International Reflection

Living in The United States, I think there is a tendency to think a lot about conditions at home, but not on a global scale.  Discussing the issues surrounding Early Childhood Education in Serbia with Zora Petrovich opened my eyes to the many atrocities that children throughout the world have had to face and to the perseverance and bravery of those dedicated to the lives of children.

In recent years, Serbia has been working to recover from the Balkan War, a decade long time of unprecedented violence and bloodshed that ended in the dissolution of former communist Yugoslavia.  Serbia became an independent country, but did so as the losers of a war that wreaked havoc on their land and their people. 

In America, we believe that communism is somehow wrong, and that all citizens of the world would be better off with, and would prefer a democracy.  This is not the case with many Serbs.  Under communism, every citizen had a job, a home, food, education, health care and income.  In communism, every citizen receives the same things as every other citizen, and all people’s needs are met.  Under the new democracy, the majority of the Serbian citizens live in poverty while a few are very rich.  Quality education is available for the elite, but many children have no educational opportunities.  In addition, even the families of the working class have a difficult time getting enough to eat, and young children often work to help support the family.

There is also an ongoing issue involving the large number of war orphans that still remain wards of the state.  The government is responsible for these children, but they do not provide well for them.  These children are not educates, rather trained to be laborers.  They live in group homes that are understaffed and undersupplied.  As these orphans are growing older, they are forming street gangs and crime by young people is rising throughout the country.

During the war, thousands of women were raped by soldiers.  The children of these rapes are now growing older, but the society has a general feeling of hatred and distrust towards them.  What will become of these children is uncertain, but they have a great deal of prejudice to face and overcome.

Finally, teachers are in a state of political turmoil.  Historically, teachers received a great deal of respect from the society.  The profession has always been considered highly prestigious.   Currently, the state owes teachers for years of unpaid benefits and is paying them less than subsistence wages.  Teacher’s feel that they have a responsibility to help the next generation develop to their fullest potential – for the children and for Serbia.  However, there is a great deal of tension and pressure developing just below the surface, and there is potential for a social eruption in the future.

There is a growing connectedness of Early Childhood Professionals worldwide.  More and more we are realizing that a dedication to young children expands beyond our own schools, neighborhoods, states and countries.  Children throughout the world deserve to have food to eat, air to breath, a place to live, and the ability to reach their fullest potential.  All children deserve to have the opportunity to become great, to be healthy, happy and intelligent.  I believe that the goal of providing quality education to young children needs to be a world-wide goal.

Education - if not equal, at least fair

I heard from my professional contact, Zora Petrovich, regarding the professional expectations of teachers in Serbia.  She explained that the profession of "teacher" in Serbia is very prestigious and respected.  It is believed, culturally, that a teacher must be highly educated in order to impart knowledge to their students.   Therefore, only people of high intelligence and who are very successful academically themselves are able to enter the teaching profession.  

However, there is currently a great deal of unrest among Serbian teachers regarding compensation and benefits.  There has been a salary freeze for almost three years and the state owes teachers for years of benefits.  The wages teachers are currently given are not enough to sustain a family, and social  dissension is growing.  The new government allows for some privileged citizens to live well while others are allowed to starve.  Tensions are high throughout the country.

Still, despite the current social situation, education is considered to be of great importance.  Serbia has produced many great scientists, innovators and thinkers, such as Nikola Tesla,Mileva Meric Einstein and Ivo Andric.  The country expects to continue this great tradition, and teachers, regardless of their treatment by the government, have an internal sense of responsibility for the education of our future leaders.  Therefore, they continue to educate and impart knowledge.

"The idea of equal education for all citizens in a democratic society is quite lofty.  In communism, there was no social stratification of the classes, so education was based on ability level rather than economic level.  Currently, many children receive no schooling while others receive the highest level of education in the world.  I do not think education will be equalized, but I would like it to be fair.  I think that every child should have the right to education and for the opportunity to grow.  I think that economics should not drive education, but, rather, potential.  Children should be allowed to go as far as they are able to go regardless of family income."

Nature Deficit Disorder

By following links I found on the NACC site, I found two really great resource pages:

The first of the two is Education.com’s Nature deficit disorder page, http://www.education.com/topic/nature-deficit-disorder/.  This page is full of links to articles, tips, and explanations regarding the dangers posed by the modern child’s stronger connection to electronics than to nature. 

The second website I found is called Science for Citizens, http://scienceforcitizens.net/.  This site provides links to worldwide science projects that all citizens can become involved with.  There are projects such as tracking wildlife, seasonal changes, rainfall, water observations, astrology and many more.  I, in fact, signed up for budwatch – where people can observe and log the seasonal changes in trees, and WildObs, where people can use their phones to track wildlife spotting.  Doing these projects is an incentive to observe nature closely, to connect nature and technology, and to help scientists collect data in ways previously impossible – on a worldwide basis.  I am very excited about the possibilities of using these citizen projects within my classroom, with my family, and personally.  A project such as budwatch only requires some time outside each day to observe changes in trees – but it is a great incentive to make this time outside a priority.

I think that nature education definitely adds to quality in daycare because so many children are missing out on a connection with nature in their lives.  Still, while some programs provide children with safe green spaces to explore, others have playgrounds with no green spaces and still others do not even have playgrounds.  It seems that if there was a national standard of nature education, this could help solve the problem of Nature Deficit Disorder.

Early childhood is the absolute best time to start children’s connection with nature.  This is the window of time within which children need to be exposed to the natural world – because it is during this critical period that children feel natural about their part in the natural world.  Young children feel natural picking up bugs, changing the flow of rivers, picking up sticks and chasing seagulls.  At a certain age, without exposure, the easy feeling of being a part of the natural world disappears without exposure, and a sense of fear takes its place.  Early childhood cannot be regained once it is lost – so children must experience the world during this time. 

Works Cited

Nature defecit Disorder. (2011). Retrieved April 9, 2011, from Education.com: http://www.education.com/topic/nature-deficit-disorder/

ScienceForCitizens.net. (2010). Retrieved April 9, 2011, from http://scienceforcitizens.net/

Equality of Education in Serbia

My Serbian contact, Zora Petrovich, explained more to me about the issues in education in Serbia.

In the past decade, Serbia has gone through major political changes.  The eight year Balkan War ended, they transitioned from a communist government to a democratic government, and they became an independent country.  While of all these changes were meant to lead to the betterment of the country - and they might do that in the future - they have created huge gaps in opportunities between the rich and the poor.



First of all, there are huge numbers of war orphans.  Many of these children were adopted by families from rich countries - but so many more remain.  they live in large orphanages where they do receive schooling - but the quality of this schooling is very low compared to schools for privileged students.  The goal for these orphans is that they will be laborers when they are old enough to leave the orphanage - which means that there education is designed to prepare them for menial jobs in the work force and nothing more.


Still worse, however, are the opportunities for the Roma children - the extremely poor.  These are the children of peasants and gypsies.  They make up 7% of the population, and the majority of them do not have the opportunity to attend school at all.  They begin work within their family groups at a very young age, and often work for money outside of the family beginning in the elementary years.  The Roma children who do attend school are unlikely to complete elementary school.  Fewer boys complete school than girls because they have more job opportunities at a young age.



Another population that is emerging as problematic is the children of war crimes.  Many women were raped by soldiers, and those children are now getting older and entering the educational system.  While none of the crimes of war are the fault of these children, there is a societal rejection of them.  Many families do not see these children as equal to their other children, and the community often expresses a hatred of these children - as they are seen as a symbol of the atrocities the Serbian people experienced during the war.  The opportunities for and future of these children is uncertain.


Privileged children in Serbia, however, attend schools considered equal to the top institutions in the continent.  They will become the great thinkers,scientists, innovators, writers and politicians of the future.