• What are some of the challenges or difficulties faced by mem- bers of a dominant cultural group learning to operate in ways that include or are sensitive to cultures of relevant subordinate cultural groups? Goal 2 Promote comfortable, empathic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds. This means guiding children’s developing awareness of difference in a way that fosters interest in and empathy with difference, rather than a fear or judgment of it. It means helping them develop their skills to negotiate the day-to-day natural discomfort, tensions, problems, or conflicts that can arise from difference. Goal 2 means guiding all chil- dren—those in the subordinate groups and those in dominant groups—to adapt to difference. And it means guiding children to rec- ognize and respect difference while simultaneously recognizing the commonalties all people share. Discussion Questions • What were the first messages you learned about differences in general? Where did those messages come from? Were they positive? negative? mixed? • What were the first messages you learned about differences among people? Where did those messages come from? What values were attached to what differences? • Recall ways in which you were different from classmates or friends. How did that feel? What messages did you receive? • Recall ways in which a teacher or other adult helped you, classmates, or friends learn about and deal respectfully with differences. What messages did you receive? • When someone suggests that a problem exists because there are differences between the two of you, does this raise anxi- ety? What about the belief that differences are common and generally can be negotiated? • A Puerto Rican child comes to school with a pacifier. The teachers feel that the child, at age four, is too old to have a pacifier and tell her to leave it in her cubby. Why do you think the teachers responded this way? How might the teach- ers ask the family about their views on the subject? What do you think the teachers should do if the family says they feel that children should have a pacifier until they no longer want Chapter 1: The Four Goals for an Anti-Bias Approach 3