Vittrup sent a third of the families home with multiculturally themed videos for a week, such as an episode of Sesame Street in which characters visit an African-American family's home, and an episode of Little Bill, where the entire neighborhood comes together to clean the local park. Full Story »
Posted by Patricia Blochowiak
This story underscores the superficiality of our contemporary belief that "diversity" and "multiculturalism" will eventually produce a colorblind society. The reality is far more complex, based not so much on differentiated skin color as it is on differing cultural norms that produce widely divergent outcomes among the various groups we too crudely define as "racial." This article highlights some of the resultant distortions; my only criticism is that it rambles--only the most devoted reader will read to its conclusion.
As a partner in an interracial marriage, with three multiracial children, this topic has been a matter of lifelong interest. To me the most disturbing aspect of contemporary society is that too much emphasis has been put on race, and too little on culture--a particularly destructive trend that perpetuates racism. My own focus as a parent has been on defining for my children the unique cultural gifts offered by different groups, along with a compassionate understanding of the faults ... More »
Fascinating discussion of information in the book, NurtureShock about children's attitudes about race and the implications for child rearing.
would the track record of desegregation be so mixed if parents reinforced it, rather than remaining silent? It is tempting to believe that because their generation is so ... More »
Every year there are at least a dozen stories about racial discrimination and bias published. Many have chose to focus on a childrens idea of race; however, this article has brought to light new insight into children and how they too discriminate and why. This is quality journalism because the article there is insightful ideas how the children develop their dicriminatory thoughts. As the article states as children we are all taught that " we are all friends". Parents generally reinforce this idea to their children so they will become open-minded individuals. However, as the article states the parents never actually clarify what that phrase means. The statement is too vague for children understand it refers to race.From that ... More »
I personally dont remember every having a direct conversation with my parents about race. Although, I grew up in a rural area with all caucasians; therefore, my parents probably thought it was irrelavant. I am clearly speculating because im sure that was not their thought process. I am glad that this article didn't focus on discrimination and why its bad. Why its harmfull has been ingrained in us for so long that it isn't relevant anymore. Of course discrimination is socially ... More »
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