There was a study back in 2007 that showed that kids who spent time in daycare were more likely to be disruptive in school than kids who didn’t. Well, a new study comparing US daycare kids and Norwegian daycare kids shows that daycare isn’t the problem; SHITTY daycare is the problem. Here’s what I said about it at Babble:
Last week, the New York Times covered a new study from researchers at Harvard and Boston College working with researchers in Norway. That study observed children in the US and in Norway and discovered that the problem is isolated to our fair shores. Why? Well, because a lot of US daycares suck whereas Norway’s daycares are generally better. Daycare in Norway is government subsidized, of a consistent quality across socioeconomic lines, and is nearly universally accessed, with 97% of preschoolers spending time in daycare. It’s a far different system than in the US where daycare quality is based on what parents can pay and not on what children need to thrive. The end result is a system where daycare doesn’t detract from a child’s overall education experience.
So chalk another one up to those socialist Norwegians. They pay sky-high taxes but they have awesome health care, maternity leave, school and, apparently, daycare. No wonder they always show up on surveys as the happiest people in the world despite a diet that includes a lot of weird preserved fish products.
Hop on over to Babble Kids to take a look at the whole post and join in the conversation!
Well in Norway people actually go to school to work in daycare because they WANT to…it pays a good salary so it attracts people who WANT to be around children.