Cycle One: The Culture of Childhood

Cycle One: The Culture of Childhood

Playtime:

I grew up in the 90’s and playtime with my older brother, Paul, or with my friends was centered on imagination and creativity. For example, one Christmas Paul and I were gifted roller-blades and spent the winter creating rollerblading obstacle courses throughout our parents’ unfinished basement. We used whatever was available to us to construct courses: rolls of carpet, paint cans, buckets, boxes, you name it. We then challenged each other to race, competing for record times and the pride of winning. In our haste it was not uncommon to take hard falls on the cement and wind up with bruises, scrapes or cuts, but we never thought twice about it and we never saw our parents running down the stairs to chaperon this playtime. While reading about the nontraditional parks for children in North Wales where kids find entertainment with items such as old tires and wood, I happily reflected on my days of jumping over a stack of newspapers with my roller-blades on. In addition to my skating days, my friends and I built tree forts and hosted picnics with imaginary food on a large flat rock in the woods behind our house. We also played with Barbie’s or Polly Pockets and conjured up a theme for the day’s “episode,” developing unique story-lines for each doll. So, even where toys or other gadgets were involved, it was up to our minds and creativity to make these things fun.

Now, we are living in a world of technology, and many children I know spend a lot of time in front of screens. Children as young as toddlers are often reaching for their parents’ cell phones or iPads, requesting to watch a video or play a game. I am not familiar enough with phone or iPad applications designed for preschoolers to know the extent to which they foster creativity and the use of imagination, however I would venture to guess those opportunities do exist. Outside of screen time, I see a large push for today’s preschoolers’ playtime to involve learning a second language, developing literacy skills before entering school, and participating in organized sports starting as early as age three. As a result, I cannot claim that my version of play as a child was more beneficial to my development or more physically engaging than the kids of today, but I do know mine was much less supervised, less structured and less academic.

Parents and Schools:

As a high school teacher and as a friend to people with small children, I have noticed a difference in parents today and their relationship with teachers and school curricula. When I was in school, if a child misbehaved the punishment the teacher decided upon was not up for negotiation. That is to say, parents supported the decision of the teacher. The same was true for academics. It would have been strange to hear the parents of my classmates inquiring about how a teacher planned to reach certain curricular goals or content standards. Yet, these are conversations I have each year at our Parent Open House and parent-teacher conferences. Often, concern over academia begins before the child enters school and conversations about learning take place with daycare providers or other childcare facilities. This is akin to what we read about China’s evolution in preschools between 1985 and 2002. The authors write, “Now the parent-teacher relationship has fundamentally changed: parents are becoming customers” (Tobin et al, 2009, p. 40). I have found this to be especially true since I began teaching honors students, as their parents are very involved with their children’s academic success and outcomes. I do worry that serving parents as customers has allowed students to miss opportunities to advocate for themselves and to learn how to face their own challenges as they progress toward high school and graduation. 

Culture in the Classroom:

While reflecting on this week’s readings I am most struck by the idea of teaching culture in the classroom and how its importance is viewed differently by schools and the families they serve in the study of Alhambra Preschool in Phoenix (Tobin et al, 2009). The comment I found particularly noteworthy read, “More concerned about their children learning English than about the possible loss of their Spanish or their Mexican identity or cultural patrimony, most of the Hispanic parents at Alhambra, unlike progressive American early childhood education scholar, are not strong proponents of bilingual or multicultural education” (Tobin et al, 2009, p. 217). Perhaps the parents consider themselves their children’s guide to their home culture and the school a place where they learn aspects of American culture. Whatever the case, this sentiment from the Alhambra parents and other immigrant parents contrasts with our push for multicultural education in American classrooms and immersion programs and schools. I would like to know more about this from people who work in contexts that are similar to what is described here. Have you found that parents push English over their home language in an academic setting? Or, have you found the parents to be concerned about the preservation of their culture and its appropriate representation in schools?

References:

Joseph Tobin, Yeh Hsueh, & Mayumi Karasawa. (2009). Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited: China, Japan, and the United States. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Sharing:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nation-wimps/201401/helicopter-parenting-its-worse-you-think

This article speaks to my concern of parents over-advocating for their children and teachers adhering to parental demands in order to best serve them as customers. According to this article, this problem can persist into graduate school admissions.  

http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/preschools-china-japan-and-us

This link provides a summary of Tobin’s study, highlighting the fact that culture is what makes the largest difference between preschools across the world. He provides guiding questions to consider and video links that showcase the classrooms visited in the study.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/why-did-it-take-so-long-for-class-based-school-integration-to-take-hold/489863/

This article advocates for strategic socioeconomic integration in schools. In my community, integrating differentiated socioeconomic status would result in the integration of a wide variety of cultures in our schools. This had me thinking, again, about the concept of culture and how socioeconomic status adds a new element to understanding and navigating culture.