Interesting, isn't it? Details here.
Excerpts (emphasis mine):
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Analysis of the largest, longest running, and most comprehensive study of child care in the United States has found that the more time children spent in center-based care before kindergarten, the more likely their teachers were to report such problem behaviors as "gets in many fights," "disobedient at school," and "argues a lot."
The study confirms research published last year which was undertaken in Canada which found that children in daycare were 17 times more hostile than children raised at home, and almost three times more anxious. The Canadian study also found negative effects on parents.
A 2005 study from England demonstrated that a mother's care was best for toddlers' development, with nursery care linked to "higher levels of aggression." An Australian study published in 2006 confirmed prior research finding that daycare seems to damage babies' brain chemistry and affect their "social and emotional development."
The current study, which appears in the March/April 2007 issue of Child Development, found that children with more experience in child care centers showed in early grades through sixth grade, a greater frequency of what the researchers termed teacher-reported externalizing problem behavior. Teachers reported more frequent problem behaviours such as: child demands a lot of attention; argues a lot; bragging and boasting; cruelty, bullying or meanness to others; destroys things belonging to others; disobedient at school; gets into many fights; lying or cheating; screams a lot.
Here's the Canadian study, which yielded pretty much the same results.
Excerpt:
In summary, the findings revealed that children in daycare were 17 times more hostile than children raised at home, and almost three times more anxious.
Now for the political implications, and I qoute:
The authors conclude that “preliminary evidence leaves it unclear, on balance, whether this program is what is best for children and their parents.” They also warn that adopting the program would cost “significantly” more than what the Liberal government has proposed. “A potential expenditure of this magnitude demands careful understanding of the potential benefits,” they state.
I wonder why the Liberals and the left are so adamant that we "absolutely need" to shell out unpredictable billions of taxpayer monies for something PROVEN TO HARM CHILDREN (AND, LOGICALLY, SOCIETY, AS AN ULTIMATE RESULT)?
The new Conservative government of Stephen Harper has clearly proven to have done the right thing for Canada's children and for Canada.
Now for my conclusion: The family is the best place for children to spend the first five years of their lives. "Daycare" is harmful. It is proven. No question. The science is sound. Therefore, responsible citizens must oppose daycare, particularly as something forcibly funded by the taxpayers and for which the ultimate costs are unpredictable.
Therefore, it is the right thing to do to provide CHOICE IN CHILDCARE, as the Conservatives of Stephen Harper have done.
There's also, in my opinion, the very apparently real, plausible, likelihood that the Liberals and the left want institutionalized, state-funded and -run "daycare" as a sneaky means of exposing as many Canadian children as possible to ultra-extreme leftwing dogmatic indoctrination, Soviet-style, Chinese Communist-style, Cuban communist-style, Islamofacsist-style...
Now, someone should do a big study on the connection between early-childhood "center care" and leftwing stupidity and mental disorder...
UPDATE:
New research agrees: Moms do it better
Homeschooling enters the discussion.
Excerpts:
Offering hope, a study conducted by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute gives parents a vision of what is possible should they choose to take their children's education into their own hands. This highly comprehensive study, commissioned in 2003 by the Home School Legal Defense Association, surveyed over 7,300 adults who were homeschooled. The result: Children reared and educated by "maternal caregivers" in the home far surpass their institutionalized peers in both socialization and academics.
Another social development study conducted by professor Larry Shyers from the University of Central Florida concluded that home-educated children exhibit significantly better behavior than their public school peers. The study suggests this positive behavior may result because homeschooled children tend to imitate their parents, while institutionalized children model themselves after their peers. What a novel idea!
This reminds me of myself. As a kid, I was raised at home by my mom. My dad, a a mild-mannered, amiable, articulate businessman, was around a lot, too. I recall having self-discipline, thanks to my mom, while taking after my dad in social manners and interaction. I noticed that my friends and classmates were markedly different: many were more childish overall, even in my view back then as a five-year-old. I don't recall whether they were always raised by their moms or not, but I can speak for my own personal example. Ultimately, I chose to study business and found politics interesting and important. And, as my family read many books to me since I was still messing in my diapers, well, my English skill today speaks for itself, and that's been the case since I was a kid.
I'm certain I'd be quite different today if I was simply dumped in some state-run or private institution or something. There's always the risk that those in charge of the "daycare" will be idiots, won't care, will be abusive, will indoctrinate the kids against their parents' wishes, etc., etc... it's just too risky, the reasonable person realizes.
One more excerpt (emphasis mine):
The late Dr. Raymond Moore with the Hewitt Research Center quoted renowned psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner's assertion that the withdrawal of parents in the rearing of their children is "a major factor threatening the breakdown of the socialization process in America." Indeed, Bronfenbrenner coined the phrase "social contagion" to describe the negative peer pressures contracted like diseases inside institutionalized settings.
Even I had fallen prey to these "social contagions", or negative peer pressures. And it had hurt me. When you're a kid, you're going to tend to be "open minded" to a destructive degree, as you may well have not learned to think for yourself and may tend to accept whatever you're told as true. Hence the troubles many kids sometimes find themselves getting into, the behaviors, habits, addictions... some are lucky to survive, while others will end up less lucky to varying degrees.
The point here is that daycares and schools are like small sample sizes of the overall society. And the health/viability of the overall society impacts on the daycares and schools. Therefore, the worse the society becomes, so will be the daycares and public schools, which reflect the values and norms of general society (at least those of the state apparatus, which is responsible for the administrative/political direction of society)... it's a downward spiral.
But the spiral can be reversed... upwards. Over time a society can heal itself... but only when it accepts that it needs to heal, to stop the stuff that's destroying its health and long-term viability.
(This is why I'm a "conservative". Essentially this means to be careful when "progressing", to avoid taking unnecessary risks just for kicks. The "liberals" and "progressives" are the opposite: they tend to just throw caution to the wind and do whatever they wish, elect crazy moonbats to office who, in turn, make changes in society that end up hurting it in the long run, just for the sake of transitory hedonism, to which liberals/progressives so frequently seem to be drawn, rather than towards self-responsibility, self-discipline, social responsibility, respect for others and their property, law and order, etc. Liberals/progressives simply don't appear to care about anything but feeling good right now. They don't care about the future- they leave it up to their children to worry about, unfortunately. And they frequently fail to raise, to equip their children with the ability to deal with what will ensue.)
Many of those social contagions were "contracted" in school, as I went to public school. Those of us who went to public school recall both positive and negative experiences. My, but children can be so nuts, so mean-spirited, we had learned. There are certainly children in the public school system who take after parents who may be immature, irresponsible, mean-spirited or even worse. And such children do unfortunately have a disruptive, deleterious effect on the public school experience and on other children.
And I now understand what they were and how I was affected. Today, understanding the truth about my former peers, I've greater self-esteem, don't need anyone's approval and am unafraid to question others, unafraid to think for myself and unafraid to express myself as I see fit. Like right now! See?
Leftists lack true self-esteem. They need to feel "accepted" as "part of the group". They tend to be conformists amongst similar folks. They'll submit to dogmae and lies just like that, as they're not motivated to think for themselves and are afraid to question or disagree with their peers, as their peers will likely turn away from them, and that's something that leftists cannot handle psychologically. Therefore the stupidity, delusion and mental disorders we observe in leftists. This is a result of socialism, more commonly called "liberalism" or "progressiveness". It's based on the collective, not on the individual. Socialists are obsessed with fitting in with the collective and tend to neglect themselves as individuals. No wonder liberals frequently appear so homogeneous, hold the same received opinions, spew the same dogmatic lies, act the same way as their kind (like with the inexplicable anger and screaming and stuff like that). Gosh darn... these poor souls remind me of the "Borg Collective" on Star Trek. You know, the half-humanoid, half-machine freaks who fly around in cubes resembling a collection of parts from an oil refinery, "We are Borg. We will assimilate you. Resistance is futile. Surrender or be destroyed.".
Ok, so what's the point here?
The family is the best place for socialization and education, particularly in the early formative years of a child.
This is what the government has a duty to encourage, promote, reward. If the government doesn't do this, then the government is doing society a grave disservice!
