"Will you help Sam go to school?"

Please visit this website, NoSchoolForSam.org. With a simply click and a little information you can let the presidential candidates know that pre-K should be a priority, not just for some, but for all children.

"All children deserve pre-K. Only some get to go."

Pre-K and the Election

One of my friends recently asked me if I might write a piece on education and the elections. As much as I follow the relationship between education policy and the elections the truth is, I'm still confused. Is Obama for or against vouchers? How do you actually plan to change NCLB? Mike Huckabee for education secretary? McCain are you ever planning to really talk about education? I still have a lot of questions to be answered. Yes, I visit the blogs and I try to understand as much as I can but a new blog I have found has started to answer some of my questions, well, at least about early education.

Sara Mead, a former Education Sector staffer, has been blogging on The Early Ed Watch about well, early education policy. She is a former blogger for The Quick and The Ed and I believe a strong voice when it comes to education. Obviously I am new to the game, but I look forward to taking in more of her opinion.

Okay, so back to the elections and my favorite, pre-K. Obama and Clinton have both made huge promises when it comes to pre-K education, with billions of dollars and even trying to maintain a balance for parents to spend more time with their young children. The hanging question, how will this line up with elementary and high school education. My opinion is, if you build from the bottom up the rest will follow. Obviously changes need to be made in education policy for K-12, but I truly believe that by funding a foundation these children will have a marked change in their trajectory. Mead talks about the PK-3 alignment that must be made for the candidates, and I can see why. Most people would tend to vote for later educational achievements, the links must be shown.

As for the Republicans...Let's be honest, McCain is the voice that matters at this point, even with rumors of Huckabee for education secretary. McCain needs to speak up a little more about education. I have little to say because as confused as I am I feel like I have never really heard him talk about education at all let alone pre-K.

So I guess for now I'm less confused. Well, on at least one issue.

Mini Mohawks

A kindergarten student in Ohio was suspended from school this week. For what might you ask? Not the typical biting or hitting but for his hairstyle, a mohawk. My personal belief is that if the child wants a mohawk for a hairstyle then that's okay, but suspend the child? The school claims that their dress code forbids anything that "interferes with the conduct of education." I question whether it was the kids who were distracted or the teachers. Looking at the picture of the mohawk it really is not very distracting, no more than any bow or headband a girl would wear. I think as times change, and inevitably hairstyles, the definition of 'distracting' will have to change as well.

Sesame Street and Sex Talks

How young should children be taught about sex? How young should children be taught about AIDS? And most importantly, how would you answer these questions from a four year old who is holding a microphone? In a new documentary "Please Talk to Kids About AIDS" a four year old and six year older ask adults at the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto some of these important questions. While I'm still not sure that a four year old or six year old in America need to know about those questions I do believe that teaching AIDS education in countries where the epidemic is more present. In a social work course in South Africa at University of Cape Town I learned about the varied type of AIDS education programs in the country, still widely focused on middle school and older children. Obviously the problem needs to be addressed differently in different places. Hopefully this documentary can shed some light on just how these subjects can be taught to young children because as times change and children ask questions younger and younger the answers should be ready.

The documentary is available on EZtakes. Let's see just how prepared adults are with answers.

Book of the Week

When I picked up There Are Monsters Everywhere by Mercer Mayer at a book store this weekend I thought to myself, why do these illustrations look so familiar. The book, displayed as a choice selection often reserved for new books, had an older feeling to the illustrations. The colors had a slight murky feeling, like there was something lurking. The attention to detail stuck me as impressive, whether it was the boy's untied shoes or the clutter of his room it all felt real. Mercer Mayer, as it turns out, is the authors of the 'Little Critter' series and while this book was published in 2005 he does come from that older generation of authors and illustrators where the psychological messages are embedded in the story and the images.

The boy is afraid of monsters and through out the book takes it upon himself to study karate and become so empowered that he is no longer afraid. The monsters go from crowding he space with glaring eyes to sucking their thumbs and running away.

Mercer Mayer's first book was published in 1967 and now 2005 he has published over 300 books. Like Sendak or Emberly he shows no sign of stopping. While some have argued that creating children's books is a hard business to get into I am starting to realize that once you get in you also never leave.

Holocaust Education

How much is too much when it comes to Holocaust education? The two school systems I went through had a strong focus on Holocaust education. I am aware that this is due to the communities I grew up in and I consider myself very lucky for having this background. I don't think that this is how all Holocaust education runs through out the country and certainly not all over the world.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France announced a new school curriculum for next fall where all fifth graders will have, "to learn the life story of one of the 11,000 French children killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust." Psychologists and educators did not have the best reaction and neither did secularists. Is this too much for children to learn? Is it too scary?

I don't know the details of Sarkozy's plan, and unfortunately thus I can not truly side with anyone in this argument. I think there is a benefit to children reading accounts from the perspectives of children, whether real or not. The point is not to simply scare the children, but lead them on a path for the future. Holocaust education needs to be more about what children can do in the present than simply mourning the past.

As for Holocaust education in America I think the jury is still out. I wonder how much children learn about Japanese internment camps. This becomes an important counter to the Holocaust but America might be tentative about teaching youth about their own missteps. Reading childhood accounts of the Holocaust and such disasters sounds like a good direction. Whether it is a real diary account or a fictional story children need to be aware and looking towards the future.

C is for Cookie and other Classics

Almost all children watch television. It is an inevitable part of American culture. But if a parent had the choice I bet they would want their child to be watching educational television instead of non-educational television. My two favorite education shows are Between the Lions and Sesame Street. One of my favorite authors and bloggers, Mo Willems, used to do animation for sesame street and led me to this great page where you can see clips from the show online. Sesame Street Videos is in it's beta form, which as far as my technology knowledge goes tells me it is still being developed. I think it is an excellent resource for parents to use to choose certain videos for their child too watch, or just for children too explore.