Flashcards …. Yikes!

09/02/2005

We move ahead by going deeper.
Jennifer James

Last week many readers sent in messages to ExchangeEveryDay, upset that we were promoting the use of flashcards for babies ("How to Raise a Genius," ExchangeEveryDay, August 25, 2005). This made me realize that it is time we answered the most frequently asked questions about ExchangeEveryDay . . .

Do you really recommend flashcards?
The purpose of ExchangeEveryDay is not to promote any one point of view or way of thinking. We have no hidden agenda. We are not recommending flashcards or anything else we report on. For example, on Friday we covered a story about teachers in Thailand being supplied guns for their protection. By covering this story we are in no way promoting the use of guns.

Our purpose is to provoke divergent thinking, not to promote our way of thinking. We try to cover a wide range of topics, sharing all sorts of stories, and let you, the reader, figure out whether or not you like these ideas.

Who produces ExchangeEveryDay?
Exchange -- the early childhood leaders' magazine since 1978, is the publisher of ExchangeEveryDay.

Every once in a while I stop receiving ExchangeEveryDay. Why does this happen?
Most Internet service providers today have very strong controls to block out spam and viruses from reaching their customers' e-mail boxes. Our messages may be blocked by your provider simply because our message contains one of the trigger words they have identified. So every day about 5% of our e-mails are returned as undeliverable. If your messages are blocked three days in a row, our software drops you from our list. So if you find you are missing ExchangeEveryDay, you need to sign up again at www.childcareexchange.com.

How do you select the topics?
We try to be responsive to the types of stories you have told us you are interested in based on a reader survey many of you participated in last year. Since we have so many new readers now, we intend to run this survey again in a week or so.

We are also constantly looking for interesting, unique, provocative, heartening, frightening, supportive, and insightful stories from anywhere and everywhere -- and, we love it when you send us stories to share.

Can we reprint ExchangeEveryDay stories?
We encourage you to share stories that we run as broadly as possible. All we ask is that you identify ExchangeEveryDay as the source and let people know they can subscribe for free at www.childcareexchange.com.

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.