Children aware of racism by age nine, study finds

Interesting piece in the Citizen. But it's hardly surprising -- children may lack experience but they are not stupid. And social prejudice is something children will realize very quickly -- the concept of an 'in-group' is not alien to children


Children aware of racism by age nine, study finds              

Shannon Proudfoot
Ottawa Citizen , Nov. 14, 2009

By their ninth birthday, most children are aware of racism and know the stereotypes other people hold about certain groups, according to a new study that belies the idea of innocent, colour-blind childhood.

"Around the second or third grade, you see a majority of kids understanding that people have stereotypes," says Clark McKown, associate executive director of the Rush NeuroBehavioral Center at Rush University in Chicago.

"I think that would be surprising to many people, that by second or third grade a lot of kids get it, they get that there's racism in the world and they understand what it is."

The study wasn't examining children's own prejudices, but rather their "stereotype-consciousness" or awareness of other people's views.

The researchers told 124 children ages five to 11 a story about a place called Kidland where Green and Blue people live and Greens think Blues aren't very smart. The children were asked who they thought a Green child would pick to be their study buddy or spelling team member and why, then asked how Kidland is like the real world, and their answers were examined to determine their awareness of prejudice.

The older the children were, the more likely they were to understand stereotypes, the researchers found. And by Grade 5, almost all of them understood racism and could explain how the bias against Blues in Kidland related to the real world.

Full story here:

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