NOTE: It is not my intention to question or insult the good
intentions of any children’s authors or educators. But we all make mistakes and need to discuss and
learn from those mistakes in order to improve children’s literature, education,
and multicultural awareness.
I never really thought about critically analyzing picture
books when I was a teacher. Well, I did
in that I was careful to avoid using blatantly racist texts (à la Little Black Sambo) in my class, and I
also encouraged my students to evaluate books: “Do you like this book? Do you think this character did the right
thing?” But even though my class was
very diverse and therefore an environment fit for fruitful discussions about cultural awareness, justice, and equity, I avoided introducing books that could foster discussions
about race, family diversity (LGBT parents, divorce, adoption, etc.) and other
taboo topics.
Yes, I was the teacher who hung posters depicting people of
different ethnic backgrounds in my classroom.
I stocked the play areas with multiethnic dolls and action figures. I praised my international students’
bilingual abilities and asked them about their experiences in their home
countries. But actually talking
explicitly about diversity? Nope. As a new teacher, I cowered at the thought of
parents yelling at me for being too controversial. I was also terrified of accidentally doing or
saying the wrong thing, of being accused of playing the race card for not
subscribing to the “Let’s Be Blissfully Colorblind” agenda.
As a result, I feel that I missed out on being a better teacher. Instead of making the effort to critically analyze books, I relied on “classics” that had been my favorites as a child. Many of these books seemed to be multicultural – after all, they portrayed different cultures and didn’t (seem to) contain any stereotypes. However, when I started my master’s program and began taking children’s literature courses, my choices as a teacher came back and punched me square in the nose.
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