Early Childhood Education/Small Changes

Because of the reaction to my last post, it occurs to me to write a little bit about the importance of early childhood education. A business leader I admire says that what it set in motion, carries in motion. Once something is in motion, it's very hard to stop or redirect. And this is true whichever direction the path takes. If, for example, a child learns to love reading and education, you won't be able to pry a book out of that person's hand with a crowbar. On the other hand, if a child gets no exposure to books until arriving at school, as I'm told does happen, how is that person ever going to love reading? It's likely always going to be a struggle, and that child is not going to achieve as much, in school or in life, as the one who had exposure to reading. It's not impossible to change later, but I believe everyone would be much better off if everyone got a better start.

I was very fortunate to have parents who believed in education, and in fact, all my relatives did. , so no matter who was taking care of me, I was encouraged to read and learn. and indeed, no amount of convincing would keep me from picking up a new book, and I usually have about three going at the same time. Learning is a constant source of happiness and renewal in my life--I don't know what I would do without it.

Regarding what is set in motion being carried in motion, I discovered it is possible to make changes if I don't like what's going on, even to those things where I might rationalize, "It's just the way I am." My brother said once, if you don't like what's happening, do something different. Similarly my minister advised, start by making a small change, and the bid change you want to see happen will slowly start to look possible. And in fact that is turning out to be the case. In my situation, I've mostly been uncomfortable participating in large group situations. So my minister, by recruiting me to be a co-facilitator, in our small-group ministry program, gave me the opportunity to get to know other people and let myself be known in a safe situation. I wasn't great at it the first year, but in the second and third years I started to become a lot more comfortable. Now, in any situation, I can initiate the conversation, even with people I don't know, just by saying hello, and I enjoy it. This is still a work in progress, and I'm not where I want to be yet, but there has been progress and I'm a lot happier.