Friday, December 10, 2010

Viewing Children Holistically

  • I think that a child's cognitive, biosocial, and psychological developments should be assessed.  I believe that the benefits of knowing where your child stands as opposed to other children's growth, out way the disadvantages of not knowing.  Whatever the diagnosis or measurements that are given in return can help your child have a more productive and happier childhood and life in general.  School age children in the U.S. are always assessed.  They are assessed on their educational levels, values, growth development, and their ability to portray good behavior.
  • I chose to do some research on school aged children in China.  I have always heard stories of the children in China being under pressure to be "the best".  Based on my research, this is what I have found out.  "Children usually entered primary school at seven years of age for six days a
    week. The two-semester school year consisted of 9.5 months, with a long vacation
    in July and August. Urban primary schools typically divided the school week into
    twenty-four to twenty-seven classes of forty-five minutes each, but in the rural
    areas the norm was half-day schooling, more flexible schedules, and itinerant
    teachers. Most primary schools had a five-year course, except in such cities as
    Beijing and Shanghai, which had
    reintroduced six-year primary schools and accepted children at six and one-half
    years rather than seven. The primary-school curriculum consisted of Chinese,
    mathematics, physical education, music, drawing, and elementary instruction in
    nature, history, and geography, combined with practical work experiences around
    the school compound. A general knowledge of politics and moral training, which
    stressed love of the motherland, love of the party, and love of the people (and
    previously love of Chairman Mao), was another part of the curriculum. A foreign
    language, often English, was introduced in about the third grade. Chinese and
    mathematics accounted for about 60 percent of the scheduled class time; natural
    science and social science accounted for about 8 percent."
The only other comments I would like to share about labeling children are that their are many services and help available to children.  In order to find out what services will help  a child who is in need, they have to find out what is wrong.  I truly do not like the term "labeled".  NO child should be defined as their condition or disagnosis.  If we start to change our way of thoughts then maybe we as people can start to treat everyone as equals.

Retreived from www.countrystudies.us/china.com

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Chantrell,

It is interesting that many countries do not start introducing structure education until seven years old. They must be doing something right, because the children don't seem to be missing anything, they seem to actually be gaining more from the extra "playtime".

Thank you for sharing.

Unknown said...

Hi Chantrell,

I just wanted to say thank you and also that it has been exciting going through this journey with you. I hope to see you in the next set of classes.