Like many newsapers, the Evening Standard can do a great job of turning a regular little report into a specific targetted attack.
Headline: NURSERIES TURNING OUR CHILDREN INTO YOBS
Implication: Mothers who don't stay home full time are literally asking for their kids to turn into violent criminals.
Actual story: The report concludes "Long hours in the nursery (more than 35 hours a week) had both positive and negative effects on children's behaviour: they were more confident and sociable, but also more antisocial, and more worried and upset." So, err, six of one,...
And of course the article concludes that the government should shift it's focus away from childcare provision. The alternative option that occurs to me is the government should improve the quality of available childcare.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
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3 comments:
That was definitely the feeling I got when hearing the news. My wife has actively chosen to stay home with my daughter - but I'm lucky enough to have a job capable of funding that. If I were doing something more socially reponsible (i.e poorer paid), then we'd have some tough choices - and it seems like it's always people with choices who tend to beat up on those with none.
A good article: you would probably also find that there are more variations between different types of nurseries than between children in a nursury and children at home.
Indeed, we are not surprised when children raised in good happy middle class well-off homes turn out smarted and more successful than kids raised in poor working class broken homes, so why when we hear some child-care centres are turning out badly-educated kids are we assuming it is the idea of childcare that is at fault, rather than the level of ability of the person in charge?
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