International consequences

As I come to the end of another course I reflect on the intended and unintended consequences of the relationships between professionals in the international early childhood field and us.  I have listed three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field.  One intentional consequence would be to learn that we are all dealing with some of the same issues; poverty, lack of resources, and Multilanguage learners.  Another consequence would be to learn about the struggles that international programs deal with on a daily basis that we take for granite.  Issues such as clean water and schools in close proximity.  A positive consequence is that we, as professionals, can share ideas back and forth.  We can gain new insight to an old idea, get feed back on things that have be tried and worked or not.

A goal for international awareness of the early childhood program would be to let people know that education is important and collaboration between professionals is important and necessary.  The other issue that I would like Americans to be aware of is the lack of resources such as clean running water, sanitation, and safe schools in other countries.

I want to thank all my classmates that have shared the information and contacts with me.  It has been a blessing.

Getting to know Roma

For this weeks assignment I went back to articles on the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education that was held in Moscow.  While reading through the articles there were a couple of items that caught my attention.  The first was the cost of good quality childcare is estimated at $7,600 to $22, 000 a year for one child (UNESCO, 2011).  For many families that is their entire paycheck for the year

The second issue that I found not only interesting but also appalling was on the Roma, an ethnic minority group in Europe.  More than 50% of Roma children fail to complete primary education in Europe (UNESCO, 2011).    Roma have the largest risk in Europe of being poor, uneducated and unemployed.  Reading this prompted me to do some investigation on the Roma people.  I was able to find out through Amnesty International, that often the Roma people are denied more than just education but housing, citizenship in some countries, healthcare, and employment.  They are subjected to violence and horrible discrimination.  Roma children are often placed in “special schools” the schools that house the children with mental disabilities.  In some communities the special schools population is 99% Roma children.  

The third issue was a statement that I found to be extremely true.  The denial of education nurtures social tensions was a statement that made me think (UNESCO, 2011).   If all people were allowed access to the same education would the world be a less violent place?  Social tension is caused by many reasons but the tension between the “haves and have-nots” is noticeable.  Those who can afford the best of education starting from birth on do much better in school and some get better jobs because of their education.  This is not something new.  Families that are fighting just to keep a roof over their head and food on the table are not able to afford the highest quality of school.  But if high quality education was available to everyone regardless of income then maybe we could close the achievement gap, lower tension and stress, and find world peace (just hopeful). 

Reference:

Amnesty International. Europe’s Roma Community Still Facing Massive Discrimination. Retrieved August 12, 2011, from http://www.amnesty.org

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Education-Early Childhood Care and Education. Retrieved August 11, 2011, from http://www.unesco.org

Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I originally wanted to follow, http://www.ndafonline.bravehost.com, has not updated any of their information since 2010.  I decided to check into some other sites.  One that I looked at was http://www.ecc.org.nz -Early Childhood Council-New Zeland.  In looking at this website one of the articles caught my eye, “Information on managing measles outbreaks this year”.  I was intrigued because measles is not something you hear about often anymore.  I was having a discussion with a co-worker who was considering not vaccinating her child because she did not believe this was a threat anymore. This article discusses the need for vaccinations and symptoms of measles.  It also gives childcare facilities information on how to handle a possible outbreak (Early Childhood Council, 2011). Another article I found that related to our topics was “Govt should not use earthquake as excuse”.  The basic theme was that the government is trying to use the earthquake, March 2011; they had to cut funding for early childhood programs.  The programs have already endured many cuts and families have had to endure a raise in fees for early childhood, reduction in teachers causing higher child to teacher ratios.  The money that would be invested in early childhood programs provides support for families.  Employers are able to hire people who would not other wise be able to work due to daycare issues (ECC, 2011). 

The second website that I checked out was Autism Speaks Phoenix.  I have a heart for children with Autism.  Autism is a devastating disease that has no known cause and no cure.  Every child who has autism has a different form; there are no 2 children who have the same exact form.  In researching on their website I found that early intervention services are state specific and only apply to legal residence.  Children with Autism do fall under the special education realm and services are to be provided without cost to the families.  There are many services children with Autism need and it can be quite costly to the families.  From ages 3 and up services are provided through the public school setting.

Reading throughout these articles I realize that all over the world educators are fighting for high quality education and equity.  Equity I believe is that early childhood deserves and needs the same respect and consideration as other grade levels.  In some respects they deserve more because with a high quality early education the rest comes a little easier.  Early childhood education to many is babies laying on the floor and cooing at themselves in a mirror.  That babies and young children are not capable of learning but that is not true. As professionals we have to let the world know there is more to a young child’s academic capacity and it needs to be feed and fostered. 

Reference:

Autism Speaks. Preschool. Retrieved August 6, 2011, from http://www.autismspeaks.org.

Early Childhood Council.  Govt Should Not Use Earthquake as Excuse. Retrieved August 4, 2011, from http://www.ecc.org.nz

Early Childhood Council. Information on managing measles outbreaks this year.  Retrieved August 4, 2011, from http://www.ecc.org.nz