Unions, Work, and Class in the Early Childhood Classroom

Fostering Young Children’s Thinking About Fairness and Cooperative Action

by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards

The political struggle in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and several other states over the right to unionize has thrust working people into the limelight. The threat to unionized labor, and the economic and health benefits supported by unions, also threatens children’s quality of life—now and in the future. In fact, millions of families and children risk losing their quality of life. Proposed and enacted state budget cuts to public education weaken the capacity of schools to educate the vast majority of children living in working and middle-class American households. In addition, our children are surrounded by contradictory messages about the very people who teach and serve them in their communities.

What young children learn about economic class in this continued debate about economic and job security will affect how they perceive themselves and the world around them. They are taking in a range of messages about these events, from the wide variety of views on television to the opinions and statements of their own families on economic matters. Attitudes supporting unions and those blaming unions for the economic hardships in our country are all swirling around them. Now is an especially good time to educate and engage children about the work people do, labor, and about people working together to improve our lives.

By preschool age, children absorb messages from both society and family about the value and importance of different kinds of work, including what their families do. They are influenced by the prevailing misinformation about what makes people affluent, or poor. The relative affluence of their families shapes their attitudes toward economic class differences and their own economic status and prospects. They learn about who is important enough to be visible and valued from sources such as children’s books, videos, television, advertising and toys, and from their early childhood curriculum. Many kinds of valuable work seldom get seen (e.g., waitresses, farmworkers, custodians, domestic workers, store clerks, office workers, homemakers, and artists).

Children’s understanding of economic class changes as they grow up. Young elementary school children are likely to both describe and explain poverty and wealth in observable concrete terms, such as number of possessions and type of residence. From an early age they are aware that their parents work hard—often equating this hard work with not being available to be with them. When they are around 10 years of age, children begin to refer to psychological traits, such as motivation, in their explanations of why people are in different circumstances. During childhood and adolescence, children increasingly make the connection between having a job and getting money; and they are more aware of the status and financial benefits associated with specific occupations. Finally, adolescents are capable of seeing the role of the social and economic structure in the unequal distribution of wealth.

Children also have ideas about economic disparities and fairness. Often preschoolers say that it is not fair that some people have more money than others do and the rich should share with poor people. Elementary school children may also advocate equalizing the wealth between rich and poor. However, older children and adolescents are more likely to justify inequalities by claiming that poor people get what they deserve (“They didn’t work hard enough”). Children and adolescents from working poor families may succumb to the power of that myth and feel confused and disturbed about their families, who work very hard, yet still have little money.

The explosive growth of consumerism in the past three decades aggravates the effects of economic disparities. Advertising abounds that targets children on television, in films, and in print with the message that they should want and need to have the latest film spin-off toy, clothing, sugary cereal, action figure, or doll (for more information, Commercial Free Childhood). Receiving new toys and clothes is increasingly equated (for parents and children) with being “good” and being loved. American children have become a $42 billion market in terms of direct spending by their families on them and a $700 billion market when we factor in how they influence parent spending more broadly (e.g., response to child-directed ads about which clothes and cars to buy or where to vacation). Indeed, the U.S. child-related market is bigger than the total economies of the 115 poorest countries in the world (Media Education, 2009). Children do not yet have the skills to sort out or resist these pervasive messages. Their attitudes are quite often two-dimensional/simplistic: They feel deprived, unloved, or unworthy when they do not have the advertised object or they feel reassured, valued, and superior when they do have the advertised objects.

Here are several concepts and strategies for young children (preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade) about work, fairness, and people helping each other create a better life — the core issues of the current labor struggles. We look forward to hearing about what you do, so please add your comments below.

Concept 1 (For Children): Grown-ups do all kinds of work to make our lives better: They clean houses, wait on tables, cook food at home and in restaurants, drive buses and trucks, help people get well, teach children, work in offices, pick fruit, write books, and make music. All families work hard for their children even if they don't have as much money as some other families.

• Strategies
• Recommended booklist: Learning About Economic Class and Fairness

Concept 2 (For Children): Work includes tasks in the home as well as outside the home. Families love their children even when they can't buy new things

• Strategies
• Book recommendation:
  
  Mama Bear

Concept 3 (For Children): People work together to make a good life for their families and to make the world a better place for everyone. One way is working together in a union to get better wages to take care of their families, provide good health care, and have more time with their children.

• Guidelines for engaging young children in activities to create positive change
• Recommended booklist: Activism with Young Children

Concept 4 (For Teachers): Pay attention to economic class issues as you create a welcoming and equitable learning community for children.

• Strategies and Guidelines

To learn more about goals and strategies for working with young children on economic class and fairness, see Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (Derman-Sparks & Olsen, NAEYC, 2010). Read biographies of Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards here.

Also Recommended

• Resources for Teachers
• Book Recommendation:
  
  Rethinking Early Childhood Education