Military Leaders for ECE

12/29/2009

My Head is crowned with Blazing Stars; whirling galaxies play at my feet.
Beth A Brown (1969-2008), NASA Astrophysicist

"As Former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it’s clear to us that our military readiness could be put in jeopardy given the fact that nearly 75 percent of young Americans are unable to serve in uniform. We joined Mission: Readiness because we believe that investing in our children through early education is not a Republican issue or Democratic issue. It’s a plain common sense issue critical to our National Security."

This bold statement by General John M. Shalikashvili and General Henry H. Shelton makes clear the challenge of the Mission: Readiness initiative. The two generals, joined by former NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, and nearly 90 other military leaders, are promoting more attention to early childhood education since a new report has concluded that 75 percent of young people ages 17 to 24 are unable to enlist in the military because they fail to graduate high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit. The generals are calling for "greater investment in high-quality early learning programs to ensure more young people graduate from high school, obey the law, and have the option of military service if they choose that path".

Speaking for the group, Rear Admiral James Barnett (USN, Ret.) observed, “The armed services are meeting recruitment targets in 2009, but those of us who have served in command roles are worried about the trends we see. Our national security in the year 2030 is absolutely dependent on what’s going on in pre-kindergarten today. We urge Congress to take action on this issue this year.”

Exchange's Many Resources on Challenging Behavior

Exchange has a number of extremely helpful resources for supporting teachers in dealing with children with challenging behaviors:

Our Beginnings Workshop book, Behavior, has 24 articles written by experts in the field on how to deal with challenging behavior.
Ten Out of the Box Training Kits on "Positive Discipline" provide directors with all the resources you need to conduct in-house training sessions.
Two Exchange CEU modules, "Managing Challenging Behavior" and "Social and Emotional Development", provide credit for reading Exchange magazine articles.
Exchange's newest resource, the DVD, Facing the Challenge is an expertly crafted video training tool).

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