There were many things that I learned from our international contacts. I learned that the United States is so focused on education and money that we have forgotten about the fundamentals of learning. We as a nation have forgotten about play. Even as adults we need to play (a different kind of play but play), we need to refocus our efforst on teaching children the basics while they are playig. If we continue to focus on education only and keep forcing academics on our children they will get burnt out and not want to learn at all. We need our children to be the future and in order for them to do this they need to be educated in a way that they enjoy it.
I have also learned that in many other countries their education system still incorporates morales and values. While we have a large melting pot of nationalities and traditions we still have nothing that we teach the children other than abc's and 123's. There needs to be some focus on ethics, or values that we hold as a nation. We teach right and wrong but never anyhthing that dates back to our ancestors unless its through family at home.
Another thing that I learned is that we have some of the same issues and trends as other countries. We have the basics of financial troubles, and trust in where we place our children. We have the education delima. We need our early childhood teachers to be educated in order to educate our children. This holds true both in Brazil and Haiti, the two countries I spoke with.
If I could choose only one goal I would have to choose more communication. If we could communicate more openly with other countries' educators we might have a chance at becoming more peaceful. If we coudl understand why other countries teach the things they do and if they could understand why we teach the things we do, we may all be able to come up with a way of creating and equalibrium in the early childhood field. The rules and standards vary so much in the united States alone, that if we could create a standardization across countries we could accomplish anything we wanted to.
I have enjoyed working with all of my classmates and wish them the best in their future classes and professions in the early childhood field, thank you to all who have responded and posed questions to me durring this course.
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteValues and morals have become lost and teaching and futhermore should be dedicated to parents and families and what they should teach their children...this way more focus can be devoted to academics
Janille
Tiffany,
DeleteYou make a strong point we need to play even as adults. We also need to communicate, which is something children may be better at than adults. We want to talk about the negativity in diversity but often don't put forth the effort to embrace it. I too am trying to incorporate more cultures and family backgrounds into our program and my classroom. I believe it will make families feel more welcome and truly make a difference.
Thank you for sharing your contacts and website. Good luck to you in your future educational experiences and the lives you will touch along the way.
Ginny
As a high school teacher, I am seeing the result of a lack of moral developement in my students. I am very concerned about the state of our nation. We need to get back to the basics and these again. I believe if we quit focusing so much on cognitive development and instead view the whole child, the rest will fall into place.
ReplyDeleteTiffany,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the communication part, because it is difficult outside of World Forum Radio and websites to communicate with other countries and it definitely a necessary tool to bring about equality in education for children all over the world. Great post, and best of wishes in graduate school.