Should we talk to our kids about discrimination?
Some of you may be thinking we have “baby fever” by all the recent blog posts on infants. Well seems since the birth of our second child 詩絵夏 (Jenna) we do!
Now I am combining our recent interest in infants with the topic of racial discrimination for this latest entry...
Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, racial discrimination exists in every society, and many parents are reluctant to discuss the topic with their children, especially young children. Growing opinion among researchers suggests this may be a mistake.
Surprisingly, there is evidence that children are prone to in-group favoritism from a very young age, and that this favoritism, if left unchecked, can develop into racial discrimination later on in life.
Furthermore, babies as young as 6 months were shown to pick up on racial differences. Dr. Phyllis Katz of the university of Colorado conducted an experiment in which 200 black and white babies were show photos of faces. In most cases, babies stared longer at photos that were a different race then there own.
For more see the Newsweek article from September 14th “See Baby Discriminate” . A very interesting article.
Even more troubling is results of a remade experiment known as the "doll test" in this documentary video made by high school student Kiri Davis...
“A Girl Like Me” created a stir across the U.S. when it was posted on You Tube over three years ago. Based on experiments by Dr. Kenneth Clark, white and black dolls were given to children and asked a series of questions including “which doll is nice?” and “Which doll is bad?” More often than not, the answers disturbingly showed how children think about race.
Should we bring this up this subject with our own children? When is an appropriate time? Some in Japan argue that it is pointless because “there is no racism in Japan”. I for one intend to speak to our kids about the subject of race so that it may become true one day.
Now I am combining our recent interest in infants with the topic of racial discrimination for this latest entry...
Whether we like to acknowledge it or not, racial discrimination exists in every society, and many parents are reluctant to discuss the topic with their children, especially young children. Growing opinion among researchers suggests this may be a mistake.
Surprisingly, there is evidence that children are prone to in-group favoritism from a very young age, and that this favoritism, if left unchecked, can develop into racial discrimination later on in life.
Furthermore, babies as young as 6 months were shown to pick up on racial differences. Dr. Phyllis Katz of the university of Colorado conducted an experiment in which 200 black and white babies were show photos of faces. In most cases, babies stared longer at photos that were a different race then there own.
For more see the Newsweek article from September 14th “See Baby Discriminate” . A very interesting article.
Even more troubling is results of a remade experiment known as the "doll test" in this documentary video made by high school student Kiri Davis...
“A Girl Like Me” created a stir across the U.S. when it was posted on You Tube over three years ago. Based on experiments by Dr. Kenneth Clark, white and black dolls were given to children and asked a series of questions including “which doll is nice?” and “Which doll is bad?” More often than not, the answers disturbingly showed how children think about race.
Should we bring this up this subject with our own children? When is an appropriate time? Some in Japan argue that it is pointless because “there is no racism in Japan”. I for one intend to speak to our kids about the subject of race so that it may become true one day.
