St. Andrew’s School hosted, “Cradle to Career: Equity and Social Justice in Early Childhood Education,” the inaugural event in its Carol Wingo Dickinson Thought Leaders Series on Thursday, April 11 at The Woman’s Club at the Historic Bolling Haxall House.
This event brought together community members for a conversation about the importance of providing equitable educational opportunities to all children to ensure future success.
Keynote speaker Beatrice S. Fennimore, Ed.D., said there are a few things communities can do together as advocates for children.
“Every community can continually work to build excellent and accessible resources for children…we can build strong transitions from excellent early childhood programs to high quality public schools for all of our children,” she said. “Early childhood programs must include respectful, hopeful, positive descriptions of all the children that are infused into daily practice.”
A panel discussion, moderated by St. Andrew’s School’s Head of School Cynthia Weldon-Lassiter, Ed.D., featured Andrew Daire, Ph.D., Dean of VCU’s School of Education, Kate O’Donnell, Ed.D., Principal at St. Andrew’s School, Ms. Shannon Harris, a family member at St. Andrew’s School, and Fennimore.
Daire said the challenge is to actually move the needle and affect change. “Challenge yourself by having a conversation with someone around race, poverty, or privilege. Try to be uncomfortable, to have an uncomfortable conversation. So when you go back to your classroom, your nonprofit board, your corporate environment, of your peer group, when you need to have an uncomfortable conversation, it will be a little less uncomfortable,” he said. “Look at what St. Andrew’s is doing. I’m looking at what they’re doing so I can prepare my educators and teachers who go in and work with all children and help them be successful.”
O’Donnell said that in terms of social justice and equity, it’s not a cause but a commitment to how the world can and should be. “We have got to move away from conversations that start with, “What’s the problem, who are you trying to fix?” ‘Who’s’ are not problems. Systems, bias, prejudice, oppression, those are the problems,” she said.
Harris said that equity and social justice in early childhood education is important because on many levels it still does not exist.
“We haven’t made much progress since the Civil Rights movement. Education is one way that we can start to address the systemic oppression that continues to happen on every level in this country,” she said. “It’s easier to blame the victim than address the system that creates the disparities. Without looking at all the different circumstances that happen before somebody even walks into the school building, we will never address the problems that exist in society.”
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