I listened to TJ Skalski, on the World Forum Radio podcast (www.worldforumfoundation.org). TJ is the principal of The Mother Earth's Children's Charter School (MECCS) in Canada. She comes from strong Aboriginal family values, including having a grandmother who was a huge influence on her life. The women in TJ's family, including all Aboriginal women in Canada, were victims of gender discrimination. Since 1876, these women were refused the same legal rights as men, under the Indian Act. In 1985, Canada passed Bill C-31, which allowed all Aboriginal women to gain their rights back federally. It gave them access to federal programs and services (www.elections.ca).
There is still inequity, because Aboriginal women are still denied rights in their own community. Because of this injustice, TJ wants to foster equity and excellence in her students. "Many of the children MECCS serves suffer from some form of adversity. Resilience is the innate human ability to rebound from adversity with even greater strength to face future obstacles" (www.meccs.org). She wants to instill in them the values she learned from her grandmother. TJ's goal is to inspire and build hope for all of her students, by reinvesting culture, language and giving them stability and support.
After reviewing Harvard University’s Global Children’s Initiative website, I found an article on building America's future workforce (Knudsen et al, 2006). The article explained that in order to strengthen our future workforce, we must invest in resources for children that come from disadvantaged environments as early as birth. Investing in the earliest years will yield the greatest return. "This high rate of return is much higher than the standard returns on stock market equity and suggests that society at large can benefit substantially from these kinds of interventions" (Knudsen et al, 2006).
I've also acquired additional information from an article from June's issue of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) E-news publication. The article highlighted the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education Youth Research Centre, in Australia, under its awards and grants section. The Centre's Equity and Childhood Program offers three awards/grants to "support educators working in early childhood, who do not have access to funding to attend professional development, especially in the area of equity and social justice" (www.acei.org).
References
Knudsen, E., Heckman, J., Cameron, J., & Shonkoff, J. (2006). Economic, neurobiological, and behavioral perspectives on building America's future workforce. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(27), 10155-10162. Retrieved from developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/download_file/_view/439
www.acei.org/e-news/june-2013-e-news
www.elections.ca/res/eim/article-search/article.asp?id=29&lang=e
www.meccs.org/site/about-us/philosophy
www.worldforumfoundation.org/world-forum-radio/
TJ seems like a very impressive person and I believe that her efforts will have an impact on her community. I also agree that investing in the resources for early childhood education is essential so that children can have every resource made available to them.
ReplyDeleteHi Lolita,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about TJ. She seems like a very positive person and I am glad there are people like her who take time to invest in children, culture, and language. The article you found on the Harvard website seems interesting. I like how they explained solutions to improving the future workforce. Investing in resources is definitely important. Thank you for sharing !
Hi Lolita,
ReplyDeleteI listened to the podcast from TJ in a previous assignment. I found her inspiring and motivating as a professional in the education field. How do you plan on using information from professionals like TJ to help motivate you in your career?