Getting to Know Your International Contact: Part 1

After three weeks of posting numerous Facebook post, LinkedIn statuses, emails to numerous of early childhood organizations, and speaking with family and friends I have found one International Contact. I made contact with this person through a mutual friend. The connection was made Thursday and it was better to email her rather than calling.

My International Contact name is Frau Doktor Anika Schmidt and she from Germany. She has a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood from Freie Universiate. She also has a Doctorate in Psychology from Freie Universiaet in Berlin. I asked her about what role she plays in the Early childhood field, are there any changes she would like to see happen in her country in the ECE field, and as a ECE professional what are ways she can help to make the early childhood better? She expressed that she works directly with Robert Bosch Siftung Center for Early Childhood Education (which is in conjunction with Freie Universiate) and she professionally assist the Hamburg government on Childhood Education in the political realm. Her desire is for her country to make changes in having more excess to ECE for fulltime working mothers and single parents. In Germany, there are not many funds that support working mothers and single parents. Lack of funds is due to the belief that children are suppose to be at home during the early stages of life. The government also made policies that restrict families of ECE funds for children under 3. As a ECE professional her focus is on political policies in the state of Hamburg encouraging the shift of preschool being regarded as an intrusion the private family life and making it an integral part of the German education system.



In addition, I asked Frau what were her views on poverty. She explain, Living in Hamburg and Berlin, poverty tends to be found in areas outside of the city, and areas tend to have families of ethnic minorities, single parents, and blue-collar workers. There are lower access to ECE in those areas, and the quality of education is lower, although there isn't as much of a disparity as in the US. 

Although, my international contact and I shared two emails I learned a lot in two days. Reading her email made me feel grateful and appreciative because the education system in Germany is way different than the US. In Germany, kindergarten is NOT FREE. The government feel that the children should be at home and children are not suppose to begin school until the age of 6. Germany government forces parents to pay tuition for children enrolled in kindergarten. In addition, I learned that along with the curriculum children must learn the state religion and prepare for jobs in the industry. As I was reading the email I couldn't imagine a 10 year old learning how to work. 

This week I learned that poverty is not a new topic. Poverty is happening globally and that the government needs to pay more attention to this issue. For a country (USA) to be one of the richest countries in the world I find it hard to believe that they are amongst the top countries with the highest homeless rate. In addition, I learned that people living poverty don't want to discuss the issues they have with their living status. It is great to know that there are organizations like "Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness" that are helping to eliminate poverty. I am very excited about this organization and I hope that by sharing this resource others will step up to help policy makers form better decisions about homelessness and poverty. 

If you would like to read more about source here is the link: Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness