Question
What is diversity?
Answer
Diversity includes:
- Race
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Religion
- Age
- Abilities
- Language
- Appearance
- Family structure
- Sexual orientation
- Upbringing
- Opinions
- Beliefs
- Values
- Socio-economic status
All of the things that make us different from one another we consider diversity. We're talking about race and what ethnic group people identify with. Our gender and gender roles play a part in that as well. What religion do we affiliate ourselves with or order our religious beliefs? Our age plays a role in diversity. I know that, for me, when I first started in the field of early childhood, I was extremely young and lots of people said, they're not really going to take you seriously until you're about 30. So, I'm almost 40 now and I'm still waiting for that, but age definitely plays a role.
Our differing abilities. Notice that that doesn't say disabilities. It's about our differing abilities. Our language. Our parents. What's important as far as the clothes that we wear, how we do our hair, do some women wear makeup and some women don’t. Family structure. What type of family setup do we have? Is it a single-parent household? Is it a household with two fathers or with two mothers? Is it a household where we've got grandparents raising grandchildren? That's very common nowadays.
What about sexual orientation? That also is a type of diversity as well. The upbringing that we have experienced plays a role in our diversity and how we're different from others. Even if you and I have the same race and identify with the same religious affiliation and we're the same gender, our upbringings, being different, make us diverse from each other.
What about opinions, political affiliations, beliefs, and our values? What do we really hold dear as a person, and what's important to us? What's important to our family? Socioeconomic status also makes us diverse. There's an entire library of research on poverty as a culture, including what it looks like and the cycle of poverty, and why that's so.
These are some of the things that we'll talk about today when we talk about diversity. To me, the coolest thing about diversity is that it makes every single one of us unique. What each person considers their special qualities can be included in the elements of diversity. It's not as if it's this definition that we're all trying to fit into. In fact, it's the opposite of that. It's about breaking out of that box, breaking out of that mold and saying, hey, this is what makes me special and really celebrating that.
Diversity cannot be taught directly. Diversity is not something that we're going to sit children down and give them a lesson on. That's not necessarily how you learn it. It's not a curriculum. It's not necessarily a lesson plan. It's really important for us as early childhood professionals to realize that diversity is not Cinco de Mayo. It's not Black History Month and it's not Chinese New Year. It's also not people dressing up in costumes, wearing headdresses, or eating tortillas. All of these are really stereotypical and counterproductive to what we're trying to really teach children which is to think about people as people in their current state.
Diversity, instead, is a continuous approach. It's something that goes on and on every single day. It's a process and it's about working with children, parents, families, and colleagues every day. When you think about working with parents and families, it’s important to remember that they have a lot of diversity in them because they are referring back to their upbringing. They're referring back to how they're raising their children. As early childhood professionals, it's really important that we're very patient, that we're very accepting and understanding because our families, just like our children, are looking for somewhere to belong. The early childhood program should be a place where the parents and their children belong.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Diversity and Cultural Awareness, by Natasha Crosby Kile, MS.
