Yes We Can!

Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/yes-we-can!/5018703/

America has just inaugurated a new President, and, thanks to modern technology, we were all there. Actually there should have been a special grandstand for early childhood personnel along the parade route with a poster in front proclaiming: “We helped achieve President Obama’s Victory.” Probably few of the pundits analyzing voting patterns will give the early childhood field much credit for the victory, but we deserve our share. This realization came to me on election night as I watched those exultant young adult voters in Grant Park in Chicago, many of whom were voting for the first time, celebrating their role in the victory. And, indeed, they had a right to do so, as young adults overwhelmingly chose Candidate Obama and helped put him over the top. As I watched their glee I could not suppress the slightly arrogant reaction, “Those are my children, and the children of countless co-workers in early childhood, grown up and functioning as effective citizens.” Granted, not all of them attended one of our programs, but many of them undoubtedly did. And, without the kind of start we helped them obtain, they might not have cared who got elected. We not only believed in them, but ...