What is the Importance of Early Childhood Education?
Early
childhood education is an education that preparing children before go to
elementary school. Early childhood education offered for children under six
years old through various types of media and methods. Institutionally, early
childhood education that already exist in Indonesia is a package in the form of
Kindergarten and Playgroup but people can do it independently. Early Childhood
Education (ECE) aims to help the cognitive and social development of preschool
children before they enter the elementary school. At an early age of 0-6 years
the brain develops extremely fast up to 80%. At that age the brain receives and
absorbs various kind of information, does not see good and bad. Those are the
times when children’s physical, mental and spiritual development will begin to
form. Because of this, many people said that this kind of period called the
golden age.
Based
on the result of the study, around 50% of the intelligence of adults has
occurred when a child is 4 years old, 80% has developed rapidly about brain
cell when the child is 8 years old and reaches its peak when the child is 18
years old, and after that despite improvements in nutrition will not affect
cognitive development. According to Byrnes, early childhood education will
provide preparation for children to face the future, the closest is facing
school. “At the present, some kindergartens have asked students who want to
register there to be able to read and count. In kindergarten, children had
begun to be taught social skills and problem solving. Because those abilities
can be formed from an early age” explained Byrnes.
Then
according to Byrnes also, that early childhood education is important, because
it is at the age that children form the best education. It is at this age that
children must form their readiness to face school and the future. And this is
also the best investment that can be given to children is educational
preparation at an early age. Indeed, it cannot be denied that early childhood
education is a very basic and strategic education in the development of human
resources. Once the importance of education is not surprising that many
countries pay enormous attention to the implementation of this education until
the Indonesian government also provides free education services up to the
junior high level. Therefore, early childhood education is very important for
Indonesian children in the future.
A lot
of psychological flow talk about the importance of self-esteem or humanism
self-esteem, especially Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Rogers divide the concept of
self into three parts, namely : (1) self-ideal, (2) self-image, and (3)
self-esteem. Self-image is perception that we are against ourselves. Whereas
assessment against ourselves, good-bad, smart-stupid this is called
self-esteem. People who have self-esteem optimal is called self-ideal. High and
low self-esteem depending on the ideal distance between yourself (ideal self)
and self-image. If long, low self-esteem. But if the distance is short the
pride is high (Musbikin,2004 : 96)
Harter
in Papalia (2009:383) say that as well as self-concept, self-esteem in the
early childhood tends to be all or nothing; ‘I’m good’ or ‘I’m bad’. Only in
middle childhood can a personal evaluation of competence and ability based on
internalizing a child’s parent or social standard become important in shaping
or maintaining a feeling of self-worth. In some literature, the term of
self-perception is also used which is a collection of beliefs and feelings that
children have towards themselves. This assessment is very influential on the emotional
development, behaviour and adaptation of children in the social environment.
Children usually judge themselves in a simple form, for example “I can wear my
own clothes already” or “I have many friends”. How high self-esteem of children
is very influential in the preschool period where they begin to learn to learn
new things.
Self-esteem
is a continuous process. Self-esteem that has been formed at an early age will
have a very significant influence on the behaviour of children’s lives in the
future. Real steps and the use of appropriate strategies need to be done by the
teacher and the school in order to pour out the development of children’s
self-esteem in the process learning. It must be realized that the growth of
respect their children for oneself is inseparable from how other people respect
their children. So the important is the development of self-esteem for each
individual, it is necessary to have synergic cooperation between teachers in
schools and parents.
Sources :
Jurnal “ STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN HARGAA
DIRI ANAK USIA DINI “ oleh Dwi Hastuti (PG PAUD FKIP UAD YOGYAKARTA)
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar