Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education

Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education

Introduction

Appreciating diversity and differences among young children is very critical especially in education. Gender is a major issue of concern when teaching young children. As an early childhood professional, you would always be required to work closely with young children and perhaps their families or other families. This happens from various and diverse backgrounds. In the teaching profession, teachers interacting with young learners need to understand simplistic definitions of diversity as a way of helping young learners to understand the importance of their differences. Differences among young learners exist but children may not give any close attention to such differences. The most noticeable differences include sex, gender, sexuality, social class, status, rurality, ethnicity, and Aboriginality among other characteristics. In this task, the main issue considered is gender (Bryant, 2012). Early childhood providers need to understand that they are called upon to tackle difficult tasks. They are called upon to provide children with diverse and multicultural experience. Traditionally, young children have been raised by their families, their extended families, clans, as well as their communities. Today things are changing. Early childhood professionals are taking charge of caring for children specifically in school (Bryant, 2012).

One of the most important things that the professionals consider is gender equality in schooling. A similar course was hardly taken by the children families and other traditional groups that took care of children in the past, implying that it is time for change. Providing them with a diverse and a multicultural experience is important. Such diversities would make them realize how gender difference is critical in their society. Gender is a factor that could determine children success in their education, but this would be achieved with the teacher’s effort (Bryant, 2012). The differences depicted in the performance between girls and boys in school could be as a result of gender disparity exercised by many parents.

Gender Definition

Gender refers to the differences perceived in males and females especially with respect to their societal roles and abilities. Such differences make it difficult for girls and boys in schools to be seen as equal even by their teachers. In some communities, institutions, or schools, girls could be favored against boys while the vice versa is true in other instructions. Teachers and instructors handling young children in learning institutions play a major role in building a gender-based culture among young learners (Bryant, 2012).

While some teachers would want to bring out an image of boys being better in all spheres of life than girls are, others would want to show how girls are more special than boys in the society. This practice is very harmful to their early education and thoughts. In some other cases, boys would be depicted as having different roles to play in the society as opposed to girls. This kind of idea is cultivated among the young children who could later extend the same disparities in other sectors such as the government and in economic sectors (Bryant, 2012). As much as gender is an important factor in the society, the vices associated with gender differences need to be avoided. Teaching professionals have the highest power to handle the possible problems associated with gender as evident in many sectors today. Issues such as gender discrimination, gender preferences, and other related virtues are based on early childhood education where children learn that their gender is very special from the opposite gender. It is the obligation of the teaching professionals to teach young learners that all people are equal as far as gender is concerned (Bryant, 2012). Whatever females can do in life, men can also do. Again, the notion that females are much inferior as compared to males was a notion of the past decades as depicted by significant gaps in education performance between boys and girls (Bryant, 2012).

Trends in Gender Issue in Education

Over the past gender differences and the associated performance difference in education was vivid. Girls showed much underachievement as compared to boys in various institutions around the world. This aspect was prominent in earlier centuries but towards the end of the 20th century, gender equality seemed to narrow the gap between girls and boys in terms of performance with the education system. The aspect of higher education being dominated mainly by males has been changing equalizing the ration to almost 1:1 in most parts of the world. This could have been aided by constant campaigns calling for gender equality in the society, in learning institutions, and in the workplace. Such campaigns have even proven that girls could even do better than boys in various sectors. It can also be evident that females are getting even better degrees than their male counterparts. Feminists believe education system to be patriarchal and mainly dominated by men. The same thing happens in the workforce. The idea of feminists goes on to perceive education system as a primary preparation that leads into future workforce. In the education system, gender differences also extend to subject and career choice (Bryant, 2012).

There has been significant efforts have been made to reduce the gap and gender differences between male and female, but the traditional definitions of femininity and masculinity are still widespread. Gender socialism has been a major aspect in the education sector. Some subjects meant to target specific gender group like the case of cooking and home related subjects, which are meant to target girls (Bryant, 2012). Many schools use various titles for gender-based subjects such a Food Technology, which could be aimed to make girls adopt a mode of behavior that the society would accept while maintaining the gap between boys and girls in the society. The society cultivates these differences right from when children are young. The work of teaching professionals especially those within the early childhood profession enhance the efforts aimed at narrowing the gap between males and females in the society. Gender stereotyping would always exist in the society especially since boys are strongly believed to fit in future workforce in a better way than girls (Bryant, 2012).

There are various reasons why girls were performing poorly in than past as compared to boys. One of the major reasons was the notion that educators placed in the girls concerning their gender roles in the society and their inferiority with respect to the boys’ abilities. Educators in this case could depict the route that girls would follow as far as their education and future job careers were concerned. Another major reason for the girls’ underperformance in education is related to the fact that females were considered as family oriented and only focused on families and that education was only patriarchal and socialization of their expected roles as females in the traditional society. Furthermore, before joining schools, sex stereotyping is initiated through the roles they play with their families reinforcing feministic roles (Bryant, 2012).

It could be often seen even in the games and items with which little children play in their homes. Often girls would be bought items like dolls as well as mini kitchens to play with. Boys on the other hand would get or demand toy cars and other male mini machines to play with such as toy planes, toy trains, and other items depicting their possible future careers. Construction toys given to boys help in shaping their concepts in science and mathematics, which tended to be difficult to girls in the past. Such differences affect their mentalities, which they could extend to their learning efforts including their subject interests and choice. Children would be affected by such kind of young life and game practices, which would greatly interfere with their actual aspirations in education and in their future lifestyles. Girls for instance end up believing that gaining skills through educations is secondary or even tertiary to ideas of love, having children, and marriage. This trend has however changed in the current world. Boys on the other hand may end up believing that gaining skills in their education is secondary to the same aspects like love, having children, and marriage. In addition, the media is another major initiator of the gender stereotype in the society (Bryant, 2012). This develops different minds in both boys and girls with girls developing lower attitude towards education than boys.

Gender stereotypes among people in the society are developed during young childhood education. This means that families have a big task to play in order to evade gender differences. The notion that families plant in their children that they are differentiated in terms of the sexual characteristics and gender abilities need to be stopped. The part and role played by teaching practitioners in showing that children have equal abilities irrespective of the sexual differences and gender differences as planted within them by their families and societies. You as teaching professionals could change completely whatever has been thought to be the role of males in the society (Bryant, 2012). You can provide little children with real life examples such as some female individuals within a given sector performing better than their male counterparts. You can insist that some good performance depicted among females happens within the same environmental conditions under equal opportunities. The notion that girls were meant to be better in some aspects than boys should be terminated. Boys are not better than girls either since people have equal opportunities. There are both genders in all education levels, job sectors, and job positions, which could be used as a basis of advising young learners that they are generally equal in terms of their capabilities. It is possible for you as educators to change whatever has been used in the society as the basis enhancing gender differences among people in the society. Making children change their attitude as early as possible could be a good idea especially given that future interests and career choices are decided since childhood (Bryant, 2012). A girl who decides to become an engineer is very likely to have developed such interest since she was very young. Educators need to take this as an opportunity to build a mentality in children that gender differences can hardly be a barrier to education performance or career choice between girls and boys during their childhood education.

How Contribution of Professionals can minimize Gender differences in Education

Whenever promoting gender differences in learning institutions, it is good to understand that the related practices affect both girls and boys. The effect could sometimes lean on the preferred gender. Although this may not be in the short-run, the long term impact could be immense. A good instance could be seen when girls where highly discriminated in education. Efforts to solve this problem were hardly initiated through promotion of gender equality but rather showing much favor on girls in education as compared to boys. The long term impact was that boys’ education became threatened when all efforts in education were meant to enhance girls’ performance. Boys are perceived as having enough power to fight their way to success without significant success. This aspect or perception is completely wrong since girls have proven that they are capable of doing even better than boys can do in education and even in the future careers. The main idea in this case is that both boys and girls need to be seen as one, and having same abilities to achieve success. Only traditional practices placed girls in disgraceful conditions. As a teacher, you can easily understand that success lies within one’s mind. Teachers need to set the minds of all students into believing that they can achieve their various goals in academics and in other field. Tradition can be interpreted and likened to imprisonment, whereby people are strongly tied up to their traditional believes to an extent that they fail to view their difficulties from the real world perspective. It is through only tradition that people depict girls as inferior to boys as far as education is concerned. As teachers, you need to break the bondage of tradition from the young children that you teach and guide at school. Most of the choices they make in future depend on the minds created in them about their gender differences since their childhood.

In most parts of the developed world, discrimination is a great moral issue. Discrimination may be in various forms practiced even at the family level, advanced through early childhood education, high schools, colleges, and university. The worst happens when people enters the job market with a discriminative mind especially in terms of gender. Many teachers could easily identify some differences between girls and boys but instead of promoting such understanding, teachers should clear the perceived or visible gap in the classroom. In a classroom setting, learners would be studying the same topics, reading exactly the same textbooks, and listening to exactly the teachers. Interestingly, the final results could depict some difference between girls and girls studying within the same class and sharing the same resources. It is very strange that by the time children enter schools, the performance of girls is similar or even better than that of boy. Sadly, as these children clime the education ladder, girls seem to be increasingly lagging behind. Teachers fail greatly in this case since their participation in developing a culture in which boys are better than girls is a significant contributor of this problem.

The teachers contribution to minimize gender difference in education could start as early as when the learner are at their tender age. Teachers spend more time with children than their parents do and this could be a great opportunity to change this culture. Teaching girls on how to be strong and encouraging them to set the same goals that top boys set in class would be of great help. Sometime poor performance among girls in education is not caused by discrimination against them. In certain occasions, girls may receive favors from teachers mainly because they are seen as less superior to boys (Chapman, 2012). This practice could set the girl’s mind that they do not have to work hard as the world is on their side. In fact, many girls may take advantage of the various programs and campaign, calling for favors towards them, to relax even in education. As long as the teachers favor girls in education, their attribute to fight against life challenges slowly deteriorates. This argument can be taken as a signor to teachers that children in class should be treated equally and encouraged that they have equal opportunities in life. Education professionals should not favor girls to boys in education since this could even increase gender discrimination amongst children, an attribute they could transfer to their future education, careers, and in the job sector.

Gender discrimination or biasness should be solved with ultimate care by educational professionals. Depicting boys as having better abilities and opportunities in both education and in actual world could be disastrous to them and could render their poor performance in education. Boys tend to use their superior abilities over girls as a basis for being proud and rude. Perceiving them as superior to girls only place most of them into trouble. Studies show that boys form the largest percentage of the poorest performers in education with most of the girls remaining within the average performance level (Chapman, 2012). According to Chapman (2012), boys end up becoming the culprits of poor performance and bad behaviors as a result of such discriminative practices in education. Chapman states that boys “…They are the culprits in a whopping 9 of 10 alcohol and drug violations and the suspected perpetrators in 4 out of 5 crimes that end up in juvenile court. They account for 80 percent of high school dropouts and attention deficit disorder diagnoses.” This is happening because girls are given the top priority in education in the name of enhancing gender equality in education. Educators should not concentrate so much on girls’ performance that they end up ignoring the male child. Boys are as sensitive as girls, but the society seems to have ignored the male children in the society in order to promote the social life of girls in both education and in the society. Of all people, teachers should show equal concern towards both boys and girls. Getting closer to one gender, especially the seemingly weaker gender could generate unperceived problems.

Through gender socialization within schools, girls could be made aware of their equality to boys. Teachers have the responsibility to encourage gender socialization. Practices like making learners to sit of line up according to their gender only creates the impression that boys and girls have to be treated differently. Girls and boys should thus be treated equally without favoring one gender because it is perceived as weaker. Common practices should as well be ignored especially the degradation of girls in schools. Acts of sexual harassment should be treated as serious criminal offenses and unethical within learning institutions (Chapman, 2012). Ignorance to such action only place girls at a risky position especially because they gain the thought of being so inferior that the administration can hardly find them of any value to their institutions. A feeling of being recognized could make girls feel less important than boys in the society, which could be reflected through poor academic performance.

Just like boys have a strong feeling of being important to the society; teachers could envision ways that could enhance the same feelings among girls while avoiding gender discrimination by favoring one gender. Different behaviors should not be tolerated for one gender especially boys, as it is often the case (Chapman, 2012). Oppression of girls is perpetuated by most schools when some boys’ behaviors are tolerated in such schools. There is the need for teacher to prevent such practices which could place girls to oppressions by tolerating boys’ behaviors that could be disadvantageous to girls. In many cases, teachers’ efforts and practices to promote girls’ education has have seen and increased performance in girls. Chapman (2012) says that there is some good evidence showing girls as increasingly being more successful in academics than boys. Classroom examinations centrally show that boys and girls are increasingly socializing in various ways that seem to be working against gender equality. Gender equality could be best promoted through teachers’ interaction with both girls and boys and showing them the way forward to achieving gender equality. Various efforts and practices by educational professionals have resulted to the improvement of the girl child’s position in the society and in education. Girls have improved in term of their abilities, thanks to their teachers, but to a certain extent, boys seem to face various challenges that contribute to increasing poor academic performances, school dropouts, and juvenile criminal activities. Teachers have fought for girls but largely ignored the male child. It is now the high time that teachers, educational leaders in learning institutions, and other education professionals, initiated mechanisms to save the male child from the impact generate by the efforts to better girls in education and in the society. To balance the impact, gender equality should not be promoted from the basis of favoring the weaker gender. Both girls and boys should be treated as one, with teachers advising them that they can achieve similar goals and success in life.

Conclusion

Various efforts have been put in place to promote gender equality but unfortunately, some adverse problems resulted. Initially, traditions placed girls at an inferior and a disadvantaged position socially, economically, and culturally. All systems seemed to favor the males even in education. The efforts to improve girl’s position came in with several long term effects to the lives and success factors of boys. Some of the adverse effects on boys’ lives are increasing poor academic performance, school dropouts, and juvenile crimes (Chapman, 2012). Equality between boys and girls can be best achieved through showing equal concern between the two genders. Young children understand and capture social-cultural practices easily. Their minds are influenced by things and practices that could seemingly appear meaningless to other people. This is why a male child would be influenced to have engineering, science, and modeling thoughts by the toy car/planes/trains provided by the parent. Girls on the other hand would be influenced by toy kitchens and dolls to cultivate the mind of catering, cooking, and home care. Teachers have a significant role to play such that these differences and gender-based perceptions are not advanced to education. The teacher can help children understand that they have equal abilities and that there are no specific roles for boys or girls in the society.

References

Bryant, L. (2012). Gender and Educational Attainment. Retrieved from historylearningsite.co.uk: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/gender_education_attainment.htm

Chapman, A. (2012). Gender Bias in Education. Retrieved from EdChange project: http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/genderbias.html