Fair and Unfair
By Vivian McKnight
“Fairness means treating people equitably, without bias
or partiality. It means actively working to set aside self-interest or group
loyalty when rendering a judgment. In day to day life, fairness manifests
itself in simple ways such as taking turns, listening intently, sharing, and
not taking advantage of others based on their weaknesses. Impartiality is a key
part of fairness. Being impartial doesn’t mean having no biases—rather it means
knowing what those biases are, striving to set them aside, and requesting
outside perspectives as needed. While inspired by the ideal of justice,
fairness is not sameness or always following the letter of the law. Fairness
makes room for us to generate solutions and compromises based on reason and
circumstance.” (http://www.wisdomcommons.org/virtue/47-fairness/quotes) Fairness, to the concept of a
preschooler or kindergartner, can be quite an obstacle to overcome. It can be
even more difficult when examples are not given for the children to understand
that certain things may be fair or unfair. As a teacher, I would need to be
able to demonstrate this process by using anti-bias and culturally relevant fun
and thoughtful activities.
One activity
I could choose is from the Roots and Wings book is called “Fair and Unfair”. I
chose this activity because I feel children need to know that even if we are
different we still have to have fairness. It is the impartiality that keep us
working together to solve problems that arise whether they are individual or
group related. I also felt compelled because I hear children on the playground,
where I currently am employed, feeling like the game they are playing is unfair
at times and I see kids on the playground treating other kids unfairly.
I feel
my activity is age appropriate for children ages 5-8 years old, although, fairness
can be appropriate at any age as soon as children become social and begin to
interact with others and making friends and seeing, not necessarily understanding,
different perspectives in other children. According to the book Infants,
Children, and Adolescents, sixth edition by Laura Berk, “Selman’s stages of
perspective thinking; Level 0(ages 3-6) Children recognize that self and others
can have different thoughts and feelings, but they frequently confuse the two,
Level 1 (ages 4-9) Children understand that different perspectives my result because
people have access to different information, Level 2 (ages 7-12) Children can
“step into another person’s shoes” and view their own thoughts, feelings and
behavior from the other person’s perspective. They also recognize that others
can do the same, Level 3 (ages 10-15) Children can step outside a two-person
situation and imagine how the self and other are viewed from the point of view
of a third, impartial party. And Level 4 (ages 14-adult) Individual understands
that third party perspective taking can be influenced by one or more systems of
larger societal values.” (Berk, 492) It is the Level 0 stage where I would like
to help teach the child recognizes that two different people can be “ok” with
the different thoughts and feelings. According to our Roots and Wings book “Children
at this age (5-6) can be very rule bound and rigid in their behavior. They like
to make rules and will get into conflicts of “fairness”. (R&W, 18) It is beneficial
at this time for children to actually see what is fair and unfair, whether it is
a picture or in action in the classroom or playground. If the children work
together to see what is fair and unfair the conflicts of fairness should
disappear over time.
A few
possible themes that could be used for demonstrating fairness are Friends, Feelings,
Hero and Sheros, and My People. There
are also a few goals that I could incorporate into my activity. The first one
would be Increasing children’s ability to interact, talk and play with
people who are different from them. Social interaction begins the minute
children get together. Each child is different, from a different background and
they will need to “recognize that people can work together to help each other”
(R&W, 141) especially when they see something that is not fair and their
feelings are hurt. The second goal would Promote group problem solving. As
a group the children can think about how to solve the feelings that may be hurt
with the unfair pictures, objects or actions. The third goal would be to Help
children notice and do something about unfair behavior and events. The pictures,
objects or actions will help children actually see what fairness and unfairness
looks like. It would also allow them to think about how they could act when
unfairness was recognized and be able stand up for what is right in fairness.
I am
meeting these goals in a few ways. The first is by having a variety of unfair
and fair pictures in a bag for the children to pull out. The second is by talking
with the children as a group and introducing the word “stereotype” so that they
can know how to prevent it happening in the classroom or playground. Lastly, I
will be visually showing the children what fairness and unfairness looks like
and discussing the feelings that go along with each of them.
The
materials needed for “Fair and Unfair” are “”Feeling” box, or a paper sack;
collection of actual ethnic objects; pictures that accurately portray people
from other cultures; stereotypical objects such as greeting cards, cartoons, holiday
decorations, and small toy figures.” (R&W, 227 sack. I could also use pictures showing children
acting fairly or unfairly. According to the description in the Roots and Wings
book I will place items in a bag and let the children play a guessing game on
the items they pull out and they will guess if it is fair or unfair. I will then remind the children that some of
the unfair items may portray people in a way that is not a true portrayal of
the person or a correct behavior being displayed towards a friend. These pictures
or objects may make people feel sad or hurt. I will then let them know that there are other
pictures or objects that will show people who they really are or also show them
the fair way on how to treat a friend. These pictures or objects would make
people feel happy because it portrays the person for who they are as a person
or the action will be that of fairness.
One book
I might read is “Share and Take Turns” by Cheri J. Meiners and. This book could
show the children how to share and take turns. Another book I might read is
“Playing the Game” by Kate Petty. This book would also help demonstrate
fairness out on the playground as the children play with each other.
In conclusion,
“Everyone is worthy, loveable, equal, deserves respect, is important, has
feelings, and is similar and different.” (HD 25, handout). As a teacher, it is
at this time to build these wonderful ideas into the amazing minds of our
children that surround us, at home, at work and in our community.
Poster from the Second Step Program website:
