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What If a Work Ethic Begins Very Early?
December 12, 2006
But it's not just learning things that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things at all that matters.
-Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
-Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
I have wondered over the years how early childhood programs contribute to a child’s eventual career choice and success as a worker. What would a child have to experience to grow up to be a responsible worker and competent citizen? It seems to me a positive work ethic starts early in a child’s life. Play may be the child’s work essential to constructive development, but work �" real work as part of a family, a classroom, or a team �" also plays a vital role.
In The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2006, Paul Tough quotes a charter school educator working with low-income children: “I think we have to teach work ethic in the same way we teach adding fractions with unlike denominators. But once children have got the work ethic and the commitment to others and to education down, it’s actually pretty easy to teach them.”
Early educators can learn valuable aspects of learning from charter and other innovative schools. Here are adaptations to Tough’s summarized list:
- Take advantage of the long child care program day to give children many varied opportunities to learn about their world. Use conversation, speech, film, and books to converse frequently and at length with children.
- Design and implement an appropriate curriculum for the children, and educate the adults �" teaching staff, parents, and board members �" to help children learn all the time and everywhere.
- Emphasize and model the behavior you want children to exhibit. Teach values realistically and show behaviors that are important to all children.
Help young children learn to take in information by carrying out the SLANT approach to learning taught at the KIPP schools in New York City and elsewhere:
- Sit up �" on the floor, at a table, in the book corner, on a lap �" as you read to a child or a group of children.
- Listen �" avoid talking at the child, but rather engage each child in a dialog and a conversation with eye contact and physical proximity.
- Ask questions �" and listen to the answers. Children are never wrong. They answer out of their limited experience, so their replies are limited. Based on what they know, however, their answer is correct. Also, teach them to ask questions.
- Nod �" demonstrate how to listen to a child by paying attention to what they say to you. Show how you listen and nod when children in the classroom or family child care home speak to you and to each other.
- Track the speaker with your eyes. Help children focus on the speaker, whether the teacher, another child, or another adult.
Source: Paul Tough, Still Left Behind: What It Will Really Take to Close the Education Gap. The New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2006, 44-51, 69-72, 77. Online: go to www.nytimes.org and search for this article by title, author, or date.
Submitted by Edna Ranck
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Online degrees in early childhood education
Completely online from a regionally accredited institution - the University of Cincinnati!
Completely online from a regionally accredited institution - the University of Cincinnati!
Comments (7)
Displaying 5 of 7 Comments [ View all ]Fairfield, California, United States
When I read the words "work ethic" lots of thoughts come to mind - some of them having to do with history. A whole generation of Americans rebelled against the Puritan work ethic they saw influencing this country. I think we are still feeling the effects of that rebellion good ones as well as unfortunate ones. Also, I think a lot of children in this country are now seeing their parents consumed by work, both children in low-income families and those in well off families. Personally, I don't think the problem lies in lack of work ethics, but something more basic. As a long time early childhood educator, I've seen a great emphasis on the specialness of the individual and a push toward independence in the preschool years. I now see that along with that must be an equal emphasis on learning to be a good group member, gaining a cooperative spirit, and recognizing the fact that we are all interdependent. Those lessons can be learned from day one - just as the lessons in independence and individuality can be learned from the beginning. It's a matter of balancing what seem to be opposing ideas, and that's a lesson too. It's what life is all about - respecting and living with opposing ideas!
Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Washington, DC, United States
Teaching a work ethic is very important. We have a lot of adults now who do not demonstrate a strong sense of responsiblity which is the basis of good working attitude.
Expectations that are developmentally appropriate give children the sense of accomplishment that form self-esteem. When we fail to provide opportunities for real work, we deprive children of that important growth opportunity.
Hot Springs,, SD, United States
I agree with the person who has gotten frustrated with the links that do not lead to further reading about the subject. My expereince has been simply that I don't have enough interest in the topic to pursue where it is or how much it will cost. I'm confident there is no intent to deceive, but to quote something, give the link (and a sense of urgency and importance to it) yet leave the reader hanging is somewhat fainthearted. I know I look to CCE for information that I can use in my work with children and families. I can't quote or adopt snippets of things that I can't support with documentation.
Learning Village
Kalamazoo, MI, United States
I get a little tired reading articles that sound like they have just discovered the importance of Early Childhood Education. I have been in the field for over 25 years and have known the importance since day one. Our society is very slow in acknowledging this imortance. We in the field have struggled to have our voices heard. But if we are not from a public school, charter school, or some other larger entity, our voices are not heard enough no matter how much we "shout".
Of course all the things in this article are important. If public schools, charter schools would look to those of us who are actually Early Childhood Educators, have been trained, have degrees in this field and have been working in the front line and ask us what are good practices, maybe it wouldn't get to me so much that they are just discovering the importance. Sorry but I needed to vent.
I try and raise my voice as often as I can for this field as it is my passion.
Clark State Community College
Springboro, OH, United States
This review has excellent material and I'm sure the article is very informative. It would be nice however, when you tell how to find the source article if you would tell if it is not available without paying a fee. This is not the first time I've tried to access the source article via the link and/or instructions you provide only to discover it is not available without a subscription or other fee. Please mention this upfront. If readers are unwilling to join or pay, they can avoid spending the time looking up the source articles.
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