Today’s world reflects many faces. Implementing a curriculum that acknowledges and supports the significant diversities among culture, race, gender, and socioeconomics, just to name a few, in elementary schools fosters a positive development of tolerance from a young age. Children can be perfectly blunt in their assessments and they are able to perceive differences between people who are like them and those who are not. Building a curriculum that focuses on reducing bias in the classroom is crucial in helping them shape their thinking to recognize and accept other cultural perspectives they may encounter each and every day. It’s up to teachers and parents to work together towards creating a more inclusive community to reach successful educational outcomes in this regard. By establishing an anti-bias curriculum, instructors are nurturing each student to discover his or her place in the world through positive encouragement of self-identity resulting in greater self-confidence in and out of the classroom. Hate and prejudice are learned values, so it’s important to replace them with lessons that teach children empathy, tolerance, and trust in themselves and in each other. The result is a school environment of equity and caring.

Promoting an anti-bias curriculum is not accomplished overnight. It relies on examining and addressing the various cultural and ethnic disparities that are present in the classroom. Discussing these differences fortifies enlightenment without judgment and insecurity. This can be achieved through any number of ways, e.g., assigning books to the class that embrace diverse values, starting a conversation to exchange ideas about these books and teachings, and bringing multiple points of view into topics covered in class. Teachers should also be aware of interactions between students that might skew towards bias and step in when appropriate. It’s the duty and responsibility of instructors to speak up and teach children the difference between right and wrong in such a situation. They must also understand that there are consequences to these actions, both for the offending and maligned parties. Patience is the strongest ally of teachers and school administrators in advocating for and implementing an anti-bias curriculum. Start slow with basic concepts and increase their complexities as the class better comprehends these lessons. Before long, they will be asking their own questions and forming opinions that reflect the work that has been done to teach them the proper behaviors and attitudes.

Teaching a culturally diverse classroom can be challenging. The Latino Family Literacy Project understands this challenge and offers workshops on cultural understanding for teachers.

One elementary book that would work for an anti-bias curriculum is Boy Zorro and the Bully. Visit our online bookstore for more multicultural and bilingual books.