Bringing an issue to light on early childhood education and childcare

My name is Madisyn Reem and I am a preschool teacher in Wasilla. I wanted to bring an issue to light on early childhood education and childcare. Currently in Alaska, there is a push for 3- and 4-year olds to enter the school system, instead of waiting until they are 5 years old. This is a bad idea because it will completely crash the childcare market. Daycares and private preschools will be forced to close their doors because the cost for only infant and toddler care will be forced to skyrocket. In New York, something similar was done and the cost for a month’s care for an infant or toddler is $2,000.

Also, currently the half-day preschools at public schools are being taught by people with the wrong degree. What most commonly happens is that elementary school teachers with elementary education degrees are forced into teaching early childhood education. These are two totally different degrees for two totally different age groups. The things that the elementary degrees are taught to teach do not apply to such young minds, it is not age-appropriate material and can cause young children to regress more than progress.

Please take this issue into consideration. Early childhood education is an important foundation for our children, and it needs to be taught to our next generation properly by people who know what they are doing. These children are the ones who will be taking over this world when we all are gone, we need to give them the proper tools to achieve that. By putting our children into the school system early, we are not giving them the proper tools that private preschools can. Teachers at private preschools have a desire to teach early childhood education and more often than not, have the proper training to teach the children properly. Thank you.

Madisyn Reem,

Palmer