For a semester, I had the privilege of working at a preschool near my campus. Two days a week, I got to play with kids, interact with them, teach them, and help them prepare for big kids' school- kindergarten. I helped them make friends with each other, use their manners, and learn how to take care of themselves, each other, and their school.
I always have loved kids. I've babysat and nannied almost my entire life, I've been surrounded by younger cousins, and in the future I hope to continue working with kids. Aside from how cute they are, there was something about the way children processed life and ideas that made me feel like there was something left to look forward to in the world.
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The preschool that I work at is in the middle of a college town. A lot of parents either are professors at my school, or are students going back to continue their education. They range anywhere from 2 years nine months old to four years old. And the best part? It's a multicultural preschool.
Currently, we have three girls who are Chinese and speak Mandarin Chinese with their parents, a girl from Chile who speaks Spanish, a Vietnamese boy who speaks very little English, a little girl who speaks Bengali, and another girl who speaks French. Add in a couple of native English speakers, and clearly, it's a very diverse classroom.
What I've learned from working at this school is that when they're young, kids are less likely to judge you for what you look like or the color of your skin. Actually, it doesn't seem like that's something the kids judge each other for at all. Each child plays with each other, crafts with each other, and helps each other learn. They're more likely to run to their friends in the morning and start playing rather than hang on the legs of their parents and beg to be taken home.
After realizing this, I got to thinking- when do we stop treating people this way and learn to discriminate? When is it that we start recognizing to identify people based on how they look, or what race they are, or what religion they observe? And when it does happen, why?
Like I said, the way that young kids see the world and process information gives me a sense of hope. I've learned that I wish people would almost always think in the mind of a child- that someone isn't a bad person because of where they may come from, the only thing that makes them a bad person is if they're mean and don't share their toys. Imagine how much better the world would be if we all measured if people were good or bad in that way? Either way, watching these children interact with each other the way they do gives me hope for the future, for them, and for the way the rest of the world starts treating each other.
