Preschool: An Ethnography

I decided to do my ethnographic work on the subculture of preschoolers. There is much to be gained from observing such a subculture. It is apparent that at a very young age children, preschoolers included, have picked up on gender roles and other social cues. These behaviors, obviously learned and therefore cultural, were observed by them and in turn replicated. This is evident in the behaviors I observed during the time I spent at a local preschool. I have agreed not to disclose the name or location of the preschool as well as the names of the students and the teacher. I will refer to the teacher simply as teacher and each child as either male or female.

The beginning of the day starts with the hustle and bustle of little feet scuffling through the door into the building. Most of these little people arrive on a bus and those who did not come by bus are scurried in by larger people3 most likely their parent. Once all preschoolers are in the building chaos ensues. Coats and backpacks are piled on the floor. The head of this tribe, known as Teacher, coaxes the little people to pick up their belongings and place them in their designated area. Once this task is completed they all assemble in a circle on mats. Teacher then calls on each individual by name. Every little person that is present responds with a “here” when their name is called. Teacher keeps a tally, as she calls their names, marking presence and absence. After the role is called the little people gather around for a story. This particular fable, one of many told by Teacher, happens to be about a princess who kisses a frog1. I am told by a local source that such tales are told daily. After which the afternoon meal is served. The fare for this particular day was meatballs w...

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...ing herself from the others. I sat on the floor next to her in hopes that she would be willing to talk to another female. The conversation proved to be a bit challenging at first but she soon opened up in response to my willingness to participate in her play. We did not talk about much of anything really but it was a sense of kinship that we shared. The impression I had gotten from this female was that she felt like an outsider in this group of males. After contemplating the previous day the only male in the group with three female may have actually felt the same way. But I would have to investigate further too really have an answer. The three males in the group at creative station were semi aggressive. When one of the males would build a building with the blocks another one of the males would crash a car, truck or plane into the building and send it tumbling down.