I think the truth is more complicated than that!
I've subbed at classes serving various age levels, even preschool.
I did witness some profound acts of giving and kindness by little children.
I also witnessed some mean acts of terror committed by the little ones. (there's a reason why there's a phrase "The Terrible Twos")
And sometimes, the acts of kindness and the acts of cruelty came from the same little child.
So children are born with angelic and devilish qualities.
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But what about prejudice?
It is a common cliche that children are born without prejudice, that it is only because of society that children become prejudice.
I think the truth is more complicated than that!
I mentioned this on Medium
https://medium.com/@pablowegesend/i-remember-working-as-a-substitute-teacher-at-a-preschool-and-listening-to-a-conversation-where-one-ae35edb16462
I remember working as a substitute teacher at a preschool and listening to a conversation where one of the workers mentioned about an infant of East Asian ancestry who was calm when seeing East Asian faces, but cried out loud when seeing European faces.Remember, we’re talking about an infant, a type of person who can’t really process conversations in which words like “crackers”, “honkies” or”haoles” are used! An infant wouldn’t understand concept like “history” or “systematic oppression”. The infant just saw something that he/she didn’t like (without knowing why) and reacted!That right there tells me that some people are born with some racial biases, the same way some people are born with certain sexual orientations, or born to be more prone to anger or depression than their peers, or born to smile more often than others (I noticed this last one when comparing my brother’s 3 daughters).It is VERY SCARY to even admit that some children are born to be more racially biased than others. It is VERY SCARY to admit something that goes against the common wisdom that “nobody is born to hate, we are only taught to hate”.That being said, just like we can reinforce norms that encourage children to control their anger, we as adults can reinforce norms that would reduce children’s tendencies towards racial bias. It is hard, but let’s do it anyways.
I mentioned this on Medium, and here's a response from virtue-signaling Andrew Grant-Thomas.
I'll post the whole debate on here.
Let me make sure I understand you, Pablo. You heard a story from a preschool person about an Asian American baby who cried when s/he saw white faces. And from that you infer that “some people are BORN with some racial biases” (my emphasis)?
That’s a terrible inference, Pablo. And it’s an especially terrible inference weighed against the tons of research evidence we have that particular biases are learned.
The inclination to divide the world between in-group and out-group members is very likely ingrained for survival reasons, but how do babies learn which people among those she might see are which? Does a newborn pop out of the womb saying, “Hey, I’m Asian! Where’re my people at?!” No. Within a few months baby gets comfortable with what’s familiar and comforting — a certain voice or a voices, a smell, a pair of hands associated with skin color. Baby is less familiar, less likely to associate comfort with other voices/smells/skin colors.
That’s how it begins. Bias creeps in early. But that’s a very VERY different story than the one you’ve told, in which some babies are “born to hate.” The least we can say is that if some babies are born racially biased your anecdote hardly makes the case. How old was the infant? Did s/he loving Asian faces and crying at white faces out the womb? Is the storyteller you heard this from reliable? Is it possible that baby had a bad experience, or even a series of bad experiences, with a white caretaker?
Etc.
[QUOTE] Does a newborn pop out of the womb saying, “Hey, I’m Asian! Where’re my people at?!”[UNQUOTE]
Do babies pop out of the womb saying “hey everyone I’m gay”?
Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’ll grow up to need meds to control my anger”?
Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’m more prone to depression than your average person”?
Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’ll be smiling more often than my siblings”?
Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’ll have a learning disability”?
Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’m going outshine Einstein”?
You know the answer is no! You also know that much of those traits are inborn traits. You know that children are born to be prone to certain personalities.
It’s common knowledge that some people are born with certain dispositions (ie. smile more, be easily depressed, quicker to anger, process information slower than others, be a mega-genius, be more masculine/feminine than the average person of the same sex), but once you say “some people are born to be more prone to prejudice”, you just touch The Ultimate Third Rail!
Saying “some people are born to be more prone to prejudice” doesn’t mean we should condone those people’s action, just like saying “some people are more prone to temper tantrums” mean that we should condone violence.
But then again, if you think babies are born to be Blank Slates, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree!
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[QUOTE] Is the storyteller you heard this from reliable?[UNQUOTE]
She wasn’t a neuroscientist, just someone who made an observation. Sometimes, observations don’t follow a politically correct narrative.
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[QUOTE] Is it possible that baby had a bad experience, or even a series of bad experiences, with a white caretaker?[UNQUOTE]
[QUOTE]You know the answer is no! You also know that much of those traits are inborn traits. You know that children are born to be prone to certain personalities.[QUOTE]
SOME *traits* are shaped more by “nature,” SOME more by “nurture,” and many by an interplay between the two.
In re kids and their racial attitudes, the crucial point you need to contend with is one I noted in my piece and in my first response to you: “it’s an especially terrible inference weighed against the tons of research evidence we have that particular biases are learned.” I linked to some of that research in the piece. My guess is that you’re not familiar with any of that work.
For whatever reason, you’re personally invested in the notion that some babies “are born to be more racially biased than others.” To support this claim you mention an anecdote you overheard about an Asian American baby who purportedly cried when s/he saw white faces. That’s like saying global warming must be a hoax because it was unseasonably cold last Wednesday.
“Science” isn’t a perfect discipline or practice. But when the preponderance of scientific evidence is on one side of an issue, as it is the case of when and how kids learn racial bias, we really ought to hold ourselves to a higher standard of rebuttal than reliance on a single second-hand anecdote that doesn’t clearly support the point you’re trying to make.
Andrew Grant-Thomas did not have a response to that!
His cliche's got owned BIG TIME!
Children can only understand so much!
Children also don't know how to properly deal with differences.
Their response to differences is to make snide remarks, not realizing how much that hurts the heart of the other person.
Children do that to peers with acne!
Children do that to peers unusually tall or short for their age!
Children do that to peers who lack the usual body parts (ie. have only one arm)
Children do that to peers who have extreme allergies.
Children do that to peers who are slow in athletics or academics.
And yet we expect children to not notice when one of their peers is racially different from everyone else?
Yes, adults can escalate or de-escalate all of these situations.
But the impulse to stigmatize the other is already there!
Saying "the impulse to stigmatize the other is already there" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SAYING "it's OK to stigmatize the other!
Just like saying " the impulse to lash out violently is already there" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SAYING "it's OK to lash out violently"
Just like how some people have calm dispositions and some people have angry dispositions, it seems to be the some people are just prone to prejudice, whereas others are prone to be open-minded.
Even in the segregated South, some European-Americans rebelled against their racist relatives/peers and risked getting disowned by marrying inter-racially.
And even in the relatively liberal Obama era, where children in our educational system are taught to respect diversity, some children still grow up to be racist pricks.
That tells you that even society's powerful influences have its limits in influencing the human mind.
saying "even society's powerful influences have its limits" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SAYING "we should just give up!"
It's just dealing with politically incorrect reality!
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Also, on gender issues, it is commonly known that males tend to be a certain way, females tend to be a certain way.
Some is biological.
But what is also biological is that some males will be more feminine than others, some females will be more masculine than others.
Even in nonhuman animals, there are homosexual and even intersex individuals.
Back to the human world, even in the most conservative societies, there will be some males who just don't fit with their masculine peers, and some females who just don't fit with their feminine peers.
(you can look up LGBT from Middle East and other Muslim-majority areas as an example)
And even in the most liberal societies, some males will be super-masculine, some females will be super-feminine.
(you can look up Scandinavia; also some indigenous American and Pacific tribes respected their non-binary individuals as "two spirit people", but still had their ultra-masculine men and ultra-feminine women)
Even society's powerful influences have its limits in influencing how masculine/feminine an individual will be.
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PS: yes, I know this isn't a thesis, dissertation or any peer-reviewed scientific study! You can always research more on this issue on your own! I know you want to!
