Troublemakers Post
I wanted to start this blog with my video first. After reading the preface, I had to reshape my thinking on children's behaviors. See, I work with toddler aged children so I already have an understanding of temperaments, behaviors and how to manage them. When observing a toddlers challenging behavior, the one thing an educator is always thinking is 'What's triggering this?' It's interesting to hear and read the differing perspectives on behavior and redirecting depending on the age and the child.
This Ted Talk featuring Rosemarie Allen, highlights the notion that certain consequences are adult consequences and why do we hold children to those standards and not ourselves. She talks about the way children react when they become upset and compares it to adults and realizes that the behaviors mirror one another. When a child becomes upset they may cry, scream, cuss and fight. What do adults do? In coming to this realization, the term 'adultism' comes to mind. This term is based on the notion that adults are superior to young children and have a right to act on their behalf without consent. In a scenario where a child is 'acting out,' punishing them in a way that seems fit for the adult is where their power becomes apparent; seeing as how no one is punishing them in the same manner. We're holding children to the standards that adults should be modeling and the ability to do that is limited when there's no direction. This notion is further proven when Shalaby states that when children enter the school, they are welcomed with officers, metal detectors, the gaze of surveillance cameras and expected to have the understanding of social control and accept the consequences if they don't.
To expect a child to have the impulse control that most adults lack, is unfair.
In the Introduction: On (In)Visibility Shalaby states "I was the adult, the teacher, the leader. He was the child, the pupil, the follower...I had power over him." This is a clear example of adultism and the power that comes with it. In this case, it sounds similar to dictatorship. Sadly, this is the notion that some adults have when it comes to redirecting or punishing children. A couple statements you may hear are "Do as I say, not as I do!" and if a child questions why, the answer is simply "Because I said so."
As an early educator who works with two year old's, my job is not only to get the children where they need to be developmentally but to help them understand the world around them. Allowing them the opportunity to explore, allowing them mostly free time throughout the day to socialize, interact and critically examine the materials around them either alone or with an adult. To go from that freeing setting to one that is controlled in more ways than one can be a shock for young children. Controlling themselves is going to create a challenge because everything is already heavily controlled and in a word is suffocating.
I believe the culture we have created in the schools and with the interactions from adults needs shifting. Yes, there are students who can be distracting but sometimes it's worth it to take a minute to understand why. It's critical to allow the children the safe space to practice those curricular skills in a setting that is freeing because there is nothing more detrimental than limited development.
Hi, I really liked the video you included at the beginning of your post. It shocked me to see how preschool children are suspended three times more than k-12 grades combined, as I was not aware of this statistic. I also liked your point regarding how educators expect children to have the impulse control that most adults lack, because it really shows how as a society, we are placing such high, and often unrealistic, expectations on children. We then immediately blame these children for not reaching these expectations rather than taking the time to understand the reasons for their behaviors.
ReplyDeleteHello, As Oliva said above, I agree entirely with you that we often expect children to manage their emotions in ways that we, as adults, usually struggle with! We frequently look at things on a surface level with children because we assume they are simple and "just kids," but they have these same heavy emotions that they do not know how to handle. We have to look at them through deeper critical lenses when evaluating behavior.
ReplyDeleteI was also shocked to learn from your video that preschool children are suspended three times more than older students, and I agree with your point about how we expect kids to have more self-control than even many adults, which leads us to blame them instead of trying to understand their behavior. It feels like adults forgot what they were like when they were kids.
ReplyDeleteThe statistics about preschool expulsion is really concerning and I had never heard anything about that before. Its confusing how we expect young children with no experience in school and little experience with socialization and rules to be able to adjust seamlessly to a completely different environment.
ReplyDeleteYour points and resources are very insightful. It's shocking to see how students are treated.
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