
Is Fair, Fair?
Children listen to a story about fairness and equity, make connections to their own experiences with fairness, and discuss how they can make their classroom a fairer place for everyone.
Children listen to a story about fairness and equity, make connections to their own experiences with fairness, and discuss how they can make their classroom a fairer place for everyone.
Jenna Whitehead, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University
Researchers have discovered that children as young as 12 months demonstrate knowledge of what is fair and what is not. However, our capacity to act on this propensity for fairness does not appear until several years later, when children are at least three years old.
For example, our dislike of situations in which others get more than we do emerges around four years of age, suggesting that this dislike may be innate in us. In contrast, more complex expressions of fairness, such as rejecting a situation when we ourselves get more than others, appear to be more strongly shaped by cultural norms. As such, students may require explicit teaching and practice to fully understand and act on these more complex forms of fairness. For example, discussing and setting clear classroom norms and agreements around fairness can help to increase equitable behaviors among students.
While fairness is key to building a peaceful and just society, the complexity of deciding what is fair and what is not challenges even the best of us. Schools play a crucial role in helping students develop and practice the skills necessary for creating communities and institutions that uphold fairness, equality, and equity. Indeed, studies have found that when students stand up against discrimination, advocate for marginalized peers, and speak out about injustices—actions that demonstrate their genuine understanding of these concepts and values—they help to foster more positive peer relationships and well-being for all students.
And when schools prioritize these values through actions such as implementing policies that ensure equal treatment across gender, race, and socioeconomic status, and incorporating culturally representative educational materials, both student engagement and a sense of inclusion increase, as well.
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