Childcare in the United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the individualists point of view in American society effects childcare today in terms of public funding and available quality care. It illustrates how other western societies value children as a communal responsibility and therefore provide public funding for the future generations through quality daycare. The paper describes the current economic demands for two income families and further education. It offers research, statistics and examines the Troy State University marketing strategy by providing childcare for its students.

Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Demographic Considerations
Quality and Availability
Research Design and Procedures
Findings
Conclusions and Recommendations
References

From the Paper:

"In the United States, childcare is most usually thought of as something that is entirely the responsibility of a family. This is based (although very rarely explicitly) on a view of society in which the individual is the most important unit. Because the United States is a society that emphasizes individual responsibility, there is relatively little public policy devoted to communal caregiving. This is different from other countries in which, for example, childcare is seen as something that the entire community is responsible for. This belief is based on the acknowledgment that not only is the raising of a child in many ways simply too much work for one family to take on alone but also the acknowledgment that each child embodies the future of the whole society and so must be well raised. Thus childcare is seen as the responsibility of the state.
Many Americans believe that childcare should be carried out primarily by the parents, and even more by the mother. But this is simply not a tenable idea in the 21st century. Economic concerns force most adults to work and women as well as men wish to have rewarding and useful careers. This is especially true of those individuals seeking higher education."

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