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.
You make some great points. It's interesting that your perspective about investment in early childhood has changed a little from what you originally thought. Mine has, too, especially when we're challenged to think about unintended consequences. It's helpful to understand the arguments against as well as for any issue, but it can also be surprising to hear the arguments against something we believe in. And also like you, it was helpful to understand the impact of poverty in my local community. It really hit home, in more ways than one. Thank you for your post!
ReplyDeleteI too initially consider the unintended consequences that arise from implementing new policies. In particular, investing in early childhood programs. Above all, we still must continue to advocate for children and express to other the importance of early childhood education. Maybe then they will view it as investing in our future rather than selfish monetary gain.
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was thought provoking and well written. It made me re-think my own feelings about how economics,politicians and neuro-science effect the world of Early Childhood Education. I thought it was wonderful to have all these free educational opportunities for children but when I look at how some of them are written to be run I wonder if it is worth it. A child's "work" is play and if we are always "contriving" their play because of the way the grant was written it definitely takes away from the playfulness of Early Childhood
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