Read this article from Minneapolis on our skewed societal views. It discusses the proposal to put $1 billion toward a stadium, and the author imagines that money being put toward education. In case the link doesn’t work, the article is called Stadiums Vs Our Children’s Future, by Gary Cunningham, Star Tribune
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
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March 25, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Josh
Interesting article, for many reasons.
This argument is old as the hills.
What blew me away was his honesty, right up front. The author says – “I’m not sure it was a realistic choice (in part because I love the Vikings).”
This is how he initially frames his review of different policies and reasons for ECD. So the entire time, in the back of our minds, we’re thinking “it isn’t realistic.”
He sums up by serving another seemingly insurmountable blow to the whole concept, quoting the unnamed state legislator, who says – “It’s simple, at the Legislature it is about entrenched interest and power and children don’t have either.”
How are we supposed to feel when we read an article like that? Does it lead us to come up with solutions, or merely to shrug our shoulders at the progress of the “inevitable?”
The question posed (which is never explicitly posed, or expanded upon) is “How do we get more funding for ECD?”
Priorities will always be priorities. But priorities are shifted by action. The Minnesotan’s love of the Vikings is a priority that is manufactured by media, social persuasion, and everything underlying that (desire for power? money?).
The question is, how do we shift priorities, or at least make our priority (ECD) seem like a valuable partner-priority to already existing, dominant priorities?
Tax-breaks are one way. Why do we always see those United Way campaign commercials from NFL footballers? Well, teams/organizations and individuals get to write off charitable donations. Maybe that’s one way.
Another way is one that Arne Naess recommended the “ecological” movement in the 1970′s take – to make an economic argument for “green.” It took a lot of years for people to grasp his message, but now that it’s happened, you see it everywhere. Everything is sold as “green,” and people come together under the “green banner” to get things done (even very opposite groups, like Exxon and Greenpeace).
Under the “green banner,” and all of the ideals and slogans that it stands for, corporations can see a way to continue to make profits while serving the people’s desire for efficiency and ecological-friendliness.
Many of the efforts for ECD, or childhood development in general (including play and physical education, arts education, and education generally), fail to recognize this important fact – their “customer” is the organization from which they’re seeking assistance.
That is, they need to market to the groups they want help from…
Instead, these groups often just talk about their own interests – like a selfish boyfriend or girlfriend. “Blah blah blah, I want more money for the children…” is all the owners of the Minnesota Vikings hear. They drink their wine, look around anxiously at the other tables in the restaurant, wondering how the Redskins owners got that good looking partner, and why they’re laughing and having so much fun…they excuse themselves to go to the bathroom and then make a break for their car, never looking back.
Consider this – how would you create a “product” out of Early Childhood Development? What would that product look like. What problem would it solve for the people who could buy it (who are not children, by the way…they are adults, and in the case of the article listed, corporations)? What are the compelling fears and desires of your customer (those adults and corporations), and how can you appeal to those fears and desires in your marketing? How do you solve their problem? How do you put the risk of buying your product on yourself, and take the risk off of your prospective customer? Finally, how do you sell it? And once it is sold, what happens next?
March 25, 2010 at 4:33 pm
L.I.F.T. » Blog Archive » Priorities in Education
[...] good friend Kwame Brown recently posted an article from the Star Tribune’s “Your Voices” site, entitled [...]
May 13, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Christian Martinez
Greetings Dr. Brown
This is Christian Martinez Rivera from Puerto Rico, I attended your conferences at Club Industry in New York City. Together with the municipality of Mayaguez (the city I live in) I run a program for obese children that consist of three weekly hours of exercise during three months combined with nutritional advice. Each trimester we pick 50 kids, and the results have been successful. I would like our program to have an alliance with IYCA since we are pioneers on the development of a project that meets the scientific aspects of sports training for children in Puerto Rico. Right after the conference I bought the ICYA certification course. Not many people know about this association in Puerto Rico and that is why we would like to promote the association here and offer your courses. Right now I am the only owner of a fitness for children that works with child obesity and the scientific aspects of sports training. I would also like for you to visit us sometime, that way we could build stronger ties between IYCA and Children’s FitZone. I would also like to congratulate you for the excellence of your conferences. The given information has been very helpful.
You can find our information on any of these links:
http://www.childrenfitzone.com
http://www.facebook.com/childrensfitzone