Learning Log 1

Erika McGourty
Learning Log #1 During our first group discussion I became really fond of the article "Children Are Not Colorblind: How Young Children Learn Race." Throughout the article I was shocked at the different aspects of children aging and how the develop their sight and sense of race and color of skin. It appears that saying that children are "colorblind" is a myth and I realized greatly how much this is true through this article. Children are actually seen as "blank slates" and don't develop racial prejudices until they are told about them. This statement proves that children don't develop racial prejudices unless they are influenced to have them. Based off of this article, it shows that by the age of six months infants begin to categorize people by their gender and race. This does not make a child "racist" or "prejudice" but just simply shows that a child makes clear observations and sees the color of people's skin as they are. From all of the different races, children see people just how they are. At a young age children are introduced to "community norms" where they gather information from a wide variety of sources and not just from the people they are around most. These "norms" are what is seen as a typical type of lifestyle in which children are engaged into at such a young age. A major factor in a child's environment today would be that children are taught that race is a social category of certain significance. A child's environment teaches them at a young age to categorize race and show each races significance in every way possible. Then children provide meaning and create their own opinions that involves some adult direction. Every day boys and girls are seen differently. At such a young age they are seperated constantly but also in the most simplest ways but it is seen as norm as you grow older. As a teacher walks into their classroom, the normal good morning welcoming is commonly "Good Morning Boys and Girls", as shown from the article. At such a young age boys and girls know that they are different and by simple sayings like this it makes them aware that they are seen as different.