Learning all day
Re: The costs of "full-day learning" (Sept. 30). I am writing in response to Rebecca Walberg's commentary on full-day learning, as I feel it misrepresents the benefits of child care in several areas. The High Scope/Perry Preschool Study conducted in the States was a longitudinal study of the effects on high-quality preschool that spanned over 40 years. It has shown the overwhelmingly positive effect on many aspects of these children's (now 40-year-olds) lives. Numerous other studies have had similar findings.
Walberg also states that Quebec's $7-per-day child care program has not produced the higher revenues they anticipated. What she doesn't mention is that the poverty rate in Quebec has dropped 40 per cent over the last decade, and families with single mothers have seen a 30 per cent increase in wages. Accessible, full-time day care has been one of the driving forces in changing these statistics.
For more evidence of the economic gains to be had as a result of extended, high quality day care, look to recent reports such as UNICEF's The Childcare Transition, or Lynn Karoly's study on the economics of preschools in California. Overall, the studies are adding up in overwhelming favor of the benefits of quality child care. We can't afford to get left behind.
Lyra, Howell
Value added
Re: The costs of full-day learning, by Rebecca Walberg (Sept. 30). Currently, many children go back and forth between the kindergarten class and a child care centre, creating troublesome transitions. Wouldn't it be easier on them to be in the same place for the full day, with the same educators? As for the expense, moms and dads are Ontario taxpayers, too, and on top of this if both are working they are ultimately boosting the Canadian economy.
Fozia Farooq
- reprinted from the Winnipeg Free Press