Marcy Whitebrook-Quote
"We know that teachers are the key to good child care and as long as teachers are undervalued, American children, too, will keep getting less than they deserve" (Whitebrook, 1992)
Article from Marcy Whitebrook
Whitebrook, M. (1992, May 19). Child Care Workers Deserve a Raise Well-Trained Employees Are Leaving the Field in Droves: [5th Edition]. St. Louis Post-Dispatch (pre-1997 Fulltext). p. 3B. Retrieved May 24, 2012, from ProQuest Central.
In addition to Marcy's quote I chose to select a quote from Louise Derma-Sparks because I think it speaks to what we know about about teachers being the key to good child care. Louise talks with such passion in the video segment.
Passion Quotes from the Foundations of Early Childhood Studies: Louise Derma-Sparks (Professor Emertius, Pacific Oaks College, CA)
The quote that I think connects these two together is the following: "I wanted to continue to be a teacher because I had a built in passion to make a contribution to the world"
The reason I think these are connected is that even when a teacher has the passion to make a difference to the world if he/she is continually undervalued then eventually there is a possibility that the passion will go away and our children are to valuable for that to happen so we have to figure out a way to ensure that teachers are valued so that our children get the education that they deserve. That is where America's Inspiration and Motivation for our future should come from.
Your very first quote resonated with me at first glance! I am a director of an early learning center and cringe when I hire highly qualified and educated teachers at the low, low rate of pay that I am authorized to do so. Not only are they under paid, but they are also expected to do work on their own time, continue their professional education through trainings, and get little if any recognition for the fluctating weekly schedule and lack of benefits. It is a complete travesty that educators are expected to give everything that they have for such little compensation. After all, they are shaping our future! They (we) deserve better!
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