A Mother's Work
by Deborah Fallows
©1985, P90
|
Most of the teachers this mother had seen had
finished high school but nothing more. "You can tell by their verbal
patterns," she said. The children imitate them, and their speech habits "are
rough to break, out and out wrong. It's tough to correct that in the
children, and that's been a struggle."
Category = Politics |
A Mother's Work
by Deborah Fallows
©1985, P164
|
Because the social prestige accorded
child care is so low, most parents feel they're overcharged no matter what
they're paying. As a result, many day care centers exist in an atmosphere of
permanent crisis, under conflicting pressures from parents who think they're
spending too much and staff members who feel they're earning too little.
Category =
Economics, Politics |
A Mother's Work
by Deborah Fallows
©1985, P164-165
|
Other things being equal, the for-profit
day care chains will cut back more heavily on quality than other day care
facilities, because they're exporting more money away from the centers.
…when a local franchise of a national chain receives a hundred dollars, some
of the money must be sent back to headquarters, to provide dividends and
profits and pay (high) corporate salaries…
Category =
Economics, Quality |
A Mother's Work
by Deborah Fallows
©1985, P169
|
Combining the profit-making motive with
serving children is a tricky affair. A blanket statement saying it can't be
done is decidedly unfair. But when services that matter to children and
profits that matter to investors are competing for the same dollars, the
temptations are great. Quite simply, the best economic interests of the
chains do not depend on the quality of service they offer the children but
on the strength of the dividend they offer their shareholders.
… this one driving economic factor--the need to generate large-scale
profits--…has a constant and pernicious* effect
on the quality of care the children receive.
*Pernicious =
exceedingly harmful
Category = Economics, Quality |
A Mother's Work
by Deborah Fallows
©1985, P169
|
(On-site day care centers) are rare because they
reflect a deep commitment and cannot be quickly or lightly arranged. Many
businesses naturally resist such entanglements, feeling that child care is
simply not their concern.
Hospitals, which need
nurses, are among the leaders in providing on-site day care facilities.
Category = Economics
|
