Is it okay for children to explore physical differences in this way or was the behavior inappropiate?

Question

I teach second grade. On our field trip last week, one of my Asian students was sitting next to one of my African Americans students on the bus. They were both a few rows in front of me and they were talking and playing.

At one point I glanced up at them and I saw the Asian student had taken his fingers and was stretching his eyes wider. I was about to go up there, when I saw the African American student was laughing and he used his fingers to make his eyes more narrow. Then the Asian student started laughing.

They seemed to be just playing and after a minute they stopped doing it. Should I have told them to stop?

Answer 1

they were enjoying themselves. but if they had hurt themselves that outweighs the enjoyment. you could have asked them what it was all about. take comfort in the fact that you were concerned.

Answer 2

I don't see any problem with what they were doing. Since they were not making fun of one another, there is no harm in it. They were playing and having fun. It is nice to see 2 children of different ethnicities who can explore their differences together and just be having fun. Too many children these days are being taught intolerance for anyone but their own race.

Answer 3

It sounds completely innocent to me.  Don't look for problems where there aren't any.

Answer 4

Their behavior is appropriate as long as they were laughing and understanding each others differences.  The only reason to stop is if it was obscene or hurting the feelings of one or both. IMHO

Answer 5

hey, i used to do that in grade school!  haha!  i didn't know anyone who didn't...lol.  while playing with our eyes we would say japanese, podagee, pickled eye squash!!  there were some other ways of saying it like japanese, chinese, filipino, squash!!  (squash would be just make a funny squinched up one.)  i had no idea what it meant at the time but now i do.  it was just a way of showing how everyones eyes were different.  i am from hawaii and it's so diverse that the class was full of a handful of each race.  i never understood why there wasn't a part for hawaiian.  it could be that most hawaiians have asian eyes...i dunno.  it wasn't racist or anything because like i said, classrooms were full with all types of people and i hung out with some from every race.  thanks for bringing back a childhood memory...i should teach my neice...HAHAHA!

Answer 6

No.

Answer 7

No why try to hinder them noticing the obvious...don't ry to cover up and make all people the same just say people are different and it's just a fact of life.

Answer 8

if they werent hurting themselves then no it's fine

Answer 9

Why?  They weren't hurting anybody, they weren't breaking the rules, and I doubt they were making fun of each other.  There's nothing wrong with noticing our differences as long as we also accept them.

Answer 10

Um, no. They're getting along, right? I don't see a problem...especially because they are laughing at their differences and enjoying one another's company.

It was probably a little dangerous for them to be playing around with their eyes while on the bus, though. What if the bus swerved or something? That was something to be worrying about.