America Needs Preschool for All Children As you walk into the room, a pint-sized kid runs up to your legs and squeezes your knees. Squeals of delight bounce off the walls as kids boogie to Disney tunes, and another group is meticulously drawing pictures of rainbow colored snowmen. The faint smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafts through the room. Everywhere you look, there are smiles. Sounds great? Attending preschool is like running through a field of dreams. Unfortunately, not every child gets the opportunity to experience preschool. For low-income families, particularly single mothers, preschool is a huge financial burden. Despite what parents want for their children, it isn’t always a practical option; sometimes, the cost of enrolling their children outweighs the money earned at a job (Mason 46). Soon, mothers are sending their kids to preschool so they can work to make money to pay for preschool. Furthermore, without an education, parents are confined to minimum wage jobs with no hope of advancement (49). Where’s the incentive to work? Robin Mason describes one single mother’s motivation. For her, employment is more than just money; rather, it’s also a means to boost her self-esteem, gain financial independence, and set a positive example for her children. She emphasizes her responsibility to her children to keep a roof over their head, be a good mother, and choose a quality daycare (47). The value of preschool is often overlooked as parents consider it for its utilitarian purposes. Although most preschools do function as a daycare, the merits gained from an early education follow children throughout their entire lives. Children at this ripe age are eager to learn, excited about the buzzing world aroun... ... middle of paper ... ...cial and cognitive skills suffer under the strain (195). But, there is hope: a loving, supportive environment that encourages children to grow into themselves. Preschool. Government programs are in place to help low-income families offset the costs, and national agencies provide multidimensional support for preschoolers and their families. Seven hours in a classroom doesn’t fix the problems at home. Rather, these programs are designed to help low-income families through a multi-faceted approach, attacking several issues in one mighty blow (Olson, Ceballo, and Park 427). These programs offer a variety of resources, including parenting classes, stress management courses, family counseling, and nutrition education. Through these programs, the entire community is assuming responsibility for taking care of its children. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.
It is not difficult to document that poor children suffer a disproportionate share of deprivation, hardship, and bad outcomes. More than 16 million children in the United States – 22% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level – $23,550 a year for a family of four. (Truman, 2005) Living in poverty rewires children 's brains and reports show that it produces prolonged effects. Also, growing up in a community with dangerous streets, gangs, confused social expectations, discouraging role models, and few connections to outsiders commanding resources becomes a burden for any child. The concern about the number of children living in poverty arises from our knowledge of the problems children face because of poverty.
I am a firm believer that the quality of the child care directly affects the child’s development in the classroom. By eliminating the need for competing preschools to continue to improve their curriculum and to remain relevant in the field of early childhood education, we risk falling into the same trap K-12 education has fallen into. In other words, individual classroom freedom will be lost when teachers are forced to follow the governments blanket and mandatory regulations. I choose this concept because I feel it is important to allow a wide variety of options to families in order for them the find the right fit for their
Often, childcare costs may exceed low-wage earners ' income, making work, especially in a job with no potential for advancement, an economically illogical activity. In 30 Days one of Morgan’s co-worker had four kids, whereas he had none, and he is supporting them on the same minimum wage. However, some single parents are able to rely on their social networks to provide free or below-market-cost childcare. There are also some free childcare options provided by the government, such as the Head Start Program. However, low-wage jobs force workers to accept irregular schedules for these free options, only which are available during certain hours, which can limit parents ' ability to take jobs that require late-night shifts. In which in this situation, it causes it to be even more difficult for a single low wage parent to receive free childcare. In fact, some employers will not hire someone unless they have "open availability," which means being available to work any time, any day. This makes it difficult for workers to arrange for childcare and to take on a second job. In addition, minimum-wage workers, working hours may fluctuate wildly from one week to the next, making it difficult for them to budget effectively and save up
The Strengths and Weaknesses of the British Electoral System as Used in The General Election
Imagine having to choose between paying bills and sending your children to college. Visualize risking your life to attempt to create better-living situations for your family, who depend on you to keep them alive, having to sacrifice a potential child to feed the ones you already have. This is the exact situation that Walter and Lena Younger face in the play, “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry. As the Younger family has been trapped within their current economic and social status, they work hard to stay alive, all while trying to improve their lives as they deal with another baby on the way, a bratty child going through college, and difficulties in their occupations. The Youngers are poor African Americans in the south. They’re struggling
Another factor parents may not look into when finding a preschool is the curriculum that will be taught. “Despite decades of federal, state, and local programs intended to support young children’s preparation for schooling, children from low-income families continue to begin formal schooling at a disadvant...
Does the blame of the Holocaust fall on more than just the Nazis? Could the mass genocide of the Jews be the world’s fault? Art Spiegelman develops a message of guilt on both a personal and collective level. In his graphic novel, Maus, children cannot connect with their parents, holocaust survivors, because they have not experienced the same type of hardship. Similarly, the communal problem is that people in the world should have done more internationally to help the Jews. Spiegelman continually shows the reader guilt through syntax while describing the relation between Vladek, Art’s father, and Art.
The results of quality preschool programs can be seen early after they begin. Children learn many important life le...
Electoral systems exist to allow members of the society, express their preferences on candidates who are to represent them. This paper pays attention to the three electoral systems; the Proportional system, the fast past the post (FPTP) and the Instant runoff voting (IRV). I am going to focus on the differences between the PR, FPTP and IRV; attention will be laid also on how the electoral system shapes the relative structure and strength of the political parties.
The neorealism theory argues that IOs are and will be essentially ineffective, as they cannot prevent sovereignty states pursue self-interests and engaging in power politics. Keohane and Martin argue that “institutions are created simply in response to state interests, and that their character is structured by the prevailing distribution of capabilities.” (Keohane and Martin: 1995: 47). John Mearsheimer doesn 't entirely agree with this theory, arguing that IOs only have marginal power, giving way to the arena of power politics among states, making themselves a reflection of the distribution of power in the international relations. (Mearsheimer: 2004: 13) Mearsheimer challenge Keohane and Martin’s theory by claiming that IOs could only contribute
It’s been noted that recent studies specify that “more than half of all 3-5-year-old children in the United States attend child-care centers prior to kindergarten” and “Given these high usage rates, the quality of these early child-care experiences has become an important public policy issue” (Peisner-Feinberg 2001). It is believed that part of the issue is a result of parents not knowing what the primary purpose of daycare/child care facilities are and what high quality daycares consist of in considering a their child should attend.
Child care on campuses are staffed by highly trained teachers with classes that “educational enrichment and child care for children from infancy through preschool” (Douglas). Low-income children with this opportunity have a great amount of support and this offers a chance of them continuing to do well in school. These children often need early education to keep them from getting behind later on in school. This support can help to break the cycle of poverty because “children significantly benefit from quality early education, and that children of college graduates are in turn more likely to attend college” (Garcia). The children are less likely to grow up in poverty if their parents are able to finish college as their parents will be able to get a good paying job to continue to support their children’s
The Waldorf Approach Preschool is a highly debated area of a child’s educational journey. One of the primary goals of preschool is to prep the child for traditional elementary school. There are various contemporary models of early education that have been constructed to help children develop their educational career. A few examples of these models are the Bank Street Approach, The Reggio Emilia Approach, The Montessori Approach, and the Head Start Program just to name a few. The Waldorf approach is the program of discussion in this particular paper.
Babies don’t stay babies forever. Eventually, they turn four and parents have to make the difficult decision of putting them in preschool or keeping them to themselves for an extra year. This decision could be life changing for a child, however, it could also be too much for a four year old. The history of preschool becoming an everyday thing for any child has greatly evolved over the years. Preschool gives young children a head start on school so when they attend kindergarten they already have an understand of some school related things. The price of sending a child to preschool is also a factor a lot of parents look at before sending their kids. These are all reasons that parents either decide it is good for their child to attend preschool or to keep them at home for another year.
There are many different types and funding sources for pre-kindergarten with varying regulations, including Title 1 pre-kindergarten programs, Head Start, subsidized community child care programs and state funded universal pre-kindergarten programs (Abbot-Shim et al 2003; Bassok et al. 2008; Burger 2010; Howes et al. 2008; Winslet et al. 2008). And since President Obama proposed making high-quality preschool education available to every American four year old in his 2013 State of the Union address, the debate over the benefits of preschool has been thrown into the national spotlight (Jyoti, 2013). Causing every parent to know that preschool must be purchased for a well-built price. In different cities those prices may vary from private and public schools. According to a recent report by Child Care Aware America, parents, on average, are paying anywhere between $3,900 (Mississippi) to nearly $11,700 (Massachusetts) for full-time, center-based care for a four-year-old (Jyoti,