I have successfully made two international, professional contacts. The first is Chris Hussey who is a researching practitioner for The British Association for Early Childhood Education. Prior to his current position, he was a ECE teacher for several years. He was able to provide me with information regarding government assistance for child care in the UK. He also informed me that all 3 and 4 year olds in England are entitled to 15 hours of free early childhood education for 38 weeks per year.
My other international contact is Martha Friendly. Martha is the executive director of the childcare resource and research unit for the National Alliance for Children and Youth, a Canadian organization. Martha is a contact that I just made so I do not know much more about her nor have I had the chance to learn from her. I do, however, look forward to sharing more information with you as soon as I can!
On a different note, this week we studied poverty and its affect on children. Not only did I look at poverty on a national level, but I also got to research poverty in my home town. When looking at poverty as a nation, I was shocked at what I saw. I was so blind to how much poverty is actually in my country. My state, the state of NC, actually has a higher poverty rate than the national average which is saddening. Not only did this fact alarm me, but the demographics of families and children in poverty was also very eye-opening. Latinos make up a large percentage of families in poverty and I think that we as a state and a country need to work at helping these families live better lives.
Cassie,
ReplyDeleteWhen I found out how much poverty was in my area I was shocked. More so I was upset with myself for not knowing about the area I am currently residing in! Did you feel the same way? I am happy you made international contacts! I am still working on it!
Good to hear that you have succeeded in making your international contacts. Yeah I think poverty is not so obvious in Europe and America like it is in Asia and Africa, it's surprising to me also that such rate of poverty exists in the Western countries.
ReplyDeleteMy contacts are in England as well but I have yet to get detailed info from them. They are both busy women so I am just crossing my fingers we can make this work.
ReplyDeleteI too have thought about poverty as a national issue but not stopped to look at the poverty in my area and how I could contribute. This week was an eye opener!
You are absolutely correct in saying that it is easy to not know how many families in our own country live in poverty and it is very alarming once you realize how many families are living in poverty. Recently, I have new insights on who poverty effects racially. I once thought only minorities and only a small amount of the majority lived in poverty. As I study and learn more, although there are more minorities living in poverty, the number of the majority living in poverty is just as shocking.
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