Reference no: EM133598426
Read the post below and respond to the prompts listed below as you respond to their post.
Discuss commonalities and differences in how you would approach the issue your peer shared.
Propose another way they could address the issue. You may choose to share a similar personal experience and outcome.
Discuss the importance of social justice and social capital of the issue your peer raised.
Share how you think the issue raised by your peer relates to equal protection, through the lens of a school leader.
Post:
Reflect on an educational program or school you have worked at or have personally attended.
Describe an occurrence when race, national origin, native language, ability, achievement, age, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity created an issue.
A center where I had just started working had an issue with their pre-toddler area, and I was assigned as the lead teacher to try to improve the children's behavior and the class atmosphere. One minority child was singled out because she bit, but the same pair of children were getting bitten. She was constantly getting in trouble for biting, but she bit the children in question for a reason. Even though I knew it was wrong, it was a simple repair, but the other teachers accused me of being biased and taking sides.
Summarize the occurrence without sharing specific details.
A minority child bites another child, gets written up, and is labeled as having behavioral issues. Parents are notified and must meet with the director to discuss their child's behavior. I recognized the problem, and the other teachers were not pleased with my observations. I was told I was choosing sides because the child who bites is the rebellious child.
Identify characteristics of discrimination in this occurrence.
In this instance, the characteristics of discrimination were race. They thought the minority child was misbehaving, and I was choosing sides because I, too, was a minority.
Describe the outcome.
The conclusion was positive because I noticed that the two children who the other child bit would always grab the toys that child was playing with, and occasionally, the child would become upset and attempt to get it back since they couldn't talk, and when she couldn't, she would bite. Despite having multiple of the same toy, children like stealing toys from other children. The other teachers failed to notice what was causing the biting or how to end it. I had to keep an eye out for children who took toys away from that child, and if I saw them doing so, I would walk over and ask them to return the toy or grab the other child a toy from the shelf. We should not take toys from other children. The child who bites even started giving them items since she realized it would fix the problem and she wouldn't have to bite them.
Assess the reasons for the outcome.
The outcome was the result of observing rather than judging. They assumed she was biting select children because of their race. However, the children who were bitten were the ones who grabbed the toy. She stopped biting because she discovered other toys and sometimes got another one.
Propose another way to address this issue.
Not because you disagree with someone makes you biased toward the situation. I realized that the child biting was inflicting more bodily pain than another youngster grabbing a toy out of their hand. These children needed to learn to express themselves and distinguish between good and evil. The other teachers had no idea what was going on. Their solution was to move the child to a different class, but I didn't think it solved the problem.
Discuss the importance of social justice and social capital and how both relate to equal protection through the lens of a school leader.
Students should be treated equally and justly regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or other personal traits. A person's network of connections and resources is called their social capital. Equal protection in schools depends on both social fairness and social capital. No matter their background, social justice ensures every child has an equal chance of success. By giving them connections to people and resources they might not otherwise have, social capital can help students take advantage of these changes.