Formal Education — Part III

The debate rages on about whether formal education matters in early childhood education. ExchangeEveryDay on September 21, “Formal Education and Quality,” generated a host of passionate responses, and Thursday’s follow-up provoked a thoughtful response from Steve Barnett and others. Steve also referred people to a rebuttal of the originally cited study at the web site for the National Institute for Early Education Research In addition, Stacey Goffin recommended readers also check out another rebuttal on the Foundation for Child Development site, written by Ruby Takanishi and others.

What makes this debate so passionate is that it’s a high stakes debate. Many proponents of the value of formal education are advocating that a Bachelor’s degree be the base requirement for every teacher (or at least every lead teacher) in early childhood education. This position (which has been incorporated into the long-range plans for NAEYC’s Center Accreditation, for example) has some very interesting implications. If all centers serving children five and under were held to this standard, there might be a marked improvement in the professionalism of centers, but the cost of care would skyrocket well beyond the ability to pay of all but the wealthy and publicly assisted. If, on the other hand, it became the requirement only for pre-K programs operated by the public schools, this could potentially create a two caste child care system in the country — one consuming major public funds operated by school systems serving four and five year olds, and one operating with limited funding by private, non profit, and for profit early childhood organizations for infants and toddlers.

For this debate to offer any real opportunities for improvement in services delivered, it can’t take place in isolation ignoring real world financial issues. To make sense, this debate needs to be tied to a discussion about a comprehensive (not necessarily federal) funding system on a sliding fee basis that does not pit middle class parents versus wealthy parents, private providers versus the public schools, and the needs of four year olds versus those of infants and toddlers.

Pontificating contributed by Roger Neugebauer

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