Thoughts from leaders from the field of Early Childhood

Susan Blow, Major contributor to the field of Early Childhood Education, public early childhood education sector

Susan Blow founded and taught in what is considered the first successful public-school kindergarten in the country almost 140 years ago in St. Louis. There were successful private kindergartens in the country at the time, but Blow believed that children who attended public schools needed kindergarten (Travers, 1994). She used games and singing and wooden blocks. She taught the children form and color to increase their manual dexterity and to prepare them for reading and math. Blow’s goal was to enrich the lives of children, especially between the ages of three and seven.

She became a gifted lecturer and author, dramatically combining ideas from philosophy and literature with strategies of teaching young children. Blow was uncompromising in her belief that the more literal the interpretation of Froebel’s ideas for kindergarten instruction, the better (Travers, 1994).

Tighe, T. (2003, October 20). The woman who made learning fun. St. Louis Post – Dispatch (Five Star Late Lift Edition), p. 1.  Retrieved November 28, 2010, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 425919411).

Travers, P. (1994). Influences that shaped Susan Blow's involvement in kindergarten education. Journal of Educational Philosophy and History, 44, 146-149. Retrieved from ERIC database.

Stanley Greenspan, M.D., Major contributor to the field of Early Childhood Education, health and well-being sector

This is an excerpt from Dr. Stanley Greenspan’s article, Equal Opportunity for Infants and Young Children: Preventative Services for Children in a Multi-Risk Environment that was included in a 1989 report entitled Giving children a chance: The case for more effective national policies, George Miller, Editor

Clearly, in the first four years of life, children are experiencing their most fundamental lessons-learning to focus, to be intimate, to control their behavior, to be imaginative, to separate reality from fantasy and to have positive self-esteem. Well-mastered, positive lessons afford them real intellectual access to the educational system and, therefore, to a reasonable degree, equal opportunity. Without these early lessons, however, access to subsequent education and opportunities can hardly be truly equal. The child who cannot focus his attention, who can’t decode simple sounds, much less read letters, who is suspicious rather than trusting, sad rather than optimistic, destructive rather than respectful, and one who is lost in a sea of frightening fantasy rather than grounded on a foundation of reality—such a child has little opportunity at all, let alone “equal” opportunity.

 

Whatever abilities children might be born with, as they mature they do not experience biological development separate from environmental needs, nor for that matter, from physical, intellectual or emotional experiences. Poor nutrition, lack of consistent loving care and lack of appropriate emotional interactive and cognitive opportunities can all, either separately or together, seriously compromise development. In the extreme, even proper brain growth will be compromised by severe lack in any one of these areas.

Miller, G., & Center for National Policy. (1989). Giving children a chance: The case for more effective national policies. Retrieved from ERIC database.