Final Blog Assignment

Throughout this course I made contact with three different international contacts.  Two were in Bolivia and one in Mexico.  My Bolivia contacts stayed in contact with me through the first half of the course then I don't know what happened and my Mexican contact was a cousin of the Spanish teacher at my school.  Gabriella Garcia, my Mexican contact, was a great help and pleasure to talk with.  She gave me great information and is very passionate about the early childhood field.  One consequence of learning about the international early childhood field is learning how many things are similar around the world.  Another consequence is learning how fortunate we are.  There is a lot to be done in the United States when it comes to early childhood but compared to some other countries we are doing just fine.  I am thankful for that.  One last consequence would be that no matter where you are in the world, someone will have a passion for the early childhood field.  Even though I lost contact with my Bolivia contacts, I could still feel the amount of passion they had from the few emails I received.  A slow response from the international contacts is also a challenge that I had to deal with.  Luckily I was able to make some connections but it was not a quick and easy path.  I just happened to be talking about my blog assignment at work and the Spanish teacher gave me the contact information for his cousin in Mexico.  She turned out to be the best contact of all three.

One goal for the early childhood field in relation to international awareness of issues and trends is to keep in touch with my contacts and to continue to learn more about what is happening in other parts of the world.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 3

Unfortunately I was unable to get information from my contacts in Bolivia but I was able to continue conversations with my contact in Mexico, Gabriella Garcia.  The biggest trend in Mexico for basic education has been incrementing coverage over the population.  Before 1993, universal education was only six years (primary school), some secondary (middle school), but they did not pretend to cover the population.  Since then secondary school is compulsory for all children in Mexico.  Since 2008, three years of preschool is obligatory for all children in Mexico.  Preschool coverage has increased to 90% in recent years.  Garcia says their is a great lack of training for on the job training in Mexico.  Programs have changed but not "waterfall" training.  This type of training means so many people are trained in the middle that by the time it reaches the schools, the information is diluted.  She also says that a few years ago it became a requirement for the main teacher in a preschool classroom must have four years of college.

Ms. Garcia expressed that she would like to return to school and receive some sort of graduate degree.  She didn't say for what.  She also mentioned eventually coming out of the classroom but she is not sure of the path she wants to take.  She said she would like to stay as hands on with the children as possible for as long as she can handle it.  She says her biggest challenge as an educator in Mexico is having 45 children in a class at one time.  Since communicating with me and finding out the number of students I have she says she wish she could have so few.  Keep in mind I complain about my 25!

Sharing Web Resources

I explored the Initiatives links on the National Black Child Development Institutes website.  In this link there are different subjects that you can choose.  The subjects are Child Welfare, Early Childhood Education, Education, Health and Nutrition, Literacy and Archives.  I looked through each of these links but I was somewhat unsuccessful.  Most of the articles and information were from last year and one section is under construction.  This site needs to be updated.  It still has March news up.  I signed up for a newsletter twice and I still have not received anything.  I enjoyed some of the information on the site but I am disappointed that it doesn't have more and that it is not kept up to date.  In the welcome section of the website it tells about the mission of this institute and it mentions equity and access.  It says how the community must play a pivotal role in equity and access in order for it to become a reality for our children. I also explored the section titled About then clicked news.  I read an article from January in The Wall Street Journal titled "The Lowly Child-Care Worker," which talked about how little a child care worker makes.  The mean hourly wage is $9.73 an hour, falling short of a coatroom attendants and short-order cooks, and barely outpacing dishwashers and burger flippers.  The article went onto say that higher pay is needed to keep good teachers.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 2

In my first blog about international contacts I introduced two contacts from Bolivia.  For this assignment I was unable to contact one of them and the other one referred me to someone else who didn't respond back. But in talking with the Spanish teacher at my school about the assignment he got me in contact with his cousin in Mexico, Gabriella Garcia.  She was able to tell me a little about what goes on in Mexican classrooms.  She teaches first grade and has 45 children in each class.  She teaches  half day program.  A morning session from 8-12 and an evening from 3-7.  She is allowed to send a child for a branch off of a tree and spank the children.  The Mexican education system is divided into four levels: preschool (K1-K3), compulsory basic education (1-9), upper secondary education (10-12), and higher education.  The government is officially responsible for providing compulsory basic education, although it is also involved in the other three levels.  Public schools serve 87% of all students in the country.  A key issue in The Mexican education has to do with insufficient enrollment and high dropout rates beyond the primary levels, insufficient supply of upper secondary schools, and low student achievement levels.  This was the only information should provided  but I look forward to keeping in contact with her.  Hopefully this contact will stay a contact by it being the cousin of one of my coworkers.