Reply to New York Times on the miracles of Universal Pre-K in DC

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Reply to "New York Times on the miracles of Universal Pre-K in DC"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm the teacher who posted before.  I think a big part of the issue here is that people expect someone to pick up the slack for them in terms of childcare.  I'm a single mother and I pay a lot for before and after school childcare for my DD and I paid a lot for daycare before she started school.  At no point did I think, "Gee, I really think the government needs to help me out here."  I made the choice to have a child and made sure I had the funds to raise her.  [b]Why should my taxes go to subsidize other people's poor financial planning?[/b]  [/quote]

Because it's good for the children born to those people.[/quote]

And it's good for society as a whole. Everyone benefits from well-educated and wel-taken care of future adults..[/quote]

No, no it's not. I don't agree with either one of these posters. I think we're solving the wrong problem here. I don't WANT the government to provide free childcare so that both parents can work 45+ hours every week outside the home. Don't get me wrong, plenty of people make those choices and that's valid. However, so so so so so many of us are FORCED into that. The answer is a living wage so that both parents can work if they want, or one provider can support a family and the parent can scale back and stay home, and engage with his / her children. OR, a living wage that allows parents to choose the childcare model that works best for their family. I don't believe in forcing parents into a shitty workforce and then as some bitter consolation prize, giving them "free" but substandard childcare. And I don't like what that model has done for the rest of us. Full time preschool starting at two years old, are you kidding me? Kids at two do not belong in school and frankly, at three years old, some of them still don't. They belong at home, with a loving parent, or a nanny, or at a childcare center where they are free to play and live as a child. NOT where they are a captive tiny audience forced to do the educational work of much older children. VERY few of the public or charter preschools are developmentally appropriate. They are childcare. THEY ARE CHILDCARE. And the educators at these places think "oh, well, we'll cram some early reading and math while we're at it." There are a few exceptions to the rules, but they are exceptions. And we all just swallow it down because it is free. Because we think it beats paying for childcare. Because we want or are forced to have both parents working 60 hour workweeks.

Why in the hell bother to have kids? And if you have kids and are FORCED into that sort of life, what a pity. Yes, indeed, we are fixing the wrong problem. [/quote]

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