The Love We Deserve
Young Children as Activists
by Stephen Karmol, Autumn, Becky Burgess
From the foundational Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards, early childhood anti-bias education (ABE) is built around four core goals:
Nurture each child’s construction of a knowledgeable, confident self- concept and group identity.
Promote each child’s comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.
Foster each child’s critical thinking about bias in human relationships.
Cultivate each child’s ability to stand up for themselves and others in the face of bias.
This phrasing of the goals of ABE is valuable because it centers the role of teachers; these are active verbs demanding action on the part of early childhood educators. What are our values, and do our practices reflect them?
Over the many years we’ve worked to weave anti-bias education into the fabric of the culture and curriculum of Wild Lilac, the fourth goal often feels most relevant in the context of children’s everyday lives and relationships. Much of our approach to guidance – at its core, a social problem solving model – relies on children learning to recognize and articulate their feelings, their needs and preferences, and to see, hear, and respect those of their peers.
This is a foundation for empathy from which children learn not only to self-advocate in pro-social ways but also begin to speak up on behalf of others in their classroom community.
What might the fourth goal look like when we expand the context? To see children as citizens with rights and support them as they engage in conversations about their shared future in our public schools, the city of Portland, and the world more broadly? And then act for positive social change?
To begin to answer these questions, we’re excited to share documentation from our preschool classrooms related to the “Red for Ed” rally in downtown Portland on May 8th. Children, parents, and teachers from Wild Lilac joined many thousands of people across the state of Oregon to demand increased funding for public education. Below we share interview excerpts with two of Wild Lilac’s preschool teachers, Autumn Dobbins and Becky Burgess, to help tell the story of their classroom’s participation in the event.
How did this project come about?
Becky: I think the idea to actually GO to the protest came from Autumn, who loves and embraces (and isn't afraid of) big bus field trips and who really values getting kids out of the school bubble. And my class had been chewing on some thoughts regarding worker
solidarity movements - namely the Burgerville Worker's Union which is an active union local to Portland and recognizable to them.
Many of them love "workers" and really admire workers that they see out and about - construction workers, firefighters, janitors, food service workers, basically anybody in a uniform. They were excited to think about workers from a place that they recognize working together to stand up for "fairness" - a concept that is huge in any preschool classroom.
I had brought in different examples and pictures of worker protests and movements for them to see, and when news of this upcoming teacher protest came up, I shared it with them. So when Autumn invited us along it seemed like a natural and exciting extension of our in-class discussions.
What were your intentions, hopes, and goals in facilitating the project?
Autumn: That students see how deeply their future teachers care
about them, their education, and their future. That they are important, that their voices matter, that their needs deserve to be met, that together we