Combating Poverty Through ECE

To my disappointment, I have not received a response from the Early Childhood Professionals in Mexico or El Salvador.  So, I decided to research the state Early Childhood Education in Mexico through other sources.  Childhood poverty has also been a topic for discussion this week and what I discovered is that both these topics are interrelated.  In other words, Early Childhood Education has a direct impact on poverty, and poverty has a direct impact on Early Childhood Education. Therefore, we must work to understand and solve both issues to make true progress toward improving the lives of young children and increasing their contributions to society.

"When most of us think of a poor child, we tend to picture a rural child.  We don't imagine as readily a girl living in the shadow of a city school that she will never attend, nor a baby growing up only a short walk from a health clinic he will never enter, nor a family deprived of services enjoyed by those living only streets away" (Nybo, Thomas, (2012).  However, this is the case for many children who have been marginalized in rapid urban sprawls making them especially vulnerable to developmental delays, health problems, nutritional deficits, trauma and crime.  According to the report, "More than 75 per cent of Mexico's people live in cities and towns, including 24 million children" (Nybo, Thomas, (2012). Indigenous children, children of migrant workers, and those living in slums are the most vulnerable.
Although Mexico is showing signs of economic growth, poverty and disproportion of services remains a critical issue.  According to a press release issued by UNICEF (2013), "The human development indexes in some parts of Mexico are close to those of some of the world's least developed countries."

As Sheldon Shaeffer points out in his presentation at the 2014 World Forum Foundation, poverty is transmitted across generations, and, is therefore, a cyclical problem that must be addressed through parent/family education as well as Early Childhood Education.  Critical to this issue is understanding and changing how young children are valued in developing countries.  Through our study of Child Development, we know that early childhood represents a sensitive period of growth as well as a time of developing self-concept and core values; children look to their immediate environments and role-models to define who they will be in the world.  According to a study done by The University of Michigan, "social values as well as cognitive development which often associate with success in societies are formed during this period."

I gained several insights from these resources.  We must understand the challenges of poverty for urban as well as rural children; availability of services is not the same as access whether in Mexico or the United States.  The Early Childhood Education field worldwide can and should be an avenue to begin to combat the cycle of poverty across generations.  Through early education programs that also engage and educate parents, we can assist them in building strong self-concepts and personal values in their children that will help them grow to see themselves as contributing members of society.



References:

Thomas Nybo, UNICEF launches flagship report in Mexico City, warns that cities are failing        children, UNICEF, (2013).
     http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/mexico_61864.html

Sheldon Shaeffer, Sheldon Shaeffer on Promoting Equity with ECE,  World Forum Foundation, (2014).
     http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/media-and-resources/wofo-tv/

University of Michigan, Early Childhood Education in Developing Countries
     http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.cho/conclusion__progresses_and_challenges

Press Release:  Mexico:  Government and UNICEF launch ground-breaking study addressing child          poverty, UNICEF, (2013).

     http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_68584.html