Quotes about Children

Princess Diana, Princess of Wales "Hugs can do great amounts of good — especially for children."

John F. Kennedy President of United States

A child miseducated is a child lost.

Garrison Keillor
Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.

Give Love to the Children

Give Love to the children, Children need love everyday
Give love to the children Guide them on their way
Love's like a burning flame consumes all that stands in the way

Love is the only power on earth to take all the hatred away
GIVE LOVE TO THE CHILDREN set the children free
To make their own decisions then they will clearly see
Love is the sun the moon and the stars love is a golden ring

Love is the one thing the whole world desires be it beggar or king
GIVE LOVE TO THE CHILDREN youth has not long to stay
Love is a long term investment the best you will find any day

Love like the rising sun takes all the darkness away
Our children will tell their children and their children will say
Give love to the children they are our crock of gold
and if perchance they ever stray they will come back to the fold

Give love to the children the children of today
Give love to the children and love will come to stay.
Elizabeth Quinn

Dear Colleagues of 6160,

End of another great course.

Learnt a lot and time start the next.

Thank you for the wonderful communications and wish every one all the best on your journey!

    Some words to remember on the way…

Quotes for the Educators:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”

      Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist minister and civil rights activist

“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

     Mohandas Gandhi, political and spiritual leader in India.

"Safety and security don't just happen; they are the result of collective consensus and public investment. We owe our children, the most vulnerable citizens in our society, a life free of violence and fear” 

     Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa 

“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done”
    Reagan, Ronald

“Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime.”
     Barack Obama

“No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that created it. We need to see the world anew.”

     Albert Einstein

“Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting the different results”

     Albert Einstein

Testing for Intelligence?

For me this is a tough topic to take a stand and write a blog on. When I was going to school in Sri Lanka, from first grade on I had tests. They were unit tests, term tests, and year end tests. Year end tests were to decide whether the child has grasped what was taught throughout the year. At fifth grade all the children across the nation were tested on a national test on the same day, at the same time. Subjects were on languages and mathematics. Then, the same routine went on till tenth grade. At tenth grade all the children of the nation went through a national examination for days. This examination helped with the decision making, regarding the future university education path. University education was and still is totally free and getting in to a university is tough. If you can not make it to a university there are other options. I agree it was stressful, but we did not have a choice, and education was the number one priority and it is still the same. All the national exams are created by the department of education, the term tests are created by the provincial government, and unit tests are done by the schools on their own. Thinking back and analyzing all the opportunities that we had, I cannot blame the system. We even got the opportunity to come to the United State because of the education we received from Sri Lanka. I think, the system is still the same and much tougher. The expectations were clear, parents were involved and dedicated and it turned in to a family affair for thirteen years and beyond. Music, art, performance, as well as sports and chess are part of the curriculum as well. There are many international education systems that are in-place in Sri Lanka operated by the private sector.

My personal view is that there has to be a way to decide whether the teaching methods are effective and whether the children are grasping what is being taught. Every child has their own style of learning and the fear of tests is unavoidable. Educational field has to come up with different assessment systems and have to keep up with them to have a better understanding of what is going on. There should be a way of looking at the whole child and understanding that every child is unique and have the potential for a brighter future. It is the responsibility of educators, parents as well as policy makers to open up all the possibilities for the children.

I read about the 1970’s and 1980’s holistic education movement. John Dewey, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner and many others were considered as the pioneers of the movement. Every child is more than a future employee; every person’s intelligence and abilities are far more than the score on a stranded test seems to be the base. Helping children to find their identity, meaning and purpose in life by connecting to the community, nature, and spiritual values like compassion and peace created the love of learning. When it comes to special needs; accommodating differences and refusing the labeling is the method. There are few public schools, alternative schools and many home schooling families who are inspired by this attitude towards teaching and schooling.

When I read articles, on the subject of holistic assessment for the school age children, I came upon an interesting article on Singapore’s plans to support the development of the whole child and to do some careful planning towards it. They are gearing towards accomplishing this goal by 2016 in primary schools. Singapore is one of the nations in Asia that has the education and technology hand in hand. In 1998 -1999 they had a plan to let every high school child to have a personal laptop computer. It really interested me to read about the changes in attitude towards the education.  I posted the article below for everyone to have an idea.

http://www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/asia/singapore-to-expand-holistic-assessment-for-more-primary-schools-35527.html

http://www.infed.org/biblio/holisticeducation.htm

http://www.examiner.com/early-childhood-education-in-glendale-ca/benefits-of-holistic-learning-early-childhood?render=print