When I think of early childhood education, I always think of it in my worldview and how it affects me on my level... on my home turf. I think that we are all very insular in our thinking of early childhood development and don't tend to really consider very far outside of our own programs. I remember reading on one of our assigned websites to view a statistic about how many children have access to secondary education and the percentage was so low that I, for a moment, felt that it had to be incorrect. I then realized that if that statistic had only included the United States, the percentage would have been very high. However, the statistic was WORLD WIDE. I rarely consider things on a world wide level. Learning about early childhood education in the world taught me:
. The
- That I am really very small and the world is very large. My day and my life is such a tiny little sliver of what goes on in the world. My program and the children in my program are just one little, very tiny, piece of early childhood education across the world. We are not the entire world; we are just a small part of it.
2. That not all programs around the world look like mine. Not all classrooms look like the classrooms that I picture in my head. Not all children have supplies and shiny, pretty classrooms. Many children never even get to see the inside of a traditional, United States cookie cutter type classroom. I feel that I had never before even considered that education is not just a given around the world like it is here. It is not a requirement or a right, like it is here.
I have always pictured this...
But not this...
3. Something must be done. Early childhood development programs have been shown to be the fundamental building block to future success. We must work to ensure that every single child has access to this building block to success. Early childhood education programs should be a right. It should be a requirement. It should be something that every single child has access to without question. This means every single child in the WORLD. We must work to see that this happens.
My goal is to start to make the steps and to put myself in the position to start working to make this a right and a possibility for every single child born to this world.
Hello Shana,
ReplyDeleteIt is always good reading your blogs very informative and I loved the quote and pictures. Reading your blog to me it feels as though you are putting your all in making your program a success. I enjoyed reading how you have learned about early childhood education in the world and what it has taught you. Especially from looking at your pictures to see how much your program means to you compared to the other countries across the world. It is so important to provide quality care in educational programs. You are so right that the educational setting is a given right that all children should be given the privileges and requirements to lead a successful life.
I enjoyed reading your quote and your feelings on Inspiration and Innocence. I loved how the little boy went to sit with the little girl to keep her company so she wouldn’t feel lonely. That is definitely saying something about your program that children are learning their social skills at an early age. That it takes compassion, care, sharing and love to help children grow and develop into being positive goal oriented young adults.
Rarely do any of us imagine schooling in the way your pictures depict in #2. In America, if classrooms are this large we can strike and picket until conditions change. Remember how Chicago schools closed down until the unions were able to intervene? Though challenges exist in American education, we are still better off than some countries.
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