Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Forbes: Your Unconscious Bias Trainings Keep Failing Because You're Not Addressing Systemic Bias

    Posted 01-01-2020 04:33 PM
    Excerpt: While it is equally as important for individuals to be aware of their own blind spots and stereotypes and how these impact behaviors and decision-making, unconscious bias training and diversity and inclusion workshops should also address these systemic and structural issues (SSI) that are insidious and allow bias to manifest at a greater level.
     
    https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2020/12/29/your-unconscious-bias-trainings-keep-failing-because-youre-not-addressing-systemic-bias/amp/


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    Jorge Saenz De Viteri
    http://jorgesaenzdeviteri.com
    Pomona NY
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  • 2.  RE: Forbes: Your Unconscious Bias Trainings Keep Failing Because You're Not Addressing Systemic Bias

    Posted 01-02-2020 11:08 AM
    This is a very interesting article. It is all the more interesting because it is in a business magazine that seems to reflect in many ways the thesis of the article. Yes, implicit racism is particularly insidious in structural and systemic bias. That bias comes from leadership, from their lack of exploration of their values and biases about those who are different from them and it trickles down through hiring those who resemble the leadership of the corporation.

    I do not believe that the type of workshops and other mechanisms currently used to deal with implicit bias are very good. If all they do is make employees uncomfortable and unwilling to expose what they are thinking for a variety of reasons. They fail to do what we would want from them. A trusting and relationship-driven environment would help these types of workshops work.

    The way I see it, first, management needs to sit down and discuss their beliefs and practices that promote implicit bias in their organizations. Some of these are mentioned in the article. The focus of our measurements of high ability and intelligence needs to be rethought as to what to include. This should include discussion of the opportunity and access issues. Our testing environment and the focus of some large corporations like McKinsey (whose research is a link in the article) on hiring mostly those who have attended Ivy League school and, therefore, who are similar to the employees already there contributes to this lack of diversity. What would happen if they opened their hiring (from what I know about them) to more diversity, rethinking what makes an employee an asset to their organization?

    If we are running a school, is it wrong to look for those teachers whose philosophical orientation matches the mission and values of our program? Does that hinder diversity or does that allow for a focus on improving the program in which we believe? What we need is an atmosphere that permits differences of opinion on where we are headed and how we are going there. We do not want "groupthink". We need a school environment that respects differences of opinion, where teachers and administrators collaborate and listen to alternate perspectives, thinking through decisionmaking while still agreeing on the basic philosophical orientation/principles of the school and its mission and basic values.

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    Nora Krieger, PhD
    Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
    Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
    Highland Park, NJ
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  • 3.  RE: Forbes: Your Unconscious Bias Trainings Keep Failing Because You're Not Addressing Systemic Bias

    Posted 01-02-2020 12:40 PM
    This has been almost exactly the case brought forth by advocates for men in ECE. Certainly systemic and institutional biases are in play in May ECE programs.
    And substitute the words genderism for racism and straight white female privilege for white privilege, and, well, there you have it.
    Affinity bias is something I believe I have witnessed first hand in hiring - either on candidate interview panels, or through my various positions in management - certainly not as the rule, but hardly as the exception either.
    We (Men and Child Care) have a dynamic Facebook group... Over 750 members, men and women, from around the world. At the NAEYC Nashville conference, I invited NAEYC to support social media vehicles already frequented by interest group members.  This article would have been a perfect opportunity for NAEYC to reach out to the men of the Men and Child Care Facebook group.
    I encourage those of you that found the Forbes article interesting to revisit it with the notion of biases against men in ECE.
    Gregory Uba





  • 4.  RE: Forbes: Your Unconscious Bias Trainings Keep Failing Because You're Not Addressing Systemic Bias

    Posted 01-04-2020 03:48 PM
    Hi, I'd like to recommend a book, if you haven't seen or read it, this should be useful to anti-bias trainers and to individuals: 
    The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, by Dolly Chugh. While Chugh is an academic, she researched and write this book to provide a useful handbook for those of us who really want to act without bias. She starts from the place that teachers know works best: a student needs to feel safe and appreciated in order to learn something new and difficult. Examining our own biases is new and difficult, and none of us respond well to having our sense of ourself as a good person disrupted. Her techniques help us keep a supportive framework in mind, creating a positive environment where we can learn and change, and create deeper connections to those around us.


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    Karen Lefkovitz
    Independent Consultant
    Philadelphia PA
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  • 5.  RE: Forbes: Your Unconscious Bias Trainings Keep Failing Because You're Not Addressing Systemic Bias

    Posted 01-05-2020 12:08 PM
      |   view attached
    Karen,
    Thank you for the book suggestion- My doctoral dissertation was on teacher documented bias in observational assessment- published in 2011- Since then I have been glad to see this topic grow into a community awareness- Educators really do need to understand that everyone has learned bias, and the we (educators) need to accept our own and work on self-improvement on a regular basis in this area- This is not an easy feat-

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    Rebecca Reynolds
    Professor
    Grand Canyon University
    Prospect Hts IL
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