Timeline of a Man Working in ECE by Greg Uba

Here is a copy of Greg Uba's proposed article for SVAEYC Men In Child Care... adapted from an article I wrote for Connections For Children Child Care Resource and Referral in Santa Monica...

1983… I begin my early care and education (ECE).  I enter the profession from the side door - I was an elementary school teacher in my prior life.  Mentored by wonderful teachers including Jewish, Cuban, Lebanese, and European and African-American teachers, I realize that early educators knew things that I hadn’t imagined were even knowable.  I am one of three men on staff.  Note: in 1993, approximately 5% of the ECE profession is male.

 

1990… I realize that working with young children is the most important thing I will ever do.  I have changed hundreds of diapers, ruined dozens of T-shirts, un-stuffed toilets, mopped floors, bandaged injuries, waited in a hospital emergency room – twice, and had a parent pull a baby out of the program when she saw me changing his diaper. 

 

mid-1990’s… For several years, I join colleagues from across the State to make our annual visit to advocate for children in Sacramento.  At the preschool I work at, Manuel tells me that the sun and moon can’t both be out at the same time (because then it would be both day and night).  He follows this with a spirited performance of air guitar standing in the playground. Samuel reflects upon the fact that he, a Jewish child, and I an Asian man are both vegetarians. 

 

1999… I teach preschool in Santa Cruz where Yanai, the shortest girl in the class builds towering block structures.  We have baby chicks, mud holes and gardens, weekly cooking projects… here, I run across Martin, a dreadlocked activist graduating from UCSC… and realize he was in the first preschool class I taught… he remembers the butterflies that we raised from caterpillars, remembers that one of them couldn’t fly and died… I vow never to underestimate the effect we have on the children we care for.  Note: in 1999 approximately 5% of the ECE profession is male.

 

2012... I rant endlessly about things like the onslaught of technology, the jeopardy to the linguistic and cultural diversity of our workforce presented by ever-increasing educational requirements that focus on formal education, the reality of gendered classrooms and curricula.  I present workshops on the importance of diverse and inclusive programs to audiences that have far too few men in attendance.  I listen to other teachers as they caution children not to go up the slide.

 

2013...  I still pack for conferences by stuffing my belongings into a backpack… I still get my shoes muddy and marvel at things like ladybugs and baby skunks… No, I’m not the greatest teacher.  I make mistakes every day.  Sometimes I can’t believe how hard it is and how inept I can be.  I let the children splash in puddles, and then realize that now we have to change all those socks and pants.  I get frustrated with the children, only to get more frustrated with myself for my lack of patience or “classroom management” skills.  And yet, I know the children are glad that I’m there.  I know by how often they call my name to show me their work, or tie their shoes, or hear their stories.   And we are fortunate.  We have some very involved fathers that spend time volunteering in our classroom.  And the children love it.  One father spent over an hour pushing the swings on our trip to the neighborhood park.  A wonderful grandfather spends entire mornings with us on a regular basis.  Children need to see that men are involved in their lives.  We, as early educators need to work harder to make this happen.

 

Note: today, approximately 5% of the ECE profession is male.

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Blog Challenged

Hi Everyone,

I have discovered that I am not so great at blogging. I am however, pretty consistent at updating the EEAL Facebook page and you can follow me there:
https://www.facebook.com/EarlyEducationActionLeague?fref=ts

Thank you,
Stacey

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My Resignation Letter to Beach CIties AEYC

December 16, 2012

Dear BCAEYC Board, BCAEYC Members, and ECE Colleagues and Friends,

During the past 4 years, my term as BCAEYC President has been both personally and professionally fulfilling. Working alongside phenomenal colleagues and professionals has been incredibly rewarding and I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished. It is with much thought and consideration, that I submit my resignation from BCAEYC and renounce my membership. As many of you know, I have struggled over the past two years or so with many of NAEYC's decisions and revised policy statements. Continuing to serve in this organization implies that I agree with and support their new stands on technology and media involvement for young children and their blatant disregard of developmentally appropriate practices for young children.

I joined NAEYC as a young student just starting out in the field, some 22 years ago. I felt welcomed and felt like a true professional being a part of this leadership organization. I learned about the importance of developmentally appropriate practices and play in the lives of young children. NAEYC helped me develop a voice to advocate for young children and educate families and colleagues about this most important issue. I joined the Board approximately 12 years ago and have served continuously until now. I have presented dozens of workshops at the local, state and national level. I have helped organize multiple workshops, school tours and helped with logistics and various planning committees at state level conferences. Along the way, I have networked and met a variety of amazing people.

I, along with fellow Board Members and colleagues have openly voiced my opposition to NAEYC's Technology Policy. I attended the open session at the NAEYC Annual Conference in 2010 in Anaheim, CA. In a packed room, hundreds of us questioned where this new stance was coming from and why NAEYC had reversed it's previous opinions and was now ignoring the recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that clearly state, "Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2." http://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/Pages/Media-and-Children.aspx.  Attendees were thanked for providing feedback and said that this version "was only a draft" and our feedback would be considered as NAEYC continued working on it. Months later, the position statement was released as is. It made the cover of Young Children and prominently featured Hatch, a software company throughout the journal. http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201205/McManis_YC0512.pdf Hatch, a corporation, is also now a major sponsor of AEYC conferences.

The BCAEYC Board drafted a list of grievances and demanded a meeting with members of the NAEYC governing board. http://eealeague.blogspot.com/2012/08/statement-of-grievances.html This telephone meeting eventually did occur and we were able to voice our concerns, but still, nothing has changed.

 In 2012, dozens of workshop proposals for the annual NAEYC conference promoting play and limiting or eliminating technology in accordance with American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines were rejected, yet multiple workshops promoting technology use for young children were accepted and highlighted. I learned that others in this field were also shocked and dismayed by NAEYC's practices. ECE professionals from all over the United States started contacting me about BCAEYC's letter of opposition to the NAEYC Technology Statement and our letter of grievances. Several were leaders that I had followed and admired for years. I was amazed that they were contacting ME and thanking BCAEYC for taking a stand. I was invited to sign onto a letter that was sent to NAEYC in July 2012. 

http://eealeague.blogspot.com/2012/12/i-have-been-waiting-and-waiting-to.html. NAEYC responded months later with some generalized statement about their "many workshops on play", yet never addressed why or how a technology workshop for infants is now considered appropriate to them.

NAEYC's values are no longer my values. In my opinion, NAEYC has sold out. I am choosing to no longer support this organization and will continue to actively oppose their position statements that I disagree with and feel are wrong and inappropriate. Many have suggested that I stay put and continue fighting from within. I have struggled with this, but believe that my continued membership and service may be viewed as an implicit endorsement of their agenda. I no longer have any confidence in NAEYC and cannot and will not stand by and support this organization with their biased and unethical decisions.  

I hereby resign as the President of Beach Cities Association for the Education of Young Children and renounce my membership.

Sincerely,

Stacey J. Smith-Clark, MA

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I'm Not the Only One Who's Annoyed

I have been waiting and waiting to share this letter on the EEAL blog. At first, we waited 30, then 60 days to allow the NAEYC Governing Board time to respond. Shortly before the annual NAEYC conference, a brief response stating that NAEYC "still supports play" was issued. Shortly after that a statement was released that NAEYC Executive Director, Dr. Jerlean Daniel was retiring. http://www.naeyc.org/newsroom/pressreleases/special_announcement

My hope is that the next Executive Director will be open to hearing the concerns of colleagues and will reverse it's position on the new NAEYC Technology statement that ignores the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics that clearly state, "Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2." http://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/Pages/Media-and-Children.aspx.

Without further adieu, the letter:

Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin 

Defending the Early Years 

119 Meadow Hill Road 

Newburgh, NY 12550 

617.850.5471 

deyproject.org 

geralynbywater@gmail.com 

July 31, 2012 

Governing Board 

National Association for the Education of Young Children 

Gera Jacobs, President 

1313 L Street, NW, Suite 500 

Washington, DC 20005 

Dear NAEYC Board Members: 

We are writing because of our deep concern that proposals for sessions expressing certain viewpoints, which seem to diverge from the mainstream NAEYC views, were rejected for the November 2012 Conference. Some of the rejected sessions were offered by well-known leaders in the field. They include published NAEYC authors, past keynote speakers at NAEYC and state AEYC conferences, and respected researchers. The only reason we can imagine for the rejection of these sessions is that the topics do not align well with NAEYC's current thinking. We are especially concerned about rejected sessions that offered a critical analysis of the role of the Common Core Standards in early education today and/or the role of digital technology in early childhood programs. 

One example that illustrates our concern is that 2 proposals, “Fostering Kindergartners' Logico-Mathematical Thinking: A Better Approach to Mathematics Than That of the Common Core State Standards” and “Hearing Voices: What Teachers Say About the Current State of Early Childhood Education in America” were rejected. On the other hand, “Developmentally Appropriate Practice and Early Learning Standards: Creating Co-existence, Not Resistance” was accepted. 

Another example is the fact that at the conference there will be twenty sessions on the topic of technology and young children, including titles such as “Developmentally Appropriate Technology with Infants and Toddlers.” We wonder why this particular session was accepted when there is no evidence that the use of digital technology with infants and toddlers is beneficial or developmentally appropriate and there is some evidence that screen time may be harmful. Meanwhile, a session looking at the rise of technology and the demise of play—grounded in extensive research—was rejected. Furthermore, a vital concern about screen technologies is that they are often a vehicle for commercial marketing, yet a session exploring the impact of commercialism on children’s creativity was also rejected. 

Over the years, NAEYC has played a valuable role fostering serious conversation and debate on issues in our field. This has allowed a deepening of viewpoints within an atmosphere of respect and intellectual vigor. This approach is also in keeping with NAEYC's Statement of Philosophy and Values, which asserts that its mission is dependent on “valuing and respecting individuals with diverse viewpoints and perspectives who share a commitment to the education and development of young children.” 

We realize that there are many pressures in today's world—financial and political—that can come in conflict with this vital role. Nonetheless, we think it is of great importance for the early childhood movement and for NAEYC's own future that this statement of philosophy and values be in the forefront of all your actions. We would like to support NAEYC's efforts to stay focused on its mission by discussing with members of the Governing Board the need for greater diversity of views and perspectives on issues such as how NAEYC addresses the impact of the Common Core Standards in early education and the role of digital technology in early education. We would like to send a small delegation to the next NAEYC Board meeting to discuss these matters, and we would also welcome a conversation with Executive Director Jerlean Daniel and other senior staff. 

We look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Sincerely, 

Defending the Early Years 

Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin, Director 

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Senior Advisor 

Diane Levin, Senior Advisor 

Alliance for Childhood 

Joan Almon, Director of Programs 

Linda L. Rhoads, Executive Director 

Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood 

Susan Linn, Director 

Josh Golin, Associate Director 

Beach Cities AEYC 

Stacey Smith-Clark, President 

cc: Jerlean Daniel, NAEYC Executive Director 

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Halloween and Gender Bias

My daughter is 19 years old and I clearly remember an epic mother-daughter battle 6 Halloweens ago over her costume choices. It appeared that costume choices went from cartoonish to provocative as soon as she needed clothing in juniors sizing. I am shocked that these suggestive costumes are now being made for very young children, well, girls. 

I am pleased that there does seem to be a movement addressing this. SPARK is a girl-fueled activist movement to demand an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media. I ran across this site last week: 
Cookie Monster Costumes for Toddler Girls and Boys

How is this developmentally appropriate? If this is okay and socially acceptable, then why aren't boys costumes designed like this? I highly doubt I'm going to see a  Magic Mike costume for a preschool boy in a costume shop. Of course parents have the choice not to buy the sexy little girls costume, but when this is what they see on the shelves and on other children, will they start to believe that this is the norm and this is how one dresses young children?  If you are appalled by this too, SPARK has a Call To Action page on their website where you can sound off: Call To Action

I feel that these costumes send a message to both girls and boys that it's never too early for girls to start being sexy and that girls are supposed to look "hot" at every age. Girls are inundated from a very young age with inappropriate messaging by way of products, including sexy Halloween costumes. Children begin to codify other kids by placing them in strict categories that they've been taught -- not born with. Inevitably, kids begin to believe that girls need to be sexy, and boys believe it, too.

Grown woman make a conscious choice to dress in sexually suggestive outfits for Halloween or any other night of the year. She knows a sexy dress is going to garner a different reaction than Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, but she can take precautions to stay safe from the creepers. A child has no idea what's going on. It is our responsibility as adults and early childhood professionals to protect children and educate those that care for them.

Huffington Post Parents has a slide show showing the evolution of girls Halloween costumes throughout the years: Girls Costumes Then and Now 

My mom made me dress as a gorilla when I was 8 years old. It was a full body costume with a mask. I have been holding a grudge for approximately 34 years about this, but I think I'm over it now. I'm thankful she didn't send me out on the street dressed as a trampy looking Jane.

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Have You Seen Race To Nowhere?

Have you seen the documentary, Race To Nowhere? http://www.racetonowhere.com/ 
The film features heartbreaking stories of students across the country who have been pushed to the brink by over-scheduling, over-testing and the relentless pressure to achieve, “Race to Nowhere” points to a silent epidemic in our schools. Through the testimony of educators, parents and education experts, it reveals an education system in which cheating has become commonplace; students have become disengaged; stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant; and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. I have held screenings at the Child Development Center than I manage to help parents see what they can expect in elementary school and beyond, and to start teaching them advocacy skills now. Preschool can be a utopia, as we are frequently so open and welcoming. Elementary school, middle school and high schools rarely welcome parents and families like we do in ECE. This doesn't mean that parents and families do not have a say and cannot get involved. It is important that we get this message to parents.
 

With the recent broadcasts of the presidential debates, the recent release of the film “Won’t Back Down,” and the school year now in full swing, it’s more important than ever to keep the “Race to Nowhere” conversation alive in our communities. Check out the Race To Nowhere website to find a screening near you. It is crucial that this dialogue focuses on the positive solutions offered by the real experts on education: the students, educators and parents working hard each day to transform our schools! If you are in or near Long Beach, CA., I am hosting two screenings in December. Come on by, check out the film and let me know what you think.

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My Take on the NAEYC Technology Survey

The Early Education Action League came to fruition as I sat with a group of colleagues at a Beach Cities AEYC Board Meeting and discussed, in horror, NAEYC's "Draft" of the Technology Statement. 
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PS_technology_WEB2.pdf
We now know that this draft was the real deal. Nothing was changed during the process where feedback was summoned, whether online or at the NAEYC conference in Anaheim. Dozens of people voiced their opposition in the conference room and asked why NAEYC was going against American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations and their own previous opposition and a canned, "We will take that into consideration and look into that" response was given. When our Board got together, we talked about what we could do and what we should do, and in addition to our letter of opposition, http://eealeague.blogspot.com/search/label/Position%20Statement%20on%20Technology%20and%20Young%20Children
a few of us decided to break free from AEYC and form EEAL.

NAEYC never responded to our initial letter. I have also had the opportunity to get involved with another group that also vehemently opposes NAEYC's position on technology. They too have been very vocal and NAEYC appears to have indirectly responded to our concerns by creating a survey for educators on how they use technology with young children http://www.naeyc.org/survey/technology

If you have not yet participated in the survey, I would strongly encourage you to do so. I find it pretty biased. I use technology frequently in my personal and professional roles, but never directly with young children. There is no place in the survey to distinguish that. When I stated that I use a computer frequently in my line of work, the survey questions seem to assume that I do so with young children. I have stated my opposition to this on any page that allowed me to share comments or feedback. 

I am eager to see the results of this survey or rather, see if the results are ever shared publicly.

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