Through Children's Eyes: President Obama and Future Generation

Helen Bond, Ph.D. Dr. Bond is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Howard University in Washington, DC. She has an undergraduate degree in Education and a Ph.D. in Human Development. She is a published researcher in international education, sociology of childhood, culture and technology, and Holocaust education and human rights. She teaches courses in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and team-teaches an interdisciplinary course on social media and political change in Africa with an African Studies colleague. Dr. Bond was selected as a 2011-2012 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar to India focusing on peace education and teacher quality at the College of Education at the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu India, a renowned university where Mahatma Gandhi laid the founding stone. She also served as an international researcher for the United Nations Development Program and Ministries of Education in Ethiopia conducting a nationwide study on the development of a teacher licensing system in Ethiopia. In addition, she has given scholarly presentations at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg South Africa, American College of Greece in Athens, Justus Liebig-University of Giessen in Germany, and at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar to India, Dr. Bond gave talks on the education of women and girls at Avinashilingam University for Women in Coimbatore, India and spoke on similar topics at Sacred Heart College for women in Kerala, India and was the first foreigner to visit Sri Sarada College of Education in Salem, India. Dr. Bond has published widely including articles in the Sociology of Education: An A-to-Z Guide, International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, Handbook of Research on Culturally Aware Technology, and the Weekly Journal of Higher Education published by the Association of Indian Universities. She has published book chapters focusing on the education of women and girls, historically black colleges and universities, teacher migration, educational technology, and human rights. Dr. Bond also served four years as a Human Rights Commissioner appointed by the Governor of West Virginia and confirmed by the State Senate. She won the Phi Beta Delta International Essay award at Virginia Tech for a scholarly essay that focused on her dissertation research on education and human development in Ghana, West Africa.

Bernadine Barr, Ph.D. Dr. Barr is a Collegiate Professor (School of Undergraduate Studies) at the University of Maryland, University College. She received an undergraduate degree from Brown University, Masters of Fine Arts degree from University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Child and Adolescent Development from Stanford University School of Education. At Stanford she served five years as an Academic Advisor to undergraduates with significant health problems. Her dissertation, “Spare Children,” examined the use of children in orphanages as subjects of research in medicine, psychology, psychiatry, and education. She served as a Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Education and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Psychiatry at the Sanford University School of Medicine. During her postdoctoral years Dr. Barr traveled to England, Sweden and Hungary to discuss possible ways to improve the outcomes of children living in institutions. She won an essay prize from the Society for Social Research in Medicine in England for a research paper on an early use of the incubator as entertainment at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. She has 12 years of teaching experience and experience writing courses in multicultural education, child development, parenting, race relations, and global migration. After college, Dr. Barr served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cuzco, Peru, where she founded a center for nutritional recuperation for infants and their Quechua-speaking mothers. Living six years in Latin America, she is fluent in Spanish. After returning to the United States, she developed museum programs for school children and studied for her Ph.D. In her teaching, she works to reach disadvantaged and minority college students by incorporating all students’ life experiences as text in university courses. Dr. Barr is an official and unofficial mentor to faculty members who are new to online teaching at UMUC. She has been nominated numerous times for university-wide teaching awards.

Izolda Fotiyeva, Ph.D. Dr. Fotiyeva received her degrees in physics and mathematics at The Ural State University, Russia　and　Russian Academy of Science. Her interest in teaching emerged by the time she attended post-graduate school and became closely involved in a successful program that taught core school subjects to children in rural and underprivileged areas. While successfully working as a research scientist,　her passion for teaching grew and she eventually decided to focus on education as her principal activity and passion. After　her arrival to United States from Russia in 1995, Dr. Fotiyeva started working as a producer on a public television station, fulfilling her dream to produce public affairs programming. In 2002 she was nominated for an Emmy Award as a producer of WHUT Television station's flagship show Evening Exchange with Kojo Nnamdi.　In 2004, she won the Telly Award for producing. In 2003 Izolda published her first book "Math with Mom" which introduces children and parents to the world of early mathematics.　In 2010 she published her second book "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Algebra Word Problems" with Alpha Publishing, a member of Penguin Group, Inc., where she introduces high school and college students to the world of mathematics.　In 2005 Izolda joined the faculty of the Howard University School of Education where she teaches mathematics and science courses to help preservice teachers be more effective with children in K-12 schools. As a native Russian, Dr. Fotiyeva speaks fluent Russian and is familiar with Russian culture, Russian schools, and the Russian way of life.　

Fang Wu, Ph.D. Dr. Wu received her bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Beijing Normal University, Master of Arts degree in Preschool Education from University of Pittsburgh, and Ph.D. in Developmental Studies and Early Childhood Education from UCLA. Dr. Wu is an Associate Professor and Early Childhood Education Program Coordinator in the School of Education at Howard University. Dr. Wu served as a teacher educator in the United States for 20 years. In addition, she also has more than 10 years of teaching experience with young children in China and in the United States. Dr. Wu's research foci are on social and emotional development of children in China and in the United States, parenting effect on child development, and children adopted from China by American parents. She is also interested in developmentally appropriate curriculum and teaching practice in early childhood education. Dr. Wu taught summer seminars in China regularly since 1996, and she writes extensively for Chinese early childhood education magazines and radio shows since 1998. As a teacher educator, one of Dr. Wu's goals is to facilitate cultural exchanges hence increase mutual understandings between people in China and in the United States. Dr. Wu has twice received the Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad awards to take American teachers to China for cultural studies. She has also received the 2011 Fulbright Specialist Program award to teach in Shaanxi Normal University in China. As a native Chinese, Dr. Wu speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and is familiar with the Chinese culture as well as the educational systems in China.

Endorsements

"Politics uses children as symbols all the time. Candidates kiss babies. Elected officials decry policies as bad for kids or promote them as good for future generations. But as much as politics often uses children as symbols, few take the attitudes, opinions, or emotions of children seriously enough to ask kids themselves what they are thinking and feeling. In this important new book a group of respected researchers corrects this deficit by making children the subject of a smart inquiry into the current political and racial environment. The authors rightly point to the election of President Obama as a meaningful shift in American racial politics and ask, how the symbolic and substantive reality of a black president changes how children around the world perceive America, opportunity, and their own life chances. It is a compelling, serious, and often surprising book that deserves a wide readership. No other texts asks and answers these critical questions that desperately need answers. This book takes us around the world in a fascinating exploration of the minds of the world's youth as they witness the Obama moment."

~Melissa Harris-Perry, Professor at Tulane University, and host of “Melissa Harris-Perry” on MSNBC, USA

“Through Children’s Eyes is an important book. It documents the effect of Barack Obama’s 2008 election on school-aged children in a number of countries to show how he has become a figure of hope and the personification of peace and an end of racism in many places around the world. The book very carefully traces differences in school-age children’s and youths’ reactions to Obama’s election in the form of their drawings of the president and their answers to questions about how they learned about him and how he has impacted on their lives. Quite patently, the children’s drawings speak volumes: In Sierra Leone a youth depicts him as a Big Man. In China, children and youth draw him, incredibly movingly, with Asian features. And in Russia, he is depicted alternatively as bringing peace between the two nations or as a figure of violence. Thus Through Children’s Eyes is not undifferentiated in its analysis of the Obama effect on children in five very different nations. The book is to be highly recommended both for those interested in political education and development and those wishing to inquire into the effect of the Obama presidency beyond the provenance of the United States.”

 ~Greta Olson, Professor at Institut für Anglistik, Justus-Liebig-Universitat, Giessen, Germany

“Through Children’s Eyes provides a unique perspective on President Obama’s ascent, from the world’s most valuable resource, our children. The authors masterfully organize children’s prose and art to give a rare glimpse at how [children believe] current events will shape tomorrow. The book is awe-inspiring and fun. It will stimulate the highbrow, while entertaining the leisure reader. The book embodies the landscape of a new world, with bigger dreams, looser boundaries and deeper human connections.”

~Ivory A. Toldson, Associate Professor at Howard University, Senior Research Analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Negro Education, USA

“The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 was an historic moment for our diverse democracy. We are only now beginning to understand its profound significance. This book is an excellent start for our much-needed dialogue. The voices of the next generation show how far we have come and how far they will take us.”

~Frank H. Wu, Chancellor and Dean of the Hastings College of the Law, University of California, USA

Customer Reviews: