Professional Hopes and Goals

As we are heading to the finish line of this course, I feel that I need to share with you of my hope and goal.

My hope is pretty much linked with promoting positive educational experiences for young deaf children, so that they can effectively work with others of different cultures. I hope also that young children of all races will mesh together fairly well, so that some day our world will turns a new face with much more harmony.

My goal is to expose the significant of diversity, equity, and justice to my undergraduate students who also are our future early childhood educators. These students are the next generation to carry the torch into the next generation.

Colleagues, I enjoyed studying and experiencing this riveting course along with you. I hope all of you continue to enjoy your journey--whether it may be in classroom or somewhere else.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

For this project, I would select a family from Burma. In order to be culturally responsive to the family from Burma, here is a list of what I would do to become culturally responsive.

1. I would research on Burma and its nation. This website is one of many useful sources: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm

2. I would perform a home visit with the burmese family to initiate the contact. For this visit, I would request for an interpreter if needed. This would give me an opportunity to interact with the family to gain my knowledge of Burma and its tradition.

3.  I would study Burmese language using different sources to become familiar with. Perhaps, I would learn a few basic words in Burmese to show courtesy. Here is one of sources that provide information on Brumese language:  http://www.omniglot.com/writing/burmese.htm

4. I would research about local events related to Burmese. Then attend several events to study and learn how people interact, taste their food, and meet new people whose origin is from Burma.  This website provides a list of events related to Burma in United States: http://burmese-community.blogspot.com/2011/04/2011-usbma-burmese-new-year-festival.html

5. One important part in studying Burma is to understand traditional behaviors such as male and female roles, so I can demonstrate respect toward their culture through behaving accordingly.

These venues in becoming culturally responsive should prepare me for initiate and first several encounters with the family. Hopefully, I would be able to extend the study into Early Childhood program by inviting the family to share their culture and developing a solid relationship with the family.  I believe that I would need to observe, interact, and use my five senses to learn about Burma in order to have a better idea of how to respond to the Burmese family in appropriate ways.

One last thing, the reason I selected Burma based on the fact that I grew up with a gentleman whose origin is Burma. He and I became close friend. I've always questioned him about his background, but he was too young to remember anything about Burma. The only thing he talked about was the Burmese food. In the picture above is a  picture of my friend and I when we were in eighth grade. I sat on the ground--front row first from the left.  My friend, JT who was born and raised in Burma for a short time before coming to America, knelt in second row--the first from the right.

Burma Flag:

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

My personal experience with bias, prejudice, and oppression has been an on-going journey. Experiencing it personally and witnessing oppression toward someone else are part of my life. I have also witnessed prejudice and oppression through many fiction books, television shows, and other medias.

Personal:

Oftentimes, I've been told I would not accomplish anything in life. Deafness is seen as a barrier in accessing to the language. Therefore, if I could not learn languages, I would not be able to learn anything. Obtaining a job is always a struggle. I have been rejected by employers because of my hearing ability. I've been questioned about my skills based on my hearing ability.

Witnessed someone else:

This young man is deaf and has several behavior disorders along with mental illness. Yet, he was bright and active.  I worked primarily with this young man. He asked me if he could take driver's education class. He wants to get driver's license. He really wanted to be like every other teenager. I encouraged him to try the class out. He was uncertain about how he is going to pass the class. My head-supervisor said he cannot take driver's education, because he's not bright and capable. I stood up to her and asked to give him the same treatment as every other teenager. He has to try and learn.  This is a sign of oppression between highly educated person and a person with mental illness.

Media---Switched at Birth:

This show is about two female teenagers (Daphne--deaf and Bay--hearing) who were switched at birth and discovered the switch as teenagers. One of the teenagers is deaf. This deaf person meets her biological parents. The biological parents automatically accused the mother for not preventing the child from becoming deaf. Then biological parents encouraged this teenager to get cochlear implant and be normal like them. They did not bother to recognize the wonderful person she is as a deaf person.

There is another character, Emmett, who is profoundly deaf since birth. He has deaf parents.Unexpectedly, he fell in love with Bay. Emmett's mother did not support Emmett's relationship with Bay because Bay is hearing and does not belong in Deaf community. The mother assumed that every hearing-deaf relationship is doom for failure. Emmett pointed out that his parents are deaf and getting divorced.

How one treats another removes the equality by lowering one's status in the society.  This is basically what we all experience at some point in our lives. When someone says that a deaf person needs to be fixed, the inequity comes through the identity.  This creates the feeling of being abnormal and possibly a identity crisis. 

From my experience, oppression and prejudice had always anger me. I used to "talk back" to others who degraded my identity, my being, my ability, and so on in different ways. I used to sign to someone who mocked me. Sometimes, I'd say, "watch me" and I'd accomplish.  

There were not many people who allied for me except for my parents, grandparents, and interpreters. Most of the time, I believe that my trait of being stubborn is what helped me getting through the obstacles. I knew what I was capable of, so I just endured everything to reach the goal. It seemed to be much more difficult as a teenager, and young adult than in my 30's. I am much more laid back now. Once in a while, I'll fiercely fight for equal rights. 

I would not change anything. I wouldn't be who I am if I had not gone through the obstacles, the struggles, and emotions. This had given me the opportunity to gain compassion for others even if oppression exhausts me.