Eight Year Olds Get a Lesson in Social Justice

A 2006 article from RethinkingSchools.org should become mandatory reading for anyone in early childhood education, particularly those teaching in public schools. The post is titled “Why We Banned Legos” and carries the most interesting of subtitles, “Exploring power, ownership, and equity in an early childhood classroom.”

Banning Legos
The article by Ann Pelo and Kendra Pelojoaquin notes the draw of Legos themselves with children and begins with a story about an after-school program. The children had worked on and built a village, one that had “houses, grocery stores, fish-and-chips stands, fire stations, and coffee shops.” The authors noted that many children were “particularly keen to find and use ‘cool pieces,’ the translucent bricks and specialty pieces that complement the standard-issue red, yellow, blue, and green Lego bricks.”

Though the teachers protect the village from errant balls and other forms of potential destruction, some key issues begin to crop up. When one youngster decides to build an airport another in the group immediately denounces the action as the new construction will certainly take too many ‘cool pieces,’ leaving too few for the others. Ultimately, as the city growsand ‘raw materials became more precious’ the teachers note that the builders begin excluding other children.

After a couple of months of witnessing some troubling interactions Legotown fell victim to some accidental damage. All at once, the teachers spotted an opportunity to begin anew. They began by taking the extraordinary action of banning the Legos entirely.

Teacher Soul Searching
The removal caused some interesting reflection among the teachers. Most importantly began a consideration about their roles as educators in regards to raising political issues with children so young.
Notes, the authors, “We recognized that children are political beings, actively shaping their social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity — whether we interceded or not. We agreed that we wanted to take part in shaping the children’s understandings from a perspective of social justice.”

In discussing their decision with the children, they noted directly. “We’re concerned about what was happening in Legotown, with some kids feeling left out and other kids feeling in charge. We don’t want to rebuild Legotown and go back to how things were. Instead, we want to figure out with you a way to build a Legotown that’s fair to all the kids.”

Thus began an opportunity to look at the implications of privilege, wealth, and power, doing so within the world of Legotown. Other issues that slipped into the process were those related to fairness and equity, as well as ownership.

As a first step to exploration beyond the meaning of such terms, the teachers introduced a Lego trading game that had built-in inequities. The game had a designed point system for the Legos but was constructed so as to make it very difficult to accumulate points. Then, the person who accumulated the most points would have the opportunity to set the remaining rules for the game.

The story of what happens with their simple game is quite powerful. But it is what happens next, after the winner is declared, that surprises the teachers the most. The news rules specified by the winning children do not further their positive position but instead actually seek to create steps to increase the game’s fairness for all. Yet their peers do not see the actions in the same way at all. One student offers an interesting response to the whole ordeal.

“I don’t like that winners make new rules. People make rules that are only in their advantage. They could have written it simpler that said, ‘Only I win.’”

The teachers also noted one grim reality. When children come face-to-face with being on the outside of power and privilege, they react differently. Some feel frustration, others anger, and still others, hopeless. They noted that some of the children could even articulate their own feelings and their respective response based on those feelings.

Thus began an incredible teaching opportunity. Even when playing by the rules, some children won big while most simply fell further and further behind. That led to another discussion, what was the real issue? Was it the game and the rules that were at fault, or was it that the children played unfairly.

Thus began another focus, an exploration of the questions about how rules are made and enforced. In addition, the teachers even talked about when rules ought to be followed and when it might be appropriate to break unfair rules (exploring the situations involving Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez).

Following their investigation into power the teachers followed up with a look at the concept of ownership. Finally, in late spring, after nearly five months of discussions into the concepts of power, ownership, and authority, the teachers returned the Legos.

Lessons for Educators
What follows is another amazing journey, one that the reader will likely want to read in detail. But suffice it to say that the children clearly absorbed “political, social, and economic worldviews” even at this very early age. As the authors note, “Those worldviews show up in their play, which is the terrain that young children use to make meaning about their world and to test and solidify their understandings.”

The authors also note that “educators have a responsibility to pay close attention to the themes, theories, and values that children use to anchor their play. Then we can interact with those worldviews, using play to instill the values of equality and democracy.”

With their Legotown story, these teachers share a simple truth, that educators have enormous opportunity to shape both the intellectual and moral development of children. What was most striking to us is how the lessons were taught, within the concept of games and play, and the age at which such powerful discussions could occur.

We cannot help but wonder if such sophisticated and thoughtful lessons could be applied ongoing, year after year, with all children beginning at a very young age, what might be the overall accumulative effect for a world in need of greater social justice.

Photos courtesy of huladancer, SeanDreilinger, and Grdloizaga.