Obama's election brings attention to challenges faced by multiracial children

January 28, 8:30 AMNY Education ExaminerLorri Giovinco-Harte

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Barack Obama with mother, stepfather, & stepsister

In a data driven, educational environment in which children are classified into groups, subgroups and even more subgroups, it is hard to believe that multiracial children have been overlooked - yet it seems that they have.

Until recently, there have been few attempts to track the progress of multiracial children despite the fact that 6.8 million people classified themselves as such in the 2000 census.  The election of Barack Obama, however, has brought attention to this group which has previously received little attention. 

Part of the difficulty in tracking children of mixed heritage lies in the fact that previous attempts to study them have proved contradictory.  Some studies have indicated that multiracial children are at greater risk of developing problem behavior in later years, while other  studies have shown this to be unfounded.

Science has long concluded that race is a societal rather than biological construct, yet cultural factors do influence children as they mature.  Debra Viadero at Education Week writes that Multiracial children often suffer from contradictory pressures in school.  She reports:

Often, biracial children complain that teachers and classmates tend to pigeonhole them by their appearance.

When schools have 'black history' month in February, there's been a lot of discrimination of multiracial kids trying to interject certain things into the class discussion and having fellow students or teachers shutting them down

Students {}also describe having to pass "authenticity tests" to gain acceptance from a group of single-race peers, often by publicly rejecting friends who are of the same race as one of their parents.

Francis Wardle, PhD, of The Center for the Study of Biracial Children, has provided suggestions for professionals who work with children from biracial and interracial families.  The suggestions include avoiding stereotypical classifications of children, honoring multiculturalism, and avoiding the imposition of one's own interpretation of culture or race.

You can learn more at The Center for the Study of Biracial Children.