It’s been a while since cynthiadunsford dot com has been attended to. It’s been a very busy last month and my energy seems not to have extended itself much past the committee meetings, forums, people meetings etc. to save enough for keeping up the website. Hopefully I can slot enough time each week (at least) to keep things fresh from here on in.

Aside from the meetings, the end of September included a great variety of events and gatherings. There was the Arts Mixer at The Guild, a book launch by Alice Taylor on Bullying, and…

a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Adult Education on PEI… I have always been fascinated by a child’s learning process, but to see adults celebrate in their learning (new found and otherwise) is quite a different thing. Different in the sense that adults can verbalize their emotional experience and are deeply aware of the effort it takes to begin to learn or to read as an adult. It is easy for us to find fault in systems and spend time and energy pointing fingers and blaming one another. It is even easier to categorize people as lazy or incapable. And then you walk into a room where dozens and dozens of Islanders are celebrating with each other because they said yes and decided to take that bold step into the light, and learn to read, or finish high school. I can’t tell you how inspiring it is to read about and hear the stories of individuals who have taken this step, or better still, to witness a wonderfully delivered speech by a guy in his 40′s whose new lease on life oozes over in every word.

Fraser Mustard was also in town recently, and it was an honour to be part of the workshop roundtable discussions. Mustard is a leader in early childhood development and the early years. his research on brain functions and development with regards to children from birth on, is not only essential, but provide for the foundations needed to design and implement programs and education for children. I am hoping to see more and  more of his work, and the work of his organization, infiltrate the appropriate department(s) in the government of PEI and beyond.

This work is even more important, now on PEI, in the midst of a transition. Kindergarten in the schools, facing the issue of declining enrollment, and dealing with the unique situations in districts like Stratford-Kinlock, where the challenges are concerned with growth instead of decline. How do we move the chess pieces forward at the same time and uphold the essential basic ingredient: QUALITY EDUCATION. How do we take care of both the front end and back end of our education system so that Islanders end up literate?

The challenges are seemingly immense, but not new. I am looking forward to my continued work on, what I see as, one of the most essential and emergent issues of our day.