Professional Hopes and Goals

This class has brought many new insights to my mind concerning social justice, equity, and diversity. One thing that I hope for concerning children and families who come form diverse backgrounds is that everyone is respected and valued for their individuality. I hope that I can be a positive influence in the children and families that I serve as well as, a positive role model for acceptance to my co-workers.

In addition, one goal that I would like for the early childhood field is to require educators to take a training on diversity at least once a month. By doing this I believe that issues of social justice and equity will remain at the forefront of everyone's mind when working with children and families. It is very important that children and families feel welcome and respected. I also like the implementation of intergenerational relationships into early childhood programs.

In conclusion, I have learned so many things from this class. I have realized the importance of respecting everyone and looking into my own biases. I hope that this world becomes more sensitive to the feelings of others, and wish that prejudices and biases will eventually be eliminated. I would like to thank Dr. Shepard and each of my classmates for their support, and providing with their personal insight of these topics throughout this course. I wish everyone much success in their lives and their future in early childhood.

Working With Families Around The World

I chose to work with a family from Hong Kong. I will work as a family and children service worker. I know that coming from another ountry will be intimidating to the family. I will get to know the family better by visiting them in their home, through having conversations with them and asking them about their customs, beliefs, and traditions, obtaining information about their country and the specific place where they resided, and attending diversity trainings so that I can offer them the best service and support possible.

I hope that these preparations will benefit both myself and the family by allowing me to become more comfortable with the family so that I do not insult them in anyway. It will also help me provide the services that the family may need because I will know their expectations. The family will be able to have a smooth transition into this country because I have taken the time to understand them and their needs. I can help them with additional resources and work with them to obtain their goals in this country.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

There was an incident where I experienced a personal bias on a professional level. I work for a University and I have experienced other co-workers who have graduated from the University receive much higher pay than those who graduated from other schools. I am talking about a $700 to $2,000 a month difference, when some of the lesser paid had more experience. There is definitely favoritism going on in that situation. The director definitely exhibited bias in this situation. She always think that the students who graduated from that particular University knows more, and it is as plain as day that some of those graduates do not have a clue as to what’s going on in early childhood.

Also, that bias diminishes equity because everyone was not treated fairly. You cannot put some people above others because of the school they attended. That is wrong and unfair and no part of equity is in that situation. It was very clear what was happening, and it was wrong. She had bias and prejudice towards employees who did not graduate from the University in which we were employed. This made me feel unvalued and unappreciated. I felt like I had to go above and beyond to get what I deserved, when it was just handed to others.

In conclusion, I really think that the director’s opinion of others would have to change for there to be greater equity. I think that some of the employees have definitely shown her that her thinking was wrong, but it took a lot of effort before she began to see the value in the other staff. People often deal with bias such as education, but they do not talk about it.