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March 7, 2007

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
TEACH
Anti-Bias Curriculum

The National Association for the Education of Young (NAEYC) certification is required for all Head Start centers with more than twenty children. NAEYC created the Council for Professional Recognition, which grants the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential for childcare workers. The CDA is supported by TEACH. TEACH started in North Carolina and stands for Teacher Education and Compensation Helps. The program gives wage supports and scholarships to childcare workers so that they can obtain the CDA. The CDA and NAEYC s childcare and preschool accreditation policy requires use of NAEYCs radical anti-bias curriculum.

Anti-bias Curriculum - Tools for Empowering Young Children
(Derman-Sparkes, NAEYC, Washington, D.C., 1989)

Multiculturalism:

Definition of Whites: All the different national ethnic groups of European origin who as a group are disproportionately represented in the control of the economic, political, and cultural institutions in the United States. (p. 3)

Witchcraft:

Kay sets up...a 'witch-healer' table, where the children can make their own potions. (p. 9)

Revisionist History:

And if the hypothetical Indians who participated in that hypothetical feast thought all was well and were thankful in the expectation of a peaceful future, they were sadly mistaken. (pp. 87-88)

Homosexuality:

Definition of Homophobia: A fear and hatred of gay men and lesbians backed up by institutional policies and power that discriminate against them. (p. 3)

Sexual Identity:

...the purpose of these activities is to enable preschoolers to develop a clear, healthy sex identity through understanding that their being a girl or boy depends on their anatomy, not on what they like to do. (p. 53)

Make copies of an outline of a body as drawn by a preschooler, and in small groups, ask children to fill in all the body parts, and to show if the person is a girl or boy. (p. 53)

Activism with Young Children:

Young children have an impressive capacity for learning how to be activists if adults provide activities that are relevant and developmentally appropriate. (;. 77)

Instead of one superhuman figure (usually a white male) righting wrongs all by himself, activism activities teach that real people, adults and children, make life better by working together. (p. 79)

That chapter on activism is inspired an entire book called That's not Fair! - A Teacher's Guide to Activism with Young Children, which is also distributed by NAEYC. (Pelo and Davidson, Redleaf Press, St. Paul, MN, 2000)

One part of the curriculum describes a teacher reading books to the children in order to bring up big issues, issues that provoke debate, discussion, and often, activism project.

Teaching homosexuality:
The book goes on to describe the teacher's reading of a book called the Trumpet of the Swan and how she uses it to deal with the issue of homosexuality. (p. 50-51)

The second part of the book focuses on the swan's courtship and mating. When Ann reads the book, she changes the gender of the main character from a male to a female swan. When the main character is a female, her courtship of another female swan becomes the story of two women falling in love. This invariably provokes conversation among the children about women marrying women and men marrying men. It's important to Ann that children feel comfortable around people who are lesbian and gay. She wants children to expect to meet people who are lesbian and gay and to feel relaxed and at ease with them. When Ann reads this book, the kids already care about Louise the swan by the time she begins to court Serina, her true love. They can't easily dismiss her or ignore her, because they are invested in her life and her happiness.

Teaching Pacifism:
Another part of the book describes what happens when a teacher is out on a walk with the children and sees the Blue Angels preparing for an air show. She tells the children that they are bombing planes and then has them return to school and write their feelings regarding what they saw. Here is a sample of what they wrote (p. 106):

They drew pictures of planes with Xs through them: This is a crossed off bombing plane. They drew bomb factories labeled No. Ann wrote down their messages: Blue Angels stop. Respect our words Blue Angels. Respect kids words. Dont kill people. This is a book to tell you, Stop Blue Angels. Dont kill anyone. If you blow up our city, we wont be happy about it. And our whole city will be destroyed. And if you blow up my favorite library, I wont be happy because there are some good books there I havent read yet.

Teaching a Marxist view of class struggle:
NAEYCs views on diversity and multiculturalism are evident in their publication Valuing Diversity: The Primary Years:

Teaching there is no right or wrong:
This organizations relativist approach to conflict resolution that has no standards of right and wrong is evidenced in this chart.

NAEYC then applies this philosophy to teach pacifism with the following quote:

After hearing early news about the fighting in the 1991 Gulf War, a four-year-old who practices conflict resolution at home and school remarked, They should have used their words! p. 59

Teaching environmentalism:
The effort to indoctrinate children into environmentalist thinking is evident in the following quote:

When should environmental education begin-in the third grade; first grade; kindergarten? Even earlier. Environmental education based on life experiences should begin during the very earliest years of life. Such experiences play a critical role in shaping life-long attitudes, values, and patterns of behavior toward natural environments. (Tilbury, 1994; Wilson, 1994 as quoted in Wilson, Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education, June 2003)

105 Peavey Rd, Suite 116, Chaska, MN 55318
952-361-4931 www.edwatch.org - edwatch@lakes.com

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