Last night, I was watching one of my favorite shows, “Expedition Unknown”. My mind was blown as I learned about the Hadza Tribe in Africa. This small group (only 300-400 people) is rich in history, resilient, and they are incredibly unique. The Hadza tribe members are some of the last humans who hunt and collect their own protein and produce from their environment daily. While over 90% of their land has been taken from them for farms, etc. the Hadza still remain.
As I took this all in, I thought: why am I not using this homeschooling time to teach my kids about all these interesting places and groups around the globe?
It is so important for kids to learn about the different ways that people live both within and outside their own country. While we are in our current state of homeschooling, we have a wonderful opportunity to teach them important aspects of multicultural education. Why should we do this? There are many possible benefits, but I will list three of them:
1) Kids will likely gain a sense of understanding and empathy for others as they learn about countries that are either more or less fortunate than the U.S.
2) We can correct myths and misinformation that they have learned so far through school, rumors, and media about different cultures.
3) Kids in the U.S. should know about countries outside of the U.S. There is much to be learned about the greatness and struggles within our many countries and cultures here on Earth.
An example from just the other day: It is not about culture per se, but it has to do with access to resources. My daughter and I were watching the movie “Now and Then.” If you have never seen this movie, the setting takes place in the summer of 1970. Throughout the movie, a group of friends work to uncover a mystery about a young boy who mysteriously died in the past. As they girls rode their bikes for miles to a library to find newspaper clippings, asked their family members about the mystery, and did everything they could to find the information with no success, my daughter whispered to me: “Mom. Why didn’t they just Google what happened?” I laughed a big, hearty laugh and explained that Google didn’t exist back then. I went further and explained that currently—even here in Portland—not everyone has access to Google for research. Having internet access is a privilege. Knowing how to operate the internet is a privilege. Although the girls in this movie had resources, they had to work harder than we currently do to get to them.
I explained that this is still the case for many kiddos in the U.S., and in the world. Information is not “just a click away” in some households. Some kids do have to travel to libraries to gather information or do schoolwork. Some kiddos live in places where they simply cannot get to their public libraries. Some places in the world do not have libraries. Further: some female children are denied information because they are in fact, female.
I lectured until I nearly ruined our special movie “girl time” with my preaching; but to me, it was a teachable moment. I do want her and my son to know about privilege and its occasional relation to culture, and I am sure many “annoying” teachable moments lie ahead.
Understanding and Empathy
My daughter attends a public school that ranks in the top 5% diverse schools in Oregon. In an average day at school, she hears many different languages, she sees many different cultural outfits and accessories, such as head-to-toe gowns and hijabs, and she sees many different types of food in her friends’ sack lunches from home. These differences are due to the many different cultures within her school. My husband and I consider her school’s high diversity score a huge advantage to her. The fact that she is regularly around other cultures provides her with greater understanding and a feeling of camaraderie with her peers of varying ethnicities.
If your kids are in a school with a low diversity score, you can still teach them about the existence of other languages, food, and clothing that may correlate with one’s culture. Speaking to your kiddos about other cultures and their elements can familiarize them with the many customs that exist in our exceptionally large, diverse world. Research together. Ask them what they think they know—and what they would like to know—about different cultures and countries. Encourage them to seek out multicultural education and inform others. Encourage them to seek others out if it seems they are not being included due to their race. Also, encourage them to tell an adult if they see a peer being harassed or bullied due to their race.
Cultural Misinformation
There is no question that racism exists big time here in the U.S. Most recently, there has been a rise in racist acts toward Chinese Americans due to the lack of information and misinformation that surrounds the origin of Covid-19. Unfortunately, some people are acting as if everyone who is of Chinese descent should be blamed for the arrival of the coronavirus in the U.S. This is an extremely sad example of how dangerous myths and misinformation can be regarding culture.
While I am on this topic? I strongly encourage you to talk to your kids about Native American myths. I have read too many times—and heard too many times—that some kids think Native Americans “peacefully settled” in other places when the Europeans arrived. No, not even close. Native Americans were removed, killed, put through war, and infected with disease by way of the Europeans.
Native Americans still suffer today through a lack of resources, exclusion, and the continual effects of their culture’s displacement. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you all to inform your children of these real, heartbreaking facts. I have three strong, beautiful, Native American friends who regularly educate people by dispelling these myths, continuing to report the horrific missing indigenous women cases, and providing current, important information about their Native American culture: Thinking of you: Gillian, Kristin, and Tamara.
International Education
Educating your kiddos about other countries will likely broaden their love and appreciation for the world, rather than pushing all their love and interests into the U.S. Don’t get me wrong—I want kids to have pride in the United States. But embracing education about other countries does not cheapen or lessen that pride. Instead, it will likely grow their interest in other cultures, motivate them to help other countries who are struggling, incite an interest in helping the U.S. to work toward growing the great features of other countries, such as low crime rates and free or low-cost cost college tuition and healthcare. For example: Iceland has been a long-time champ (12 years in a row!) of being the “least violent country.” Just knowing this tidbit of information, a student may develop an interest in researching how Iceland has achieved this impressive state and find ways to work toward lessening crime in their own neighborhood.
As for the struggling countries, Niger is a devastating example. The statistics are heartbreaking. Some of the sad struggles include a huge lack of clean water, massive widespread malnourishment, and high crime rates. When kids learn about negatives like mistreatment of residents, lack of resources, and danger in other countries, it could prompt the same desire as learning about the positives in a country. The student may be motivated to learn how to help other countries, research, and work toward a better world by helping their international peers somehow.
It is a big world that we are living in. We should all be striving toward the important things: understanding each other, helping our peers bot nationally and internationally, debunking cultural myths, and spreading important, accurate cultural information.
I know it is hard to even think of adding one more component to our already busy homeschool lives right now, but these short, effortless conversations can greatly influence our kids’ attitudes toward racism, diversity, and multicultural education.
References
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm
https://www.learnreligions.com/islamic-clothing-glossary-2004255
https://www.survivalinternational.org/galleries/hadza
https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/safest-countries-in-the-world/
https://www.worldvision.org/our-work/country-profiles/niger
Stephanie McCoy was born and raised in Portland, Oregon-where she still lives. She recently graduated with a Master’s in Education degree from Concordia University. In her free time: she likes to read and write, get outdoors, embrace her kiddos and husband, and watch travel documentaries.
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This is Stephine McCoy,our daughter in law. She is brilliant in understandings life history and culture. She instructors all ages, in so many subjects around the world so advanced in knolage positive and negatives that we all face. She explains herself so the reader can see through her words and picture the derection she leads all who read. She has a gift to be able to show through her words so others can see pictures in mind of what her subjects and stories she will lead you to. Thank You Stephanie for a clear understandings through your writings we see more clearly through you.