First R How Children Learn Race & Racism

Writers since Piaget have questioned when and how children assimilate racist attitudes-or simply become aware of racial differences. This remarkable book offers stirring evidence that the answers may be more surprising than we ever imagined. The rich accounts of children's behavior around race are drawn from Van Ausdale's ethnographies, conducted in several multi-ethnic day-care centers. When she persistently divested herself of any authoritative role, children as young as 3 years gradually revealed to her a surprising array of racial attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors--most of which they normally withhold from parents and adult companions. The careful ethnographic analysis, conducted over many months, lead the authors to question many of our long-held assumptions about the nature of race and racial learning in American society.

This study looks into how children learn about the 'first R'-race-and challenges the current assumptions with case-study examples from three child-care centers. Parents and teachers will find this remarkable study reveals that the answer to how children learn about race might be more startling than could be imagined.