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From: clarke@utcsri.UUCP (Jim Clarke)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Subsidized daycare
Message-ID: <3793@utcsri.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 15-Dec-86 10:21:09 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsri.3793
Posted: Mon Dec 15 10:21:09 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Dec-86 19:38:10 EST
References: <1444@hcrvx1.UUCP>
Reply-To: clarke@utcsri.UUCP (Jim Clarke)
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 63
Summary: 

In reply to Chris Retterath and some others, whom I will be courteous enough
(to readers and to those who pay the bills -- I don't mean to imply any
disrespect to the posters) not to quote except in paraphrase:

First of all, daycare *is* education.  The first five years -- in fact, the
first N years, for any small N -- are the most important learning years.  We
traditionally used mothers to provide this education, and we should try to
keep that option open for those who want it, perhaps by paying mothers but
more likely (since paying people to do women's work is a pretty radical idea)
by providing tax breaks of some kind.

But many mothers need to work, and many more want to.  If it's just "want to",
then I see nothing wrong with the present arrangement, namely a tax deduction
for the partner with the smaller income; this is my situation, and though
it's expensive as hell (let the Minister of Revenue look for daycare at
$2000/year, the maximum deduction per child!) it's basically not unfair.

But if a single mother needs to work, or if a couple needs two jobs to make
ends meet, like the policeman and chambermaid mentioned in another posting,
then I can't figure out why their children's daycare shouldn't be paid for
just like my older child's school.  Or my school, or yours.

And if you'd rather have private daycares than public ones, we could argue
about that.  I suppose it's like private schools vs public ones, and should
private schools be subsidized?  -- but not quite the same, since children
in daycare don't need the same kind of socialization school children do.  (So
if you want that argument, I'll just sit it out, thanks.)

But you must *not* try to lower the training requirements for daycare teachers.
Right now any licenced daycare centre, whether private or public, must have a
certain ratio of qualified teachers to children.

Some facts -- possibly misremembered, since it's a while since I got agitated
about this -- to help you argue with me:  Ontario daycare centres must be
licenced if they take more than five children.  "Qualified teachers" are those
with a three-year ECE (early childhood education) degree, from for example a
community college.  Pay rates for qualified staff are low -- around $13K a few
years ago, though it must be up now, to maybe $20K?  Those low rates helped
unionize a lot of daycares, I think.

Some opinions:  The qualifications are important; my two younger children go
to the daycare centre at George Brown College, where ECE students are trained.
It is easy to see the difference between a beginner and a third- or even
second-year student.  The staff requirements are minimal; we've used centres
where there are few students around to help the staff -- as is normal at
non-teaching centres -- and the staff work unbelievably hard.  The pay is
far from outrageous; would you want your children to spend their most
important years with someone paid less than a graduate student?  Is daycare
less important than secretarial work?  (Are secretaries overpaid?)

And finally, opinion no. 0:  Remember that we need good daycare not primarily
for the freeloading present citizenry, but for the vulnerable future citizenry
who actually spend their time in daycare.  Those children will be in daycare
somewhere; the consequences, if it's bad daycare, are not only unbearable to
imagine if you know children, but serious political and economic trouble down
the road.

Sorry this is so long.  It's lucky I didn't include anything!
-- 

Jim Clarke -- Dept. of Computer Science, Univ. of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4
              (416) 978-4058
{allegra,cornell,decvax,linus,utzoo}!utcsri!clarke