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ERIC Number: EJ840714
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-4056
EISSN: N/A
Allophilia: Moving beyond Tolerance in the Classroom
Pittinsky, Todd L.
Childhood Education, v85 n4 p212 Sum 2009
Allophilia refers to an individual's feelings of affection, engagement, kinship, comfort, and enthusiasm toward members of a group seen as "different" and "other" (Pittinsky, Rosenthal, & Montoya, 2009b). The term allophilia is derived from the ancient Greek words for "liking" or "love" and the "other". The concept of allophilia mitigates the longtime imbalance in the theory and discussion of diversity and difference. The education industry isn't always very helpful to teachers facing the challenge of dealing with diversity in positive ways. The bias toward reducing the negative rather than promoting the positive spills over into the materials and resources available to teachers. Many teaching resources adopt the view that the goal is to bring about "the end of racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination" (Bennett, 2001, p. 173), rather than to initiate something really positive. Such leading organizations as the Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center (which administers the site Tolerance.org), and Facing History and Ourselves offer teaching resources that say more about reducing the negative than about promoting the positive. When these groups do acknowledge more positive experiences, their tone is often lukewarm, discussing "acceptance," "understanding," and "respect" for those who are different. One will find less about affection, engagement, kinship, comfort, and enthusiasm--the five factors of allophilia identified in research seeking to create a more nuanced and empirical picture of allophilia (Pittinsky, Rosenthal, & Montoya, 2009b). These five components offer teachers a systematic framework for moving their classrooms toward the positive--not the less negative, but the truly positive. (Contains 1 note.)
Association for Childhood Education International. 17904 Georgia Avenue Suite 215, Olney, MD 20832. Tel: 800-423-3563; Tel: 301-570-2111; Fax: 301-570-2212; e-mail: headquarters@acei.org; Web site: http://www.acei.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A