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I think I must have missed the point at which classrooms took on a responsibility for parental productivity? Because child care has long been part of the value

I think I must have missed the point at which classrooms took on a responsibility for parental productivity? Because child care has long been part of the value proposition of public schools. It's amusing how "you shouldn't have had kids if one parent wasn't willing to stay at home full time" is now something that the far left and far right agree on.

quadrifoliate 5y ago
> It's amusing how "you shouldn't have had kids if one parent wasn't willing to stay at home full time" is now something that the far left and far right agree on. I consider myself somewhat left wing, and I don't agree with this statement at all. Cooperative babysitting, more flexible work arrangements, larger friend groups, joint families, and more social cohesion in general are a good way to balance childcare. I actually agree that teaching can provide some part of this, but don't understand the fact where everything else runs according to a hyper-capitalist algorithm, but teachers are expected to take on outsize responsibility and risk adverse healthcare outcomes because "Think of the children". It does take a village to raise a child. Let's do that, and not just leave it to two parents and a teacher.
- istjohn 5y ago
  Replace "teachers" with "schools." There is no reason we can't appropiately resource schools to provide these services. We should be paying teachers enough for them to be eager to come in to work every day. Telling parents they are on their own to figure it out is not "a good way to balance childcare." It amounts to saying everyone fend for themselves, to saying that we don't really care what happens to kids whose families can't afford childcare. And sadly in our society, it mostly amounts to dumping those burdens specifically on women, who get saddled with the bulk of childcare duties in the American household. It's regressive, and it hobbles the effort to achieve equality for women in the workplace.

quadrifoliate 5y ago

> It's amusing how "you shouldn't have had kids if one parent wasn't willing to stay at home full time" is now something that the far left and far right agree on. I consider myself somewhat left wing, and I don't agree with this statement at all. Cooperative babysitting, more flexible work arrangements, larger friend groups, joint families, and more social cohesion in general are a good way to balance childcare. I actually agree that teaching can provide some part of this, but don't understand the fact where everything else runs according to a hyper-capitalist algorithm, but teachers are expected to take on outsize responsibility and risk adverse healthcare outcomes because "Think of the children". It does take a village to raise a child. Let's do that, and not just leave it to two parents and a teacher.

istjohn 5y ago
Replace "teachers" with "schools." There is no reason we can't appropiately resource schools to provide these services. We should be paying teachers enough for them to be eager to come in to work every day. Telling parents they are on their own to figure it out is not "a good way to balance childcare." It amounts to saying everyone fend for themselves, to saying that we don't really care what happens to kids whose families can't afford childcare. And sadly in our society, it mostly amounts to dumping those burdens specifically on women, who get saddled with the bulk of childcare duties in the American household. It's regressive, and it hobbles the effort to achieve equality for women in the workplace.