"Stereotypes started to fall down"

This story from the Venezia Institute, which runs the Educators in a Multi-Cultural Society project for the foundation, comes from a kindergarten teacher who participated in a training program:

"When I joined the training program last year, I perceived myself as an open minded and liberal person, free from prejudice and stereotypes.

"I remember the moment, during the training, when I realized that I approach children from different social status in a different way. Through the role play we were doing with actresses, I saw a reflection of myself: if there is a child whose father is a medical doctor and another whose father is 'only' a cleaning worker in the local municipality, inside me I 'evaluate' them differently and have different expectations from them.

"Realizing and understanding it was very embarrassing for me at first.

"But then, I started noticing that parents in my kindergarten who have high socio-economic status complain about parents from the kindergarten who have low social economic statues, how 'they don't contribute enough' to the kindergarten.

"Knowing, now, that their way of thinking is based mainly on prejudice and stereotypes, I have decided to take action.

"We had to renew the playground yard in the kindergarten so I organized it around an event, inviting all parents to participate. It needed skills that everybody has: to dig, to plant, to paint, to bring food.

"It took a whole two days, in which I could see that, while working hard and sweating, the barriers started to fall, good dialogues started to be created, stereotypes started to fall down.

"By the end of the two days they were one unified and proud group and appreciative towards each other of their achievement. It was my learning process in the training that helped me to create awareness within, identify it within others, and create the change."

Hebrew speakers may be interested in the following links to media coverage of the Venezia Institute's activities:

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