The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

          In addition to working as an educator during the day, I’ve been working a nighttime residential position at a private school, working with 1^st grade girls. I have had this nighttime position for over 20 years.

After receiving my bachelor’s, I decided to work here fulltime on the weekends and that allowed me to work fulltme during the daytime as a Head Start teacher.  All of the weekend staff  held two professional positions during this time. Shortly afterwards however, our residential school hired a new female president who, after about 4 years, suddenly called us all into her office as a group and told us that the weekend program was now closing. We were all forced to make enormous changes to our lives. That made me feel targeted and manipulated. Of course, most of us transferred back to weekday, nights instead of weekend, nights, including me.  

 To this day, I believe that  we were all targeted to make less money by the powers that be because marginalized people should not have that kind of financial ableism which means an action of of an institution backed by societal power that undermines in this case, economical opportunities of people, including those with disabilities (Derman-Sparks, 2012). We were all forced to change our work schedules and as log as we work weekday, nights, we will never be able to work those hours, again. The best we can possibly do now is work part-time.  In addition, the number of children we care for has doubled and that means more work.  So, as long as we work here, our hands are tied.    

                                                Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. 

      Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).