By Winnie Bolton
I attended a women’s Catholic college on the East Coast called “St. Joseph’s, which is presently co-ed. Being a child study major, the department’s emphasis was not only observing how children’s minds develop but also creating learning environments responsive to their initiatives, interests and needs.
In their early years, children learn social skills, understand feelings, explore and investigate their private limited world and enjoy the process.
My education not only was to result in a bachelor’s degree but to engage in partnerships with the local school districts on child development and science activities.
It’s not unusual that in large cities such as New York, a college’s child development program was a tremendous asset to the city’s overwhelming needs.
“Never underestimate the seeds of wisdom that a child’s mind holds,” said one of my professors as she expanded on her younger days as a naïve first-grade teacher. This is a story she shared.
“The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch,” she said. “At the head table there was a large pile of apples and I had posted a note on the tray which read, ‘Take only one. God is watching.’ Moving farther along the lunch line was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child responding to the note advised his nearby classmates to take all the chocolate chip cookies they wanted because God was watching the apples.”
We as students, myself included, were encouraged to be creative, innovative and flexible as we problem-solved to help students develop their full potential. There was a preschool development center incorporated in St. Joseph’s College for that purpose. Still today, I enjoy my college’s quarterly magazine hoping to keep abreast of accomplishments in the innocent heritage of our civilization.
