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“How you live your life amounts to how you solve problems,” writes Susan Hopkins, in her book, Hearing Everyone’s Voice: Educating Young Children for Peace and Democratic Community. “This challenging thought is an opportunity for creative growth. Life is full of choices and problems. Our attitude towards them may be one of discouragement or optimism. It’s our choice! When young children are challenged early on to become problem solvers, they also become empowered to take charge of choices in their lives.”

Nadia Jaboneta expresses similar sentiments in her popular new book, You Can’t Celebrate That: Navigating the Deep Waters of Social Justice Teaching. She describes how an initially uncomfortable conversation between two children about race and religion led to great problem-solving on the parts of many – including the children! She writes: “As the year progressed, the children continued to ponder questions of race and religion. It was a year-long seminar on anti-bias teaching, led by the four-and-five-year-old children in my class! In the past I would have squirmed away from these questions. Now I was ready to wade in.”

And, an article on the Phi Delta Kappan website on antibias education for young children explains that “children are often presumed to be ‘innocent’ of racial biases, and many adults worry that by talking about race, they might inadvertently lead them to biased views. In fact, though, research suggests that children as young as 15 months old already notice race.”

Source: “Never too early to learn: Antibias education for young children,” by Jennifer Hooven, Katherine Runkle, Laurie Strouse, Misty Woods, and Erica Frankenberg, kappanonline.org, January 22, 2018

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