DC now requiring day care workers to have college degrees

[Anonymous]

I have a master's degree and I'm sure I would have failed that test.

This sort of thing is better addressed by vocational certification. You don't need a BA to learn about basic childcare needs.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What exactly does D.C. hope to accomplish with this new requirement?

To make kids safer and better cared-for?

Seems pretty obvious

Except having a teacher with a degree doesn't make a kid any safer or better cared for. If we were talking about CPR training or some other training specifically tied to the job you might have a point, but a degree (which could be in something wholly unrelated to childcare/early education) doesn't provide that.

I would much rather have a 50-year old with years of experience caring for kids (her own and others in a professional capacity) than a 22-yr old who happens to have a degree.

I don't like creeping credentialism either but isn't the degree in child development / early education?

otherwise yes it's totally insane.

What DC should do is form a partnership with UDC, AU, Trinity, Catholic etc-subsidize this degree and have a 'payback requirement'. IE loan forgiveness for working two years in a DC daycare facility. This type of set up is common for school teachers. They should also grandfather current workers so they have time to do this, subsidize daycare for their kids while they do this, and of course expect salaries to rise and address the impact of that. Last, they should have a non-traditional route that accounts for those who have proven or can prove they have the skillset in other ways. Teachers have hated creeping credentialing as it has inadvertently kept as many good people out as in, and that should not be the result here.

I understand the need for some level of training and education, but the CDA and associate degrees exist, and I'd like to know why those aren't adequate.

Well an associate's degree is a college degree, and is what DC is now requiring. Assistants have to have CDAs.

I'm a director and honestly (and generally), there is a HUGE difference in the quality of care given by degree holding caregivers vs. non degree caregivers. And this just happened a few minutes ago: a CDA-holding assistant teacher at my center was asked to take an online training on SIDS. There was a simple 7 question quiz at the end, requiring a minimum score of 60% to pass. After 4 tries, she still had not passed so I sat down with her and reviewed the material and helped her take the test.

I thought this article was very enlightening:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/02/16/the-famous-word-gap-doesnt-hurt-only-the-young-it-affects-many-educators-too/?utm_term=.c6f19ce2321d

LOL.
Again, how does that affect her ability to take care of babies/infants?
Uneducated women have been taking care/raising kids from the beginning of time.

Well, one of the questions on the quiz was regarding tummy time. She thought that tummy time meant putting a child to sleep on it's tummy as long as the child was supervised from time to time. So you drop your infant off, ask her to do tummy time with your child. Then be surprised when your kid who you put to sleep on her back suffocates in her crib at day care. Kids are at higher risk for dying from "SIDS" at daycare than they are at home, and one reason is that babies who are normally put to sleep on their backs at home then put on their stomachs at daycare are at higher risk.

Look, this person I'm talking about is wonderful with children. She really is. But do not pretend that her functional illiteracy does not impact her ability to do some child related tasks.

I'm sure that there's a correlation between people who are able to get Associate's degree, and their literacy and degree of factual knowledge about childcare. I also agree that all childcare workers need to have a degree of training about essential safety (eg tummy time). But that training has to be in a form that they can learn from -- there's no reason to think that a 7-question online quiz is the way to do it. Yes, in an ideal world all of our daycare workers would be Mary Poppins with PhDs in child development. But we're in a world where we pay minimum wage for childcare workers, so we need to be able to train and supervise them without requiring college degrees.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think the college requirement is great, but I also think mothers should consider taking six months to a year off from work at a minimum to be home with their baby rather than put them in day care. The longer kids stay at home, the better. We need to value caregiving as much as we value working outside the home. Making a college degree a requirement is a step in the right direction.

+1, absolutely. Totally worthwhile.

All I keep reading in this is "it'll cost too much, it'll cost too much".... criminy, what are your children worth, then?

I disagree. The reason most people oppose this is because a college degree simply isn't necessary or maybe even worthwhile for a childcare provider to perform their job. Infants don't even talk. Why is a college degree now necessary to feed, soothe and play with an infant? I really don't see how having a college degree with improve the care your children receive. I'd rather the government make the law stricter around number of infants per childcare provider.

They aren't just soothing and feeding. With kids spending 40-50+ hours a week with child care providers, those individuals are playing key roles (and in some case the primary role) in that child's social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral and moral growth and development. With each interaction and response, they are shaping this child's development. I think it should be essential that they do have an informed understanding of child development since that is a key aspect of their job responsibilities. A degree also means there has been research, critical thinking, analysis - all important to being able to making decisions in the moment that are critical to what a child is learning about themselves, others and the world around them.

Agree. This is why all reproductive-age people without degrees should be sterilized. It's for the greater good!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don't see how you could use a success/failure metric in this scenario?

So why not just make it the requirement and be done with it, knowing you'll have qualified people doing it?

Since when does a college degree assure you qualified people to take good care of your children? Don't be so naive. Remember what little children need more than anything... yes, competence, stability, and love.

There are plenty of adults with college degrees who have abused and even murdered children. Some of you are way too impressed by college degrees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of whether or not people without college degrees can give good care to young children- of course they can. But it's a matter of wanting an extra layer of security and assurance that the specific childcare provider you are paying will do so. Education and training ensures that the childcare providers will have a strong understanding of child development, how to teach, how to encourage positive emotional development, etc.

Do some people understand these things innately without college? Yes, absolutely. But do you have any way of knowing that the person watching your child is one of those people? No, you don't.

The college degree requirement lets parents know that they are sending their child to someone with an understanding of the science behind child development and also someone who is committed enough and passionate enough about taking care of children to go through the process of getting the degree.

Huh? Do you think parents who use day care just hand their kids off to random strangers about whom they know nothing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of whether or not people without college degrees can give good care to young children- of course they can. But it's a matter of wanting an extra layer of security and assurance that the specific childcare provider you are paying will do so. Education and training ensures that the childcare providers will have a strong understanding of child development, how to teach, how to encourage positive emotional development, etc.

Do some people understand these things innately without college? Yes, absolutely. But do you have any way of knowing that the person watching your child is one of those people? No, you don't.

The college degree requirement lets parents know that they are sending their child to someone with an understanding of the science behind child development and also someone who is committed enough and passionate enough about taking care of children to go through the process of getting the degree.

Huh? Do you think parents who use day care just hand their kids off to random strangers about whom they know nothing?

Most of the time - yes. When one tours and decides on a center there is typically little personal time spent with every caregiver to get to know them prior to starting. Most people do drop their kids off with strangers. I would say many on here whose kids have been in daycare for a long time don't know the education or knowledge base of the staff members other than through what they can pick up form observation or conversation at drop off and pick up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of whether or not people without college degrees can give good care to young children- of course they can. But it's a matter of wanting an extra layer of security and assurance that the specific childcare provider you are paying will do so. Education and training ensures that the childcare providers will have a strong understanding of child development, how to teach, how to encourage positive emotional development, etc.

Do some people understand these things innately without college? Yes, absolutely. But do you have any way of knowing that the person watching your child is one of those people? No, you don't.

The college degree requirement lets parents know that they are sending their child to someone with an understanding of the science behind child development and also someone who is committed enough and passionate enough about taking care of children to go through the process of getting the degree.

Huh? Do you think parents who use day care just hand their kids off to random strangers about whom they know nothing?

Most of the time - yes. When one tours and decides on a center there is typically little personal time spent with every caregiver to get to know them prior to starting. Most people do drop their kids off with strangers. I would say many on here whose kids have been in daycare for a long time don't know the education or knowledge base of the staff members other than through what they can pick up form observation or conversation at drop off and pick up.

That's not my experience. On what are you basing your opinion?

If you're the poster who works at a day care facility, I wish you would tell us which one. So we could all be sure to exclude it from consideration.

[Anonymous]

It shpuld be up to tge patents to decide on the education level.

We dont require parents to have advanced degrees, why would we require other categivers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It shpuld be up to tge patents to decide on the education level.

We dont require parents to have advanced degrees, why would we require other categivers?

We don't require parents to be licensed, inspected, have food handler licenses, CPR/First Aid certification, Medication Administration training, etc either. Why should caregivers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It shpuld be up to tge patents to decide on the education level.

We dont require parents to have advanced degrees, why would we require other categivers?

We don't require parents to be licensed, inspected, have food handler licenses, CPR/First Aid certification, Medication Administration training, etc either. Why should caregivers?

Agree. And why stop at a college degree? Let's require a masters at a minimum! We are talking about our precious children after all.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think it's a wonderful idea.

+1, we came from Wisconsin, and it's crazy out there how little regulation or enforcement action there was in daycare. At home operations run by people with almost zero training in anything. Scary.

It's better here, but a degree requirement would make it even better. You really can't skimp on this kind of thing. There's ways to save, keep your car a few years after you pay it off, whatever, but it's worth it.

Sweetie, no. Day care in DC is plenty regulated. We probably pay more for day care than your annual income.

You might want to head back to Wisconsin. Not sure you can hack it here. Especially if you have kids.

Wow, that was incredibly bitchy. You seem to recognize that she's in DC so why would "we" pay more than her/our annual income.

BTW, my child is at a daycare that meets this requirement and it's great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a wonderful idea.

+1, we came from Wisconsin, and it's crazy out there how little regulation or enforcement action there was in daycare. At home operations run by people with almost zero training in anything. Scary.

It's better here, but a degree requirement would make it even better. You really can't skimp on this kind of thing. There's ways to save, keep your car a few years after you pay it off, whatever, but it's worth it.

Sweetie, no. Day care in DC is plenty regulated. We probably pay more for day care than your annual income.

You might want to head back to Wisconsin. Not sure you can hack it here. Especially if you have kids.

Wow, that was incredibly bitchy. You seem to recognize that she's in DC so why would "we" pay more than her/our annual income.

BTW, my child is at a daycare that meets this requirement and it's great.

My child is at a daycare that doesn't meet this requirement and it's great.

[Anonymous]

My personal decision was to put my child, now age 4, in a center with teachers who all have at least a CDA. I revisit the decision about once a year -- so I've toured A LOT of other daycares -- but I always decide to stay there (and yes, I'm fortunate to afford it). The reason I stay is that plenty of warm loving people are not equipped to deal with normal toddler behavior. I do not want my child to hear something nasty from an overwhelmed teacher who either doesn't realize the behavior is normal or doesn't know how to respond appropriately. I did not want any shaming surrounding potty training. I did want my child to hear age-appropriate messages on things like the correct names for body parts, general equality (no "boys are strong, girls are pretty" which I have heard at several daycares), etc. These are all things that are covered in formal childhood education.

I have toured some really expensive, beautiful daycares where the main teacher qualification is being the mother of a nice kid, usually a kid who attended that daycare. That's a really limited experience to try to apply to a classroom. I grew up going to various in-home daycares run by perfectly nice parents and there was still a lot of weird shit -- silent treatment from adults, naked swimming, kids locking each other in a closet, digging a pit to trap another kid (in this case, my younger sister, who remembers the incident vividly). Parenting varies wildly, and you don't have to beat children to damage them.

I absolutely understand the cost issues and the impact on providers who can't/won't go back to school, but the right thing to do is pay caretakers more while also demanding the same kind of childcare subsidies and government support that other first-world nations provide so that women can work -- not to keep our standards low and pretend this is low-skill babysitting work. We all pay a ton for childcare, but we don't get much for the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a master's degree and I'm sure I would have failed that test.

This sort of thing is better addressed by vocational certification. You don't need a BA to learn about basic childcare needs.

You have a master's and you're sure you would have failed a basic literacy test? That's kind of sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a master's degree and I'm sure I would have failed that test.

This sort of thing is better addressed by vocational certification. You don't need a BA to learn about basic childcare needs.

You have a master's and you're sure you would have failed a basic literacy test? That's kind of sad.

I think D.C.'s new requirement is an AA degree, not a four year. Correct?