I am enrolled in a teacher education program at my local university. I see a big contrast with this program I'm in today, as compared with the early childhood education program I was in fifteen years ago at an Oregon community college. Yesterday for the first time, we got an opportunity to go into the campus early childhood center. I was very disturbed with how the child development center was set up, there. The rooms with the kids are on the perimeter, and in the middle there is a large common area, with big observation vestibules which have one way glass and listening equipment. The feeling this gives us students, is that we are being asked to put on rubber gloves before we get our hands into the business of working with children. And, in this preschool, one thing I noted I saw was that there was very poor eye contact between the children and the adult teachers in the rooms. The children looked like they were being herded from activity to activity, rather than being personally and passionately engaged by the teacher.

It's also fascinating to see how centrally important it is to our university department that we get finger prints, and get background checks done, and fill out papers about any criminal convictions we've had. It's very off-putting. It's fine to have these sort of things woven into the process - I understand the concerns about liability - but these things shouldn't be focused on with such incredibly intensity, because you need to make those who wish to work with children feel as if their energy and passion for working with children is wanted.

To contrast this experience with another I had here, in town:

I really liked the kind of warm welcome I got a couple years ago when I walked into one particularly nice elementary school in my town, and offered to volunteer. I immediately was given a chance to talk with the principal (who was on playground duty, that day), and he placed me with a teacher who he knew I would fit in well, with. She is extremely warm and encouraging. My positive experience at that school is actually the reason I'm going back to finish my bachelor's and become a teacher myself. The policy in that school is that anyone from the public can come and volunteer. And as long as they are working in the room with a teacher, they don't need to have a background check. When the teacher wants them to start working alone with small groups of kids, (which is highly encouraged), they need to go get a letter from the police station and bring it in to the administration building. After this, they get a little photo ID on a lanyard which looks exactly like the ones the teachers use. This means that parents really respect you, and look up to you, and ask you questions when they come to pick up their kids. The way this is set up makes for a very nice atmosphere. One of the reasons this school is such a pleasant one, is that they really engage with parents - parents are welcome to come teach little extra-curricular activities, and to come meet and talk with the teachers several times a year at little festive events. Schools should be these sorts of community hubs, in my opinion. It's really a lot more practical for teachers if they have volunteers coming in a lot to help with the classes and to do extra things with the kids.

The last time I was there at this, my favorite school - on my way out, I passed a little class of six or seven kids being taught violin in the hallway... and I stopped and chatted for a couple minutes with them, and the parent volunteer who was leading the class. I had an extra comment I wanted to tell the kids about how best to practice. It's so nice to have a cordial atmosphere.