My Early Childhood Contacts and the Impacts they have had on me as a Early Childhood Professional

For several weeks I have studied the website of an organization related to early childhood. I chose a few websites of a U.S.-based organization and an international one.  Thus, I would agree that I have learned a lot utilizing the World Wide Web as the sheer volume of information available on the Internet is impressive.   As I continued to explore the website and/or the e-newsletter this week, I took into consideration a few questions.

With that being said, the specific section(s) or information that seemed particularly relevant to my current professional development was, the amount of poverty in my immediate community, how it impacts the children’s learning ability, and what steps if any do I need to take to assist in the educational needs of the children and families dealing with issues of poverty.  By being made aware of the amount of poverty within my immediate community and the havoc that it initiates on a child’s education, I can be better prepared to work with and address concerns with parents as an early childhood professional.

The idea/statement/resource, either on the website or in an e-newsletter that I found controversial or made me think about an issue in new ways was should or is childhood now being considered as an investment opportunity.  I believe that you get what you pay for and since children need an education, I was at first for the idea of investing in the education of children even as an investment opportunity or means of recycling money to better the economy as suggested in, Early Childhood Education Has a High Rate of Return (2010).  However, with further thought and insight from colleagues, I believe that there are limits to anything and since I have always been told that nothing is free in life, I am sure this financial gain will come with a price.  Thus, I do not want that price to bring about havoc on the future of our children.  So, with that being said, this is a controversial issue.

The information the website or the e-newsletter contains that adds to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field is that they believe that any many aspects the early childhood field should be used as a financial means, especially to help rejuvenate the economy.  Many economists, neuroscientists, or politicians believe that since there are numerous grants and funding the Government offer for early childhood education, there is no reason that it should not be able to be organized much like a corporation. 

Some additional insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field that I gained from exploring a website or e-newsletter was that there is a tremendous amount of children around the United States impacted by the harshness of poverty.  Thus this has a great impact on the early childhood field as hunger, emotional and physical developmental issues, and etc… that come with poverty impact the learning of these children.  I have learned to be more involved in my own community as well as around the world because, as I was aware that poverty existed everywhere.  I was not aware that North Texas has a high amount of children impacted by poverty.

Reference:

Early Childhood Education Has a High Rate of Return, (2010). Retrieved from http://heckmanequation.org/content/resource/early-childhood-education-has-high-rate-return.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Unfortunately, I was not successful with the podcast.  So, I utilized the alternative option to review the UNICEF (2012) website. Upon Reviewing the UNICEF (2012) website and reading about poverty in various countries, I selected to review Central African Republic and its impact on poverty and the issues related to poverty in detail.  From reviewing the information on Central African Republic, three insights or ideas that I gained are that;First, poverty has an impact on the use of improved sanitation facilities, Secondly, poverty affects child labor tremendously, and Lastly, poverty has an impact on birth registration. UNICEF (2012) states, in the Central African Republic, only 33% of the population have improved sanitation facilities. In the Central African Republic, the percentage of children aged 5 to 14 years of aged involved in child labor activities is 28.5%. UNICEF(2012) records suggests, that in the Central African Republic, Child labor of a child is constituted as any child between the ages of 5 to 11 years of age that during a period of a week (based on the week preceding the survey), did at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work. UNICEF (2012) suggests, in the Central African Republic, only 61% of births are registered.

For a long time, I defined poverty as a condition that affected only homeless people. Therefore, when I would hear the term poverty, I would envision an individual that was homeless and digging through a trashcan in search of food. For a long time, I often only thought of the financial situation or impact that the economy has on an individual/family.  However, poverty is more than a financial situation.  ASPE (2010) suggests, that poverty is also a subjective experience, dependent on specific social contexts and comparisons. ASPE (2010), states that, “Here in the United States, poverty is measured using an official poverty line”.  ASPE (2010), also states, “In 2010, the official poverty line for a family of four was an annual income of $22,050; for a family of two, it was $14,570, and for individuals it was $10,830”.

Reference:

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/10poverty.html

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/car_statistics.html

www.UNICEF.org

Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization that I selected and chose to subscribe to for a newsletter is The Global fund for children.  This is their website: http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An issue that was of interest to me was the female/women empowerment initiatives.  I am a strong independent woman that has always been taught that I can be anything that I want to be.  I have always been encouraged and told that I should go to school to learn and to make sure that I pay attention to my teachers to ensure that I get the best out of my education.  Yet, in many companies around the world women, to include female children are often killed for trying to go to school or make any independent decisions.  The Global Fund for Children is working on a Celebrating Grassroots/ Women Leaders.

GFC is known for investing in local organizations that work tirelessly to give all children the opportunity to grow up healthy and safe, get an education, and pursue their dreams. They provide their partners with strategic support to help them grow bigger, get stronger, and reach out to even more children in need.  One of the most current issues that GFC is focusing on is empowering young ladies in India and around the world to get an education and be leaders. Another issue of great concern to GFC and that I wish to learn more about is child trafficking.  GFC and its global partners are working on this issue and staying focusing on addressing many other issues around the globe to ensure that children are afford the best health and education possible.

 

 

The steps to getting Ready for and Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

In the blog assignment for this week, we were asked to "Establishing Professional Contacts," with other professionals around the globe.  For this assignment, I chose the alternative method. The first set of steps that I took to locate and contact two professionals was, I reached out to and contacted a few colleagues from previous courses in the Masters of Early Childhood program.  I contacted and reached out to these colleagues from previous courses as a networking system because, although they are still in the U.S., they are in states around the globe.  I have also opted to utilize electronic messaging/communications as a faster method to stay in touch and receive updates from my contacts. In my attempt to establish communications, so far, I have contacted a previous colleague from Hawaii that is actively involved with Head Start and other early childhood organizations around the world.  I have also reached out to the “Globe Fund for Children Organization.  I have sent request to both entities and I am awaiting a response/update.

Neketha