The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism [Paperback]

 

 

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Unlike the reviewer for Publishers Weekly who wrote that "no one browsing this book would mistake it for a lively read," I found this book to be entertaining, enlightening and provocative. In short, it was a lively read for me! I am an intellectual particularly interested in issues pertaining to race and so I understand that what I find to be appealing is often dismissed in mainstream discourse as is demonstrated by the somewhat negative review. The Publishers Weekly review also stated that a weakness of this study was that it did not mention the frequency of racist incidents. Of course the underlying assumption here is that racism is not really a serious problem and that the authors must have overexaggerated the racist actions of the children. Anyone who is progressive realizes that racism is a serious problem which manifests itself daily in a number of ways in all kinds of settings. As much as I enjoyed reading the book, I also found it distressing as a future parent of black children. At the beginning of the book the authors relate an incident in which a three year old biracial (white/Asian) child referred to another four year old black child as a "nigger" and didn't want to sleep beside her during naptime because "niggers are stinky." Van Ausdale's and Feagin's analysis of this incident is excellent. Can you imagine being the parent of that black child and having to talk with her (a four year old, if you will) about what happened? The burden of dealing with race should not be placed solely on the shoulders of children and parents of color.For this reason I recommend THE FIRST R to all parents.

The premise of the study done by Van Ausdale and Feagin was that from an early age children conceptualize race and racial identity. Their suggestion is that from a very early age, people's perceptions of race and ethnicity become impregnated into their psyche. Through various social exchanges children learn and regurgitate what is learned. These perceptions can be developed from any area of social interaction.
Throughout history it has been thought that children were not active participants in any of these spheres. It had been thought that children were imitators of adult and are the initial recipients of these ideas and perceptions. Van Ausdale counter these popular conceptions about children and how they acquire information. The study, which seeks to show that children actively form and interpret concepts of race at very early ages, used 58 children from the ages of three to six as subjects. Through their work the authors emphasize the social space (the daycare) as a microcosm of America's racial pecking order.
Chapter one the authors give a literature review of child development theory thoroughly examining the pros and cons of these theories as they relate to children's acquisition of race. The author's challenge how these theories fail to delve into how children learn and perpetuate social constructs. An area of primary concern is the fact these theories take responsibility away from the children.
The author introduces a concept called "adult-centered" orientation, which is a research technique that rules out any serious cognitive qualities in children. It merely looks at children as adults with deficits, and lacking the realist ability to be engaging in abstract concepts such as race, class and ethnicity. The authors go on to say that most analysis of the socialization of children says that children primarily imitate and mirror adult behavior rather than actually processing adult instructs.
The authors use the inadequacies of these child development theories to establish the premise of the study. The shift is from the "adultcentric" researching technique to a research technique that sees the children as able to understand the complexity of their social environment.
Van Ausdale the primary fieldworker between the authors. She spent 11 months studying the subjects at a multicultural day care. She says of her observation style that she functioned an invisible observer. This approach allows Van Ausdale to take very passive role in the subject's lives.
In Chapter Two there is significant empirical evidences to support Van Ausdales assertion that children understand concepts or race and ethnicity. The children continue show how they define themselves along with the precarious social exchanges that directly mirror society's racial hierarchy. This chapter lays the cement in terms of the premise; which are children are not the unreceptive, egocentric figures that adults assume they are. The major themes of this chapter are vivid, the idea that children develop solid ideas of what the white identity means chiefly from excluding others.
These children on various occasions keenly process the concepts of race and the institute of racial hierarchies. The authors move on to say that children at "very early ages invented complex combinations of racial meaning, for themselves and for others, and incorporated social relationships and physical characteristics to produce explanations for how their world was racially constructed and maintained"(pg.48). This point further supports the premise that children are not the inert recipients of information, but rather children are seen as beings that conceptualize complex ideas and judge its validity in a social setting.
In chapter three the author discusses the ins and outs of out children's group association. The playgroups serve as outlets for social exchanges that aid in developing social standards. The interactions of these children cannot be typecasted but they showed profoundly that children used racial concepts to exclude one another or to humiliate each other. A very striking example was when one child excluded another child from play in a sandbox and compared her complexion to rabbit feces, she even goes on to say that "your skin is shi**y"(109). This statement had extreme importance in regards the authors premise. This child had to recognize the social significance of her statements. The author moves on to rectify the social structure that sees these types of statements as a means of creating and reinforcing division and subjugation. This is one of many noted examples of how children absorb racist attitudes. These children repeatedly showed clear how children use racial-ethnic differences to define themselves and others.
The idea of race consciousness in children is certainly exemplified in this chapter. This chapter showed that children usually separated by race or made clear race distinctions in judging their space or play groups. The idea of race being conceptualized by children at such an early age examines the social strata of the lives of children. Then the author develops the idea of white adults who continue to harbor deeply racist images and stereotypes and practice racial discrimination in settings they traverse in their daily lives (127). It is also stated that neither children nor adults experience race as an abstract concept but rather in concrete form through social exchanges. This approach to how race is transmitted solidifies the assertion that race is understood and processed by children.
In chapter Four the authors examines to what extent children use racial concepts to define other people. Somewhat mirroring the sophisticated examples of how children comprehend the dynamic of race. The authors go on to say that race and skin color play lead roles in how children identify others. The various incidents in this chapter force the authors to determine outright that young children can and do make extensive use of racial and ethnic concepts and understandings (153). This chapter focuses on how children have a basic understanding of the significance of race, and how children develop associations based on physical composition.
In Chapter Five the point is driven in that adults view children as unable to synthesize racial distinctions. Throughout the study we notice overwhelmingly that parents, teachers and volunteers underestimate the scope of the children's understanding of the role of race. To examine how children process race the authors make elaborate points of how adults recognize or fail to recognize the extent of children' racial-ethnic knowledge. This can be problematic to minority children because the racial comments can tear at their esteem while majority children go without reprimand, under the guise of being considered naïve. This lack of assigning blame to children who offend other children with race also leads to the children espousing the social appropriateness of this clearly out of line behavior. This is the cycle that stagnates race relations in later years; clearly neglecting to challenge these behaviors at an early age creates the existing social order.
What and how children learn about race and ethnic matters is examined in chapter six. Children learn from what they are exposed to along with the directives from those who are their caretakers or provide for them. Society influences children's learning, as children adjust and readjust volleying for social position. According to the authors "all Americans both majority and minority are influenced in thought and action by the larger racialized context in which they live"(177). Another very important piece of information is this quote "From an early age children are immersed in a pervasive and informal system of racism the, during various exchanges with others they acquire the techniques of dealing with other members of other racial and ethnic groups"(178). This quote positions children as coinsures of race and shows the level of experience children have with dealing with race. Young children learn to manage and understand their social exchanges through various means, but it is understood that they do so by deciphering complex social clues.
In chapter seven the authors move on to ponder potential anecdotes. Initially the authors challenge the idea that racism is impossible for young children, then the authors move on to note that racism is not a fading societal reality (197). Destroying these two barriers permit racism to be dealt with in an intelligent manner and work to reverse the effects and residue of racism. They continue to illustrate how racism affects most areas of life and that racism is a definite social reality. The authors go on the say "Children are not immune to racism nor unaware of its power"(198). So we must be honest with children and acknowledge that race exist, follow up with sincere dialogue to process racism. Many parents believe children develop racial attitudes similar to those held by their parents. Some believe children learn racially tolerant behaviors by observing their parents' positive interactions with people of color and, conversely, learn intolera

Young children are capable of learning facts if you break them down to their level, authors Van Ausdale and Feagin write, and the sooner this open and honest dialogue occurs, the better little children can develop a strong sense of fairness. Age 3 is not too young to introduce basics- things children visualize and can touch like skin color, eye shape and hair texture. Waiting for middle school is too late, so the burden of teaching differences in a positive way falls to parents. The authors emphasize if diversity, tolerance and fighting bigotry are taught at home with parents imparting their values there will be no room for misunderstanding when children begin to interact with others. Much of the data presented comes from studies made at several multiethic child-care centers where children had little interaction with people of other ethnic groups, and probably had not been taught about race. Their revealed misconceptions and attitudes were often disconcerting. This book offers a comprehensive look at America today, the issue of race, and how to help our children better understand and cope with the reality of racism before the "hurtful confrontation". Interested readers, not only parents and teachers, will learn a lot from this book. It is a step in a positive direction.

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