Learning anti-bias education is crucial for working towards social justice within the classroom. This week in our studies, we took a more in-depth look into Learning about Economic Class and Fairness. This is an important issue at the school because a child’s economic class status is out of their control. As an educator, I may not have control of the living conditions in which my students come into the classroom, but I can help control and guide how my students respond and act towards economic class inequity, how they see and react to those living in these unjust situations. Through observations and interactions between my student and members within their community, I can respectfully adapt my classroom and use the curriculum to facilitate engaging and meaningful discussion to help children reach socially just conclusions independently. 

For our anti-bias picture book review, my classmate, Tamantha presented the book, Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and Illustrator Noah Z. Jones. I was introduced to this book for the first time, and I found myself able to relate easily to the text through my childhood experiences and as a mother raising three children. I know what it is like to come from a thrift store shopping family, wanting to fit into my friends’ designer clothing world. How bad I feel now as an adult on how poorly I must have made my mother feel over my want to fit in, but maybe if our teachers facilitated a learning environment to discuss this injustice, my maturity on needs and desires would have happened sooner. As a mother observing today’s youth, I hope to guide and facilitate my children to understand the concept of want over need in a materialized digital world, hoping I help my children realize the social injustice and how to make their and our worlds a fair and just place. Sharing is caring.

This book portrays diversity in family structures, economic funds, giving, and friendship. Jeremy navigates a child’s dilemma, the issue of wants over needs, and the need of a child to fit in with their peers. Jeremy learns the importance of spending money and saving money on things that you need rather than what you want to fit in at school. This book illustrated the internal struggle of doing and making what’s considered just and right choices. I always tell my children it’s not easy to be good, but one positives action starts a reaction. In this book, Jeremy eventually worked at his own pace to understand needs and move past the selfish wants into selfless acts of giving. His action now will react to another child’s world who may be feeling the same desires of inclusion. 

I did enjoy our group’s discussion on this topic, and we shared life experiences. After sharing when and how we noticed injustice in our childhood, I found most of my group was raised on the opposite side of this discussion, where want trumped need. When I brought up the topic of holidays and the issues of economic fairness, for example, the tooth fairy and Santa, we could find a more common ground to share our experiences. I was blown away when a classmate shared the story of a child getting a $100 bill from the tooth fairy.

I believe she chooses I good text to present to our group. I feel it applies some of the goals of teaching anti-bias education about economic classes. The first goal this book achieves is addressing, “children will feel pride in their family’s efforts to care for them and earn a living. They will feel love and approval separate from gifts and objects.” (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, Goins 2020, p. 137) In the end, Jeremy feels grateful for the boots from his grandma, and he learns the difference between want and need. Another goal this book touches on is, “Children will recognize unfair or untrue messages (including invisibility) about children and families based on their economic status.” (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, Goins 2020, p. 137) In Those Shoes, Jeremy goes through the motions of reconciling the unfair economic status between him and his classmates, including those that were initially invisible to him and through this realization, he works to contradict those messages by gifting those shoes to another child in need. This also ties into the goal that “children will learn ways to help others feel superior to them and up for themselves and others against teasing or rejection based on economic status.” Our text suggests a “follow-up activity to a situation like this might be a curriculum on shoes. Children could bring in shoes that no longer fit, scrub shoelaces, clean shoes and play shoe store, or donate the cleaned-up shoes to a local thrift shop.” (Derman-Sparks, Edwards, Goins 2020, p. 142) By providing an engaging, non-judgement environment, the teacher can facilitate a meaningful discussion about shoes or other issues regarding economic class and fairness regarding needs, wants, and contributions to our local communities. 

Work Cited

Derman-Sparks, L., Olsen Edwards, J., & Goins, C.M. (2020).Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (2nd ed). NAEYC

Boelts, Maribeth, 1964- and Noah Jones. 2007. Those Shoes. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.

Addressing Inequity with Anti-Bias Education: Learning about Class and Fairness | NAEYC