Poverty in China

            Though I have yet to give up hope on making professional contacts with those from another country, while I await responses, I have taken a look at the condition of poverty amongst children in China, courtesy of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center’s website. I was particularly interested in China because of its One-Child Policy. Naturally, one would think with such an attempt to control the population, childhood poverty couldn’t possibly be a threat. Well, like many others, I have had to rethink my thoughts. In China, a surprisingly 4.2 million children live in absolute poverty and 8.7 million live in disadvantaged conditions. This is significantly less than the 16.4 million children who lived in poverty when the 2010 Census was taken.
            Though China does have a one-child policy, population can’t and hasn’t protected the country from experiencing poverty. Over the years, China has increased its interdependence on other countries which has increased the amount of goods, services, technology, and capital leaving the country. This alone increased the nation’s vulnerability to poverty. Also adding to the likelihood of poverty becoming a striking trend throughout the country, education costs drastically increased, and due to the economy, families were not able to afford them (www.childhoodpoverty.org).

References

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre. (n.d.) Country overviews. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo

NAEYC

This week, I reviewed the website for the National Association for the Education of Young Children. The mission and vision of this organization is to “is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources.” One prominent theme presented throughout the website that ties directly into the organization’s purpose is informing the early childhood community (professionals and families) about current news in the early childhood field. The homepage of the website is filled with excerpts from recent publications of Young Children and other NAEYC books. The website’s resources have a clear focus on assisting the community in providing quality childcare and encouraging the whole development of young children.

For more information, visit the National Association for the Education of Young Children online at www.naeyc.org.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This week, I attempted to establish contact with two early childhood professionals. I used the Global Forum website in order to assist me in this endeavor. I am still waiting for a response from them both, however, most of the emails that I tried that were listed on the site returned invalid. If I do not receive contact by the end of the week, I will consider completing the alternative assignment to Part I.

            For Part 2 of the blog assignment, I have chosen to review the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s website at http://www.naeyc.org/. I look forward to not only reviewing their website, but also reading their position statements on their beliefs about the Early Childhood field.