But young children not only recognize differences, they also absorb values about which differences are positive and which are not. How we as parents and teachers react to the ideas that young children express will greatly affect the feelings they will form. If we want children to like themselves and to value diversity, then we must learn how to help them resist the biases and prejudice that are still far too prevalent in our society. How Bias Influences Children's Development Bias based on gender, race, handicap, or social class creates serious obstacles to all young children's healthy development. When areas of experience are gender stereotyped and closed to children simply because of their sex, neither boys nor girls are fully prepared to deal intellectually or emotionally with the realities and demands of everyday life.
Racism attacks the very sense of self for children of color.
It creates serious obstacles to their obtaining the best education, health care, and employment. Racism also teaches White children a false identity of superiority and distorts their perceptions of reality. Thus they are not equipped to fairly and productively interact with more than half of the world's humanity. All of us have learned the negative values attached to gender, race, class, and handicapping conditions. And, to varying degrees, they affect our personal attitudes and behavior.