sarah@rdin.UUCP (sarah) (08/31/83)
cFbL*Q
What are people's opinions on day care centers (in the U.S. and/or
elsewhere)? Should the government encourage, subsidize, or provide
them? What impact do you think they have on the work force, the
family, the movement for women's equality?
Sarah Groves
New York
philabs!rdin!sarahrlh@ihuxl.UUCP (BTL) (09/22/83)
I don't see how anyone can approve of daycare centers. How can a child be given the necessary attention when the attendant is responsible for 10 to 15 children. Any woman that says she can be a good mother and also have a career is only trying to fool herself. Children of working mothers fall behind the children of non-working mothers in school and other areas of development. I think it is selfish for mothers to work. They treat their children like toys or pets.
mason@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Mason) (09/24/83)
I don't see how anyone can approve of daycare centers. How can a child be
given the necessary attention when the attendant is responsible for 10 to
15 children. Any man that says he can be a good father and also have a
career is only trying to fool himself. Children of working fathers fall
behind the children of non-working fathers in school and other areas of
development. I think it is selfish for fathers to work. They treat their
children like toys or pets.
I couldn't resist. Although I don't think a daycare centre provides as
rich an environment as a home where the parent can devote the entire day
to the edification of the child (except in social interaction with other
children of a comparable age), in most cases parents that are caring for
the children are also responsible for housecare, and a variety of other
things leaving considerably less than a full day for the child. I don't
think the case is nearly as strong either way as was stated in the first
paragraph. (for those who haven't seen it, there is a similar note floating
around which has changed the sex of the parent in my first paragraph, which
changes it from an obvious statement of fact into transparent nonsense!)
-- Dave Mason, U. Toronto CSRG,
{cornell,watmath,ihnp4,floyd,allegra,utzoo,uw-beaver}!utcsrgv!mason
or {decvax,linus,research}!utzoo!utcsrgv!mason (UUCP)courtney@hp-pcd.UUCP (09/27/83)
#R:ihuxl:-60800:hp-pcd:19100016:000:410 hp-pcd!courtney Sep 26 08:52:00 1983 Responding to "rlh": What do you mean by "necessary attention"? It seems to me that child care centers provide of the most stimulating environments possible for a child. Not only are the attendents experienced and prepared to provide children with stimulating activities, but the opportunity to interact with other children seems to be an essential ingredient to raising a well-adjusted individual. c. l.
engels@ihuxs.UUCP (10/03/83)
Question: Who created the golden rule that children are ready to enter school at the age of 5 or 6?
german@uiucuxc.UUCP (10/05/83)
#R:ihuxl:-60800:uiucuxc:22800015:000:141 uiucuxc!german Oct 4 12:24:00 1983 Daycare has its place in todays life-style. It may not be for everyone, but it works fine for some. Greg German uiucdcs!uiucuxc!german
preece@uicsl.UUCP (10/08/83)
#R:pyuxnn:-13800:uicsl:16400028:000:1377 uicsl!preece Oct 7 10:39:00 1983 Children mature at different rates and individuals differ. I have heard arguments (references on request; they're at home) That 5 & 6 is TOO EARLY to subject children to the pressures of book-larnin'... ---------- Kids do mature at different rates but it's hard to determine the rate of maturation in an objective fashion. By starting education at a fixed age society says "most kids are ready to start school at this age." There are clearly exceptions. I would say, from watching my five year old and the kids she goes to school with, that most of them could have started earlier. By requiring kids to start at a certain age we are protecting them from their parents, in some cases. I'd like to see exceptions written into the law, so that parents with strong feelings could petition to have children admitted early or late and have a fair chance to convince the arbitrating committee that the change is appropriate to the needs of their particular child. Some parents are over-aggressive and are pushing for their kids to move as fast as possible, some parents are over-protective and would hold their children back as much as possible. Having an exceptions committee would give concerned parents a chance to protect their children from arbitrary birthdate cutoffs while protecting society's and the child's interests as well. scott preece pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (10/24/83)
I agree with Scott Preece that most kids are well able to deal with school before the age of 5 or 6. In fact, I suspect that one reason kids tend to dislike school is that they are not allowed to go at the time they are most keen to learn. My daughter went to an English kindergarten school at 3:8, where she was taught the 3 R's along with a certain amount of rest and recreation (5 Rs?) from 9:00 till 3:30 5 days per week, and she loved it. When we returned to Canada a year later, we enrolled her at a school which claimed to "really work the kids hard, because they enjoy it." The school day was from 9:30 to noon. After 3 weeks my daughter came back complaining she was terribly bored: "When are we ever going to be allowed to work? All we do is play with clay and draw all day." She never really recovered the enthusiasm she had shown in England. By the time that "hard-working" Canadian school got around to teaching readin, ritin, an rithmetic, she had to be persuaded to do the work that previously she loved. (PS She seems to have come out of it OK in the end). Martin Taylor