Blog Feb26
My favorite article from last week was Evaluating Children’s Books for Bias. I thought it had some really helpful ideas that I hadn’t previously considered. I had already thought about exclusion of groups and stereotypes. I had also thought about standards of success being related to the white male. I have recently become aware of the diversity among Asian Americans (in this class). I will definitely consider this when I pick out books to read to my students. I will also begin to consider inaccuracy in the depiction of cultures, especially when I thumb thorough books to look at the illustrations. The author also included some sexist language that I hadn’t considered to be offensive in the past. (forefathers rather than ancestors, humankind rather than mankind, and synthetic rather than manmade) I don’t agree with what has been termed “cultural thievery”. (Where the author asks whether or not it’s ethical for mainstream writers to appropriate the literature of parallel cultures) After all, we live in a free society, and we should be allowed to write about any culture that we choose to write about! I believe that people are able to write from a perspective that they have never personally experienced. If I were to spend many hours studying and talking with people of another culture, I might find it interesting to write a story from their perspective. I also think it would be an excellent idea for children to write from the perspective of one from another culture. What better way to try and teach students to be empathetic toward others than to try and write a story from another’s perspective! Teachers could encourage their students to do research on another culture, and then write a story from that perspective.
