Around the world, the human habit is to put the most poorly educated with those most in need of being educated. Namely the undereducated with the very young children. Childcare from age one to kindergarten is a throw away age. Somehow, the child turns into a difficult charge, a weight between the ages of one and kindergarten. We don't know what to do with him. We have to get on with our lives, and so we store him at the local day care waiting until he can go to school.
Meanwhile, back at the brain, A child's most productive years are spent playing with inadequate toys in an inadequate setting while a string of people who aren't supposed be able to manage college revolve though his life like a fast moving swing door.
Suddenly, he's off to kindergarten a lot duller than he should have been, and we wonder why?
The educating emphasis is on high school even though high school students spend most of their time sleeping and looking for a good time. The difference between the desire to learn in a high school student and a preschooler is like the difference between a minnow and a whale, yet the high school students get all the best teachers, the teachers with the real educations.
I understand what the theory is, but I have trouble with the concept. I also understand what the other side of the story is because I provided childcare in my home for eight years. It was a very popular place to bring a child. I had 67 children who came to my home every week. We had a blast. I taught all kinds of things, but finally, I wanted what others did. I wanted the degree to make it more professional.
So with a 60 hour a week job, a monster house, a family of six, and a chronic volunteer, I went back to school full time at night. The first Monday after I finished my degree, I asked myself: do I really want to do this? Do I really want to care for little kids the rest of my life? I realized what most degreed people realize - it's a low paying job few people even regard as a job, and I could do more. I stayed another year and then shut down a very lucrative day care.
I quit for two years and ended up at my parish starting a preschool program. I realized that the experience I had coupled with the education worked.
When I met Edith, we decided that we wanted our own school. We believed that education belongs to the very young child, and there is where the teaching gold is. So for the rest of my life...
But how do other teachers feel about being degreed and teaching the youngest? Most move on simply because most people don't even understand the job, and the rest believe anyone who works with very young children is a babysitter. There is little interaction between degreed preschool teachers. It's a very lonely profession. Someone who stays is a rare bird because although the pay is low, the esteem is even lower.
"Oh, you teach day care." Day care and teaching are not the same thing. That's like saying a high school teacher babysits. Some do, but that's not the job.
The job of teaching very young children is to awaken them. Good parents can do the same thing, but often don't. At three a child is either awakened or falls into what we call the endless sleep. Some children will just glaze over because in his most formative years he has virtually no stimulation, and he and stay that way fumbling through his life attracted to the lights but not grasping anything much. Life is just a pleasant walk in the grass. But to those who awake and really see the world, life becomes an exciting adventure - every day a discovery zone, and that's the job.
Awaking a child is the hard part. And one must be awake to understand how and educated to be able to do it. But the road is tough because although a lot of people want to do it right, get the education or experience, once they do, the draft from good paying jobs is just too great a lure.
So here's an article that says it all.
Child Care Workers Get Scholarship Assistance
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Caring for young children is Cindy Brumfield's passion and earning a college degree in early childhood development her goal. Until now, rising tuition costs have held her back.
"I've been at the same place for six years, and it's the same as with anyone," she said. "You get stuck."
Enter First 5 Contra Costa, a state-funded agency that administers the proceeds from a 50-cent-per-pack sales tax on cigarettes. The money funds programs benefiting expectant parents and children up to age 5.
First 5 has just dispensed more than $30,000 in scholarships to Brumfield and other child-care providers so they may go back to school and strengthen their skills.
For what amounts to a pittance in government grant money, program architects say, the scholarships can make a profound change in the lives of many children.
"These scholarships are not only an incentive for child-care providers to remain in the field," said Sean Casey, First 5 Contra Costa acting executive director, "but also to keep learning as they help our youngest learners reach their greatest potential in school and in life."
Casey said research has shown that a child's brain develops most dramatically in the first five years of life. Steps to support parents and caregivers will yield a profound impact later in a child's life.
The cigarette sales tax money for First 5, and identical agencies in each California county, came from Proposition 10, passed by voters in 1998. First 5 Contra Costa has invested some $30 million of Proposition 10 revenues in local efforts.
The scholarships, which will continue for the next five semesters, are only one part of First 5's mission. Through its School Readiness Initiative, the agency works with families to nurture pre-schoolers' development in areas of the county with the lowest-performing schools.
Not coincidentally, parents in those areas are more likely to be unemployed, uneducated and in poverty, said Debi Silverman, First 5 early childhood education specialist.
A total of 94 scholarships of up to $350 each went to child-care providers enrolling in the spring semester at Diablo Valley, Los Medanos and Contra Costa community colleges. The money can be used for tuition, books and materials, and parking fees.
Studies have consistently shown that providers with bachelor's degrees in early childhood education tend to provide higher-quality care, Silverman said.
Recipients were required to register for general education or early childhood education courses leading to an associate of arts degree in early childhood education. They also had to currently be providing at least 15 hours a week of child care for children up to age 5.
In the spring, First 5 will begin offering scholarships to students enrolling in Cal State East Bay's new early childhood bachelor's degree program, Silverman said.
In 2004, about 1.3 million people in the country held jobs caring for children. The need for child care is expected to increase sharply over the next 10 years because the number of children under 5 years old is expected to rise.
But the job often pays poorly. A report by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Women's Policy Research shows wages are among the lowest of U.S. occupations. And a 2000 study by the Center for the Child Care Workforce 2000 showed hourly earnings range from $3.84 to $6.61 prompting many to leave the field for better-paying jobs. Child-care centers pay more than providers earn in a home setting, but they are more likely to require certification.
Brumfield, who helps prepare a class of 12 prekindergartners at Calvary Temple Pre-School in Concord for school in the fall, says she didn't enter child care for the money.
But she allows that the low wages have held her back from obtaining her degree.
Although she works up to 34 hours a week, she can make time for two classes. In class, "there's a camaraderie there among us," she said. "And you get fresh ideas."
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