We all have the right to our opinion and belief but it is our duty to respect others and teach our children the same. We must agree to disagree being able to hear others opinion and think , "I respect that, but I disagree".

These are ways you can be mindful and respectful when it comes to diversity; teaching your children to act the same:

1. Use correct terminology/vocabulary to describe people. For example:

-Instead of saying Indian, say Native American.

-Instead of saying deaf, say hearing impaired.

-Use gender neutral terms such as mail carrier, instead of saying mail man.

- Say United States instead of America. This is a personal suggestion. We are The United States of America, there is North America and South America, we are not the only America there is. I feel it is more appropriate to say United States. Just my opinion.

I don't think that there is a reason to purposely teach these concepts to your children. There is no reason to point out differences in people. When talking about a certain group you should be mindful though, and give them an appropriate title.

2. Don't assume! When in doubt, ask!

- When you are not sure about one's background, just ask! If you don't want to ask, look it up!

-Just because a person might look like they can be from another country, doesn't mean they are.

3. Respect religions.

- Just because someone doesn't share your religion or spiritual beliefs does not make them a bad person.

- If your child asks about a religion different than yours don't say they are wrong or that they are going to hell. Explain that everyone has different beliefs, explain what you believe and the difference. There is no need to teach your children to discriminate against others because they don't believe the same way you do. This is the perfect time to reflect the belief system that you carry with you.

4. Gender Stereotyping

- If your child mentions that they want to work in a certain field don't discourage it because you may have notions that this career is for a particular sex. Children will express interest in a certain career when they want to know more about it. Take this opportunity to teach your child about this interest.

Bottom line is that we have to teach our children to respect others. I am not saying that we should erase our own culture and beliefs. Children should be taught about their heritage, this gives them a sense of identity. We need to help our children understand that because we think a certain way others should too. Imagine a world where there were respect towards one another. Would this world be different than the one we live in?

At home

At home you can do several things to teach about diversity. Here is a list from which to start with:
Provide a variety of books for your child to read from. Provide books that teach about your heritage as well as others. Provide books that include pictures of different children and adults, steer away from books that may send the wrong message.

Here is a list of some books that are great tools to teach children about diversity:

How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman
I Love My Hair! by Natasha Tarpley
Baby Dance (Harper Growing Tree) by Ann Taylor
Stinky the Bulldog by Jackie Valent
The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

Nowadays, advertisement and media has seen the value of showing diversity. This is necessary for them to sell a product and to a larger group. This is a good thing but we should still pick and choose what is appropriate for our children to be constantly exposed to. If your child watches t.v., expose them to programs that celebrate diversity. While I do not watch a lot of TV or even have cable, here is a list of shows I am familiar with which I believe are appropriate. There are probably many more, feel free to add them as a comment if you would like to mention more.

Seseame Street (PBS)
Maya & Miguel (PBS)
Dora the Explorer (Nick Jr.)
Ni Hao Kai Lan (Nick Jr.)

I would also like to provide you with several websites of organizations that address this topics and can give you additional information.

http://www.tolerance.org/
www.naeyc.org/
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/keith.html
http://www.pbs.org/topics/parenting/
http://www.adl.org/

Teaching children about diversity is a life-long commitment. There will always be an opportunity to teach about this subject. There may be some topics here you agreed with and some that you did not. That is okay, it's OK to pick and choose what you want to teach your children and what fits with your lifestyle. While I am very committed to what say, I can't tell you what to do, right? This is a choice that you have to make, and whether or not you will choose to teach your children about diversity a little or a lot. I respect your decision, which ever you may choose, but I sure hope that you can join me in my quest to teach our children to respect and appreciate one another.

In my next blog I will discuss how teachers can teach about diversity. This will be a more hands on approach including topics such as activities and toys to use, etc. You are your child's first and life-long teacher. This future topic will not exclude parents and home schooled children.

Teaching Children about Diversity

2011-08-22T15:50:00.000-04:00

As I debated what to write about next, I came across a conversation about diversity a group of mommies were having. Then I asked myself, "Why did you even debate about what to write about?" This is my thing, I love discussing and teaching about diversity.

I'd like to open this series with a mini discussion about diversity. I would like to discuss:

What is diversity?

What is multicultural education?

Before I get technical, I want to put these terms into my own words.

The topic of multicultural education is very dear to my heart. As a Christian, I see it as loving thy neighbor. People are different and God made us that way. Christ loves everyone without exceptions and I believe that it is our job to love people without exceptions as well. The beauty of this topic is that even if you don't have the same spiritual views as me, you are still open to learn what I think.

Love is a complicated word, isn't it? You may think, well it's impossible to love everyone. That may be true; it just depends on how you define love. I've had these lyrics stuck in my head this whole week, a song by Kirk Franklin titled, "Love"

Love, a word that comes and goes, but few people really know what it means to really love somebody...

I like how Rich Deem describes love:

Everybody seems to believe that love is a good thing. However, not all agree what is love. Is love that warm touchy-feely feeling a person has when he is with a familiar person? According to the Bible, love is caring in action. Love isn't what we feel, but what we do.

I'd like to add my two cents and say that love is a tree and on that tree there are different branches. Each branch is love but in a different way. This tree has literally millions of branches and all serve their purpose. I'm not even going to try to mention what each of them are. I do want to mention one though, respect. This is one way to love thy neighbor. This may not be the kind of love that makes you want to go hug a person (that's a different branch). This branch helps you accept the fact that others don't think like you.

As a member of society, I preach about multicultural education as love in disguise, teaching about different branches of love especially respect, acceptance and tolerance.

What is diversity?

Very simple. The word diversity means, "different" as in not the same; unlike each other.

When I mention the word “Diversity” or diverse I will refer to differences in people.

What is multicultural education?

Multicultural education is a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques and responds to discriminatory policies and practices in education. It is grounded in ideals of social justice, education equity, critical pedagogy, and a dedication to providing educational experiences in which all students reach their full potentials as learners and as socially aware and active beings, locally, nationally, and globally (Gorski, 2010).

I especially agree with the last sentence previously mentioned. Multicultural education provides common ethics in relation to human interactions. When children learn about multicultural education they are taught how to respect, accept and tolerate others different than them.

Many can agree that the main purpose of multicultural education is to combat prejudice, discrimination, eliminate stereotypes, increase self-esteem and function better in community (Angelo & Dixey, 2001, Derman-Sparks, 1989, Lutz & Kuhlman, 2000, McJilton, 2002). It is also important to mention that multicultural education does not limit itself by teachings of other countries. When culture is mentioned, it includes (but not limited to) gender, age, abilities, disabilities and economic status. Prejudice and stereotyping begins when a person does not have sufficient information on a culture or an individual. When information and personal experience is provided there is less chance for bias and assumptions. This culture or individual is now familiar and comments and actions towards them will tend to be accurate and appropriate (LeRose, 2007).

My next blog entries will be about the following topics:

How parents can teach their children about diversity.

How teachers can teach about diversity in the classroom.

How administrators/principals can promote and foster diversity in their schools.

Reflection

How do you talk to your children about diversity? Have you had any of these discussions? Care to share?

Education in Puerto Rico Needs Intervention, ASAP! Part II

2011-08-14T20:19:00.000-04:00

August 10, 2011, nap time here, all is calm. I enjoy the calm, but I need action too! You get plenty of action being a Stay at Home Mom, not a lot of calm which is why I love being a SAHM. Society may look down on women or men who decide to stay home, but who better to teach ethics, morals and values to their children? I'm not by any means, putting down working mothers and fathers; they too are worthy of praise. We should reflect on what we teach our children. This is what makes up our culture and our society.

What does research say about ethics, morals and values?

At the end of my last entry (Education in PR Needs Intervention ASAP, Part I) I said that the major problem and the blame for the poor public education system in Puerto Rico (and the US) is the lack of ethics, morals and values. What is the meaning ethics, morals and values? If you were to look at a thesaurus you would find that these words are synonyms to each other. Does that mean that they have the same definition? The way I see it is that they are a family, each related to one other, each having different functions.

Dictionary.com defines ethics as the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics. Basically, a whole bunch a rules a group of people thought were reasonable expectations for humans to abide by.

Ethics is the study of what constitutes a moral life; an ethics is a summary, systematic statement of what is necessary to live a moral life (Starratt, 2004). Now, I don't want to underestimate my readers but if you are anything like me you need to read this over and over to gain some kind of comprehension (nobody said being a scholar was easy). Let me try to explain. Ethics is the study of what makes up a moral life; an ethics is a way to tell you what you need to do to live a moral life. The people who say what is and is not ethical are called Ethicists.

As Starratt (2004) explains,

Ethicists attempt to bring intelligibility to and draw out the intrinsic logic of what constitutes a moral life-and, of course, what constitutes its opposites-and why.

Now, its not like there is a Facebook group to join called, "Ethicists: we know how to live, yo." These groups have been around forever. Take Christians, for example, the ethicists in this group were those who wrote the Bible, and other Christian leaders who have been an example and had an impact on society.

Dictionary.com defines morals as principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct. In other words, the way you choose to live your life.

Starratt (2004) states:

"Morality is the living, the acting out of ethical beliefs and commitments."

I'm going somewhere with all this I promise...

Ethics.org defines values as core beliefs that guide and motivate attitudes and actions. In other words values are principals one believes are the way to live, act or behave.

According with everything that has previously been mentioned, ethics are the rules, morals are the way you follow those rules and values are your thoughts towards ethics and morals. The thing about philosophy is that it can totally be subjective. One group of people may believe it to be this way and the other that way.

In chapter 3 of Starratt's book Building an Ethical School, he discusses The Foundational Qualities of an Ethical Person. I would like to quote just one sentence from this chapter. This sentence I believe gets to the bottom of what I am trying to get to.

"I believe that the truly ethical person acts as an autonomous agent, acts within the supports and constraints of relationships, and acts in ways that transcend immediate self-interest."

When Starratt mentions autonomous agent, he means a person that is independent enough to know what is the correct way to behave in certain situations with other people. He also describes this ethical person as one who is constantly trying to achieve excellence, (not a conformist) and who's goal go beyond his/her personal agenda.

When I say that society lacks ethics, morals and values I mean, we've joined that popular Ethicists group who say, "just live your life". We follow trends of a society that don't care what is right or wrong just as long as it benefits thy self. Basically, we only care about ourselves and that close group that surrounds us. We are trying to survive at any means possible.

Puerto Rico! Stop being so selfish and proud! (Most Puerto Ricans are reading this and giving the computer screen the evil eye but I can say it because I know what I'm talking about). How bad are things that commercials have been created and aired on TV asking our society, "Que nos pasa Puerto Rico?" (What is going on with us, PR?) If you don't believe me, watch them for yourself. This campaign was aired on local TV and had several advertisements around the island questioning our lack of ethics, morals and values. Towards the end of the commercial it states, "Puerto Rico can improve, each day there are more of us recovering our values."

Easy as that, huh? If only it were that easy, right? Well my job is to make you reflect on our current situation and maybe encourage you to go the extra mile. I'm not perfect, far from it. Of course there are moments (lots of them) when I'm not the most ethical or moral person, but I am conscious of what I do and I do strive (believe it or not) to be an ethical person. I'm sure many of you do too.

Recommendations from The Scholarly Mommy

Now that I have discussed intrinsic ways to improve education (and society) in Puerto Rico (& US), I will discuss extrinsic ways to improve education in Puerto Rico which can also be applied to the US.

Government

Dear Government of Puerto Rico,

Please stop being so selfish. Get off your high horse and serve your country, the reason you went into politics in the first place (hopefully). Stop encouraging the people of Puerto Rico to criticize people of different political parties, rather be an example and work together to make a plan to obtain positive results for our country.

People that work in the government, do you hate your job? Let me tell you how to improve it. Make this your goal: to help each person that you come in contact during the day. Did someone come into your office with an issue? Don't let them leave until you have figured out a way to help them. You may not get a monetary reward but the feeling you will have inside will be very satisfying.

Dead serious,

The Scholarly Mommy

People

Dear Boricuas,

In the words of John Lennon, "All you need is love." Love thy neighbor as you love yourself. Let's put ourselves in other peoples shoes, lets have sympathy towards others and become selfless.

Boricuas, I realize that the government that we have dealt with the past several years have not been easy to deal with. Take the secretary of Education for example, he came in and stepped in a pile (nose high) of poop. He was just placed in his position a year ago or so. I'm not trying to defend him but I want you to realize that reform takes time. Don't trash talk him when he starts implementing changes, cause really most of these procedures are necessary in order for schools to improve.

Do you know what you can do instead? You can contact the legislature. Bombard them with letters, emails and phone calls.

Request for schools to provide substitutes when teachers are absent. This will not only help student's education but will keep them safe in school, where they belong. Also, the government would be creating more jobs.

Request for schools to offer transportation for those students who have difficulty making it to school, and maybe it can become a service offered to all students in public school. Guess what, this would create more jobs too.

Do you think there is no money? Well, a press release from the US Department of Education, dated August 10, 2011, has allotted $153.6 million to the Department of Education in Puerto Rico for the lowest achieving schools.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/puerto-rico-receive-1536-million-turn-around-its-persistently-lowest-achieving-s

I do like the recommendation that the senator of the PPD, Cirilo Tirado suggested. He proposed a civil union: a representative group of educators, professors, parents and other professionals to develop a plan with short term goals as well as long term goals that will promote a positive change for the public education of Puerto Rico (El Nuevo Día, July 28, 2011).

Do it people! Get off your behind. You want to see a change, be the change.

De cora (corazón),

The Scholarly Mommy

Parents

Queridos Padres,

1. Give your child a healthy breakfast to start the day right.

2. Try not to argue with them about past occurrences first thing in the morning so that can have a clear head during class.

3. When your child gets home check their backpack, ask if they have homework, ask them how their day was.

4. Help your child complete their homework, if you can't do it, find some who can.

5. Attend your child's parent/teacher conferences. Ask how your child has been doing. If your child's teacher doesn't do that, call the school and schedule an appointment with him or her.

6. When your child comes home saying they got in trouble or the teacher yelled at them, ask your child about 10 times for the real story. For fear of getting in trouble your child might bend the truth the first time, but by the 10th time of asking, you may get 75% of what really happened.

7. Please follow step 6 before going into school to yell at a teacher.

8. Never argue with a teacher in front of your child, be respectful so that your child learns to be respectful of teachers.

9. Please be aware that your child is not the only student in the classroom, there are probably (at least) 20 more that a teacher has to think about.

10. Finally, try to volunteer at your child's school/classroom. You will know what your child is up to and at the same time help the school.

Sincerely,

The Scholarly Mommy

Teachers/Administrators

Dear Teachers & Principals,

Let's face it. You did not become a teacher or a principal for the money. Most of you thought that you can help children learn. You definitely do not get the praise and salary you deserve, but you do it regardless.

A few suggestions...

Although the majority of the population is Puerto Rican, you serve a diverse community, be prepared for such. Everyone learns differently, plan accordingly. Teachers make plans yet be open to facilitate learning. Principals, supervise your teachers but don't dictate every step they must take through out the day.

Ultimately ask, What is in best interest of the student?

A professional article written by Stefkovich & O'Brien (2004) provide a model for explaining the best interests of the student. This model suggests the three Rs: Rights, Responsibility and Respect.

-Rights include: A student's natural rights, universal rights and rights guaranteed by law.

-Responsibility: A student's duty to exercise these rights responsibly.

-Respect: Treating all students with respect and expecting students to respect one another.

Just know, that when you ask: "What is in best interest of the student?", you are talking about ethical implications that need to be considered. I will be happy to assist you with further information on this topic. Just contact me.

Teachers, principals I'm sorry I left you as the last section. I promise I will have several topics focusing on you in the future. But, I must conclude soon, before I lose reader's interest.

Respectfully yours,

The Scholarly Mommy

Conclusion

Finally, right? Well, I'm not about to summarize all I said because I don't like repeating myself. Just know that I talked about improving an education system looking at each individual intrinsically and extrinsically. If I have led you to reflect on the current status of the education in Puerto Rico or your own country and how to change it, I'm accomplishing my goals with this blog. Yet, my job here is still not done.

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your comments, feel free to post them or email me: thescholarlymommy@gmail.com.

　

　

Puerto Rico's Public Education Needs Intervention, ASAP! Part I

2011-08-09T13:20:00.001-04:00

Today is Saturday, August 6, 2011. My son is asleep for the night so I have some time before I just fall asleep suddenly like a Sims character would when you don't let them sleep.

I have been doing research for this entry for the past three or four days. I have very limited "free time", as you may have noticed. So, it might take me a while to get things out. Also, this topic could make any one's head spin in circles and at the same time make your heart sad. Well, at least it did to mine because Puerto Rico is dear to my heart, it is the country that I am from.

Before I begin, let me just ask you this. How is it possible for a mommy to be scholarly? For all those mommies out there who are juggling being a mommy (first and foremost), going to school, and even working on top of that?! I give you props and you have my admiration. How can one be scholarly when you lack the time and the energy? It's called dedication, I guess. So with out further ado...

Intro

Let's begin, shall we?

Puerto Rico is an island located in the Caribbean Southeast of Cuba and East of the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico was "discovered" ("Oh look, an island with an established culture and society, looks like they've been living here for a while, nonetheless, I, CC discovered it." Yeah, OK, whatever.) by Christoper Columbus in 1493. The United States took over in 1898. It's all really interesting history, I wish I would have paid more attention in school or just cared a little bit more (more on this later). Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States granting Puerto Rican citizens with US citizenship.

Another thing I should give you a background on is the politics in Puerto Rico. Ay Dios mío (OMG), where do I begin? There are three parties:

PNP - This party that would like for PR to become a state of the USA.

PPD - This is the party that would like PR to remain a commonwealth of the USA.

PIP - This is the party that would like PR to become an independent country.

Just thinking about the politics in my country makes me want to save, shut down and continue another day. The politics in Puerto Rico are screwed up for lack of a more sophisticated word to insert.

Education in Puerto Rico has suffered many changes since the beginning of the Spanish colonization and has been unstable. Spain comes in, establishes an educational system that might work then bam! in comes the US. The US comes in, insists on teaching a country that speaks Spanish, only in English and then that changes too, fortunately. Then PR takes over the education system teaching its children in Spanish and makes its own decisions with a bit of supervision from the US. Now, PR is obliged to operate under the mandates of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which can be a pain to keep up with but for schools that are struggling like in PR will eventually (hopefully) help.

HELP! AYUDA! AUXILIO! SOCORRO!

One of the largest newspapers in Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día published an article titled, "Massive Failure in the Puerto Rican Academic Achievement Tests" (roughly translated). Here is the link for those of you who can read Spanish:

http://www.elnuevodia.com/fracasomasivoenlaspruebaspuertorriquenasdeaprovechamiento-1024768.html

To summarize this article, it basically says that out of 1,442 public schools in Puerto Rico, 1,259 are in plans of improvement. Now when you think of plans of improvements you may think that the schools are being repainted, cleaned or worked on physically. What this really means is that those 1,259 schools are low achieving on the Puerto Rican standardized testing. Does that number not make you say to yourself, "wow, that's bad"? Because it is. In this article it also mentions accusations towards the Secretary of Education saying:

Stop encouraging a culture of failure to justify more need of federal funds and partial or total privatization of our education system. (Again, roughly translated).

Basically this accusation says that the government in Puerto Rico is encouraging failure to gain more money! That's a pretty strong accusation!

What do the people have to say about this?

Now remember, I'm just a Scholarly Mommy. To do research I cannot go to people with polls asking them what they think. Thank God for the Internet

Under the article provided by El Nuevo Día there is a comment section. People are allowed to comment about what their opinions are about the article. If there is one thing Puerto Ricans know how to do, its to give opinions.

There were 407 comments related to this article. I read each and every one of them and tallied them up into groups. Out of the 407 comments, 147 of them were placing the blame on whose fault this massive failure belongs to. Here are the details:

63 comments were used to blame Politics/Government/Governor

39 comments were used to blame the People of Puerto Rico/Parents

24 comments were used to blame Schools/Teachers

17 comments were used to blame Students (their lack of interest or motivation and laziness)

& 4 comments were used to blame the test itself

All the other comments were basically people arguing back and forth about who is right or wrong. We waste a lot of time on this.

The Scholarly Mommy's Opinion

Who's to blame for this massive failure in the standardized testing administered in Puerto Rico? I agree with the people of Puerto Rico on this one, though I place the major blame on one thing. I will get to that later. (Gotta make you want to continue reading, right?)

Politics/Government/Governor

The government in Puerto Rico is highly at fault here. There seems to be a focus on the political parties and what each one does wrong rather than focusing on more important issues, like the people. Secretaries of Education have come and gone without accomplishing much (some accomplishing more than others). There is even one former secretary of education who is in jail now for stealing money (4.2 million dollars to be exact) that was to be used for education purposes. Puerto Ricans have agreed that the way money is managed in the government is corrupt and inappropriate. Not to say that this is how every person who works for the Puerto Rican government functions, but it is something that is a constant argument. There is also the case of politics. Every four years when PR votes for a governor it changes the political party and this has major influence on how things are governed in the education world.

People of Puerto Rico/Parents

People of Puerto Rico are at fault too. I'm Puerto Rican, I love my country, I love my family and friends. Having said that there is a population in Puerto Rico (and if you really think about it, all countries) who are known to be lazy or conformists. They are happy with the life they have as long as things are given to them without having to work very hard for it. This culture is passed from generation to generation. If one person was raised not to value education or to expect things given to them then they in return indirectly teach their children to be the same way. Of course, there are always exceptions.

Parents whose parents never taught them to care about school or value education is passed on. These are the parents that don't care to attend parent/teacher conferences, don't know what is going on in school and leave the upbringing of their children to the school system. Like I said before, this doesn't happen only in Puerto Rico but everywhere you go.

Schools/Teachers

The way schools are set up in Puerto Rico, students are really susceptible to failure. I'm not saying that all students that go through public school fail, but they really have to work hard to succeed. When school begins, the first things parents in the US may take for granted is transportation. There are no school buses to pick children up near their home and bring them to school. Parents are responsible for taking their children to school and picking them up. Students may also take public transportation or walk. What do you think happens to parents who live far from school and car brakes down? This child is very likely to miss school for several days or even weeks.

Also, you know how when your child's teacher is sick and is absent from school? Your child may come home talking about a substitute teacher. There is no such thing in public schools in Puerto Rico. I remember in high school where a teacher was sick for about two weeks. There was no sub, we were just free to leave. When the teacher finally returned, not only were we behind but we were pretty much used to the fact of having free time during that hour. So those that could care less continued to miss class and the ones who did attend never recovered the education for those two weeks the teacher was absent.

Remember how I said we were free that period the teacher was absent? Well, until a couple of years ago, students were allowed in most schools to come in and out of the school as they pleased. When I changed from private school (which would not allow such thing) to public school, do you think I took advantage of said freedom? Heck yeah! I was 15-16, and would much rather walk around town, hang out with friends or just go home and nap than be in school if I did not have to. I hear that public schools are not allowing that anymore and I say, really? Why was it ever allowed?

I could write several more things that are wrong about the school system but I still need to keep your attention while I talk about teachers. Ay Dios mío

There are excellent teachers and also not so excellent teachers. This goes for teachers who teach in public schools and private schools alike. Let's start with the not so excellent teachers. (And again! I need to emphasize that you don't find these teachers only in Puerto Rico.) These teachers may have had many reasons to be mediocre, like poor pay, having to deal with disrespectful kids, etc. Nonetheless, these teachers were really a drag for me in school. I credit my lack of interest in certain subjects to some of those not so good teachers I had back then. Some teacher's classes consisted of dictating notes the entire class. When I attended private school in PR most our text books were in English and during class it was our job to read from the text book and then take notes as the teacher translated it into Spanish. There was no teaching involved. Teachers that do not go the extra mile can affect his/her class tremendously, and for life.

I had many excellent teachers and as I am thinking back now, a lot of them I remember were from the public school more so than the private school. Teachers can be a factor in determining the success of a student. As I reflect on my experience in public school I ask myself now, what was the problem? The problem was ME! My lack of interest, my teenage hormones, the environment that surrounded me and many other factors.

Students

When I attended private school I worked hard in only the classes I enjoyed. I had a great math teacher and therefor did really well in math. I had a great English teacher and also did well in English. Spanish was always a difficult subject for me since I was mostly fluent in English having lived in the US from K-5th grade. I managed to do well in Spanish because I had a good teacher.

When I enrolled in public school, the first day of 10th grade, there were large groups of students outside. It was a welcome committee, and not the good kind. I was told by a large group that I had to dance (la pelúa for those Puerto Ricans out there that know what I'm talking about) or be covered with large cans of shaving cream. I refused and immediately was covered in shaving cream. Do you think that the school was doing anything about this? Heck no! They allowed this to go on, it was just part of a ritual that happened year after year. After this first day of school, I pretty much decided I was going to hate that school and everything about it.

I chose to go to public school for personal reasons but when I got there I was placed in the advanced group. Many of the students in that class with me are great professionals today. They had good work ethic, and good moral. They attended all classes and never skipped even if they had the choice to. I'm sorry I can't say the same for myself, I had no motivation. I had good teachers but I chose to just get by especially when I knew that I had already been accepted to college. Students have a huge factor in the massive failure that is occurring in our schools today. We can't put all the blame on the teachers or parents, students need to be held accountable too!!

What do I blame it all on?

I agree with the Puerto Rican people who mentioned government, parents, schools, teachers, students and sometimes even the tests. I can't blame that entirely though. What I really do blame this great educational failure is to the lack of ethics, morals and values that govern our society right now. Again, I'm not just talking about Puerto Rico, I include the United States too.

If the people working in the government were there to achieve what is in best interest of the student then things would be different. If parents held their children accountable instead of blaming schools and teachers student achievement would be higher. If teachers gave the extra mile, (like many do now) they would make (and are making) a world of a difference. If students had the motivation and desire to learn, it would happen! They would learn. Imagine that!

So there you have it! LACK OF ETHICS, MORAL & VALUES! This is what I blame it on.

Guess what? I'm not done with this entry. This does conclude part 1 though. Part 2 will include:

What does research say about ethics, morals and values?
The Scholarly Mommy's recommendations
& my conclusion.
I want to thank my beautiful son for taking a three hour nap today, allowing me to get a lot of writing done!! Thanks to my parents who have played with him and allowed me to continue my research! Thank God for grandparents!

Stay tuned...

Feel free to comment and state your opinion. Remember, be respectful of what you say.

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That's a lot of asking, isn't it? I should definitely add a PLEASE & THANK YOU!

2011-08-01T15:03:00.000-04:00

Here I go…

It is July 27, 2011, 3:24pm and who knows how much time I have left before the biggest joy of my life wakes up whining while being cranky and clingy. But, oh how I love that child. No words can explain the love I feel for this tiny person who has taken over my life in every aspect. Needless to say, this entry might take days to be completed and I will track this just so you can see for yourself.

Hi! I’m The Scholarly Mommy. I am currently a stay at home mom in need of using her intellect not compromising my position of staying at home. My son is 20 months old today! 20 months ago my life changed and I had NO idea whatsoever what was about to happen to me. Yet, today I feel at ease and quite happy with my current situation now that I am starting this blog.

It is 3:30pm, there he goes… As soon as he wakes up its immediate crying and whining! Oh well, this is what I live for these days. I’ve gotta go hug him until he fully wakes up and is in a better mood. To be continued…(You’ll read this a lot).

It is July 31, 2011 and I have some time before my son wakes but have other things I have to do. So I will get to the point. See, I am a stay at home mom (already said that!) but before I was a SAHM I was very much involved in the world of Education. I was a teacher at a public school and before that I obtained a Master’s degree from THE Pennsylvania State University (LET’S GO STATE!) and before THAT I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. I enjoyed the world of research and the academic life.

Being a SAHM I have a lot of thinking time (not so much free time) on my hands and would like to feel a part of the academic world a little, even if it is for short periods of time each week, or every other week. So humor me, will ya? Read my blog about current education topics related to but not limited to:

Multicultural/Multilingual Education
Global Engagement
The REAL life of a teacher
US & International Education
Being a stay at home mom and a scholar and academic at heart.

Like I said, these topics will not limit what I might write about. Here is the thing, I am an outspoken and opinionated person but I like to state facts and not just say things to make people mad. I will always be respectful but will not be careful of trying to say the “right” thing. Rather, I will say what I feel and that is that. Another thing you might like to know is that I will include tidbits and home situations of being a SAHM while I write my entries, I mean, that’s what I am and really wouldn’t have it any other way.

Last but certainly not least, I am a Christ follower, a Christian. While you may think that will make me biased I assure you that will not be the case, but it may influence the things I say about certain topics (more to come on that later).

Finally, I want to thank God for the world He created and the life I live in it. I’d also like to thank my husband, family and advisor who are always so supportive of all I do. And, thank YOU (yes, you whoever you are) for reading my blog. I hope you’ll stick around for many interesting and controversial topics. Feel free to comment but please be respectful as I will always be respectful of you.