An Open Letter to Politicians
To the US government officials and politicians,
In my English class, we have been researching about the struggles of family & relationships. Through this project, I have realized that the childcare system in America is quite unfair for many people. The cost of childcare has been increasing every year, which is bad news for everyone. If these costs continue to rise, nobody would be able to afford to keep their children safe. Parents want their children to live their best lives. How will they ever be able to feel protected this way? If this is the case, kids will live such different lives than everyone else. Don’t you think that these kids should be happy? In addition to rising prices, the system has always been inefficient. Many programs are not successful and do not live up to their names. But we can change this. Every problem has a solution one way or another. I wanted to write to you, specifically, because I know that the government is mainly responsible for managing this system. Based on my research, I argue that the childcare system in the US is broken because it is both very expensive and low-quality.
To start, a majority of America’s population cannot afford these programs because they are too costly. Since the government put a high price on childcare, families are starting to struggle even more with their expenses. Put yourself in that situation. Think about what that’s like. According to David Loewenberg, a former teacher, now intern with the Education Policy program, in his work titled “Why the Child Care System is Broken [and How to Fix it]”, published on New America, he states that “[t]he typical annual cost of full-time care in child care centers for children ages 0–4 is higher ($9,589) than the average annual cost of in-state college tuition ($9,410)” (1). Loewenberg once interned in the Department of Education’s Office of Early Learning, and earned a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas in Austin. New America is a civic platform that acts as a research institute, technology lab, solutions network, media hub, and public forum all in one. The evidence shows that the amount of money people pay for childcare per year is a lot more than college tuition. This information is significant because it proves that the price of childcare these days is incredibly high. If you thought tuition was expensive, then this will be mind-blowing. Imagine sending your child to school and paying for childcare after. You will have to spend so much money in order to do this. Nobody would ever want to spend that much. When your child grows up, they will have to go through he same if nobody stands up against this. Do you want your children to struggle the same way you do? Don’t you want them to live happy lives? I couldn’t believe that something could surpass the price of tuition. To me, this is mindblowing! This information is significant because it proves that the price of childcare these days is incredibly high. Additionally, Loewenberg then provides information with a state-by-state analysis: ”The cost of full-time care in child care centers is 85 percent of the monthly U.S. median cost of rent” (1). This evidence shows that it is almost as expensive as paying rent. If you combine this with other expenses you need to afford, you will barely have any money left. Maybe you actually might not have anything left at all! This information is significant because it even further proves the fact that costs are way too expensive, especially for low-income families. Overall, this data shows that the government should cut costs or come up with a better solution to deal with prices. If prices lessen, families will be able to live more controlled lives without worrying too much.
Furthermore, the quality of this program is very low; most workers are inefficient at doing their job. To give some context on this issue, the workers involved in the childcare system are not correctly executing their duties as a caregiver. According to Jackie Semmens, a writer on the site “Motherly”, in her work titled “You Spend a Ton of Money on Child Care, So Why Are Caregivers So Poorly Paid?”, she explains, “A staggering 15% of child care workers live below the federal poverty line. Such low wages cause significant problems for their families — and indicate a serious cultural shortcoming” (1). Semmens is a freelance writer who earned a degree in Religious Studies in the College of William and Mary and also a Master’s Degree in Medical Anthropology and Public Health from the University of Montana. She has written for a variety of organizations dedicated to parenting. Motherly is a small, weekly online organization that is dedicated to helping parents live the life of a caregiver.This evidence could mean that since the government does not pay enough money to caregivers, they could be performing less efficiently. This information is significant because it shows that even though the price is incredibly high, workers are payed very little wages. In this type of situation, both the customers and the workers are suffering. Both of them are struggling to live normal lives, because on one side they are spending too much, but on the other they are gaining too little. There is one problem they both have in common: money. If you were one of these workers, you would want to change this, right? Just imagine; both you and other innocent families would be very depressed. Additionally, according to Danielle Kurtzleben, a political reporter and online writer, in her work titled “5 charts that show child care in the US is broken”, published on Vox, she states that “[it is] prohibitively expensive for many families, yet its workers are some of the lowest-paid in the nation, earning only $9.38 per hour, or $19,500 per year” (1). Kurtzleben deals with economic policies and business news, formerly an associate editor for U.S. News & World Report. She has earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Carleton College and a master’s degree in global communication from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Vox is a long-time running news and opinion website that publishes within short intervals. According to this piece of evidence, workers get only $9.38 per hour. Only $9.38 per hour! That’s even less than how much some fast food restaurants pay you! Imagine yourself in this situation; having this job, and working until you get tired, but at the end of a long day, you finally get paid. How much do you think you deserve? What would you do if they gave you much less than what you expected? This information is significant because it shows the salaries for workers, proving that the only benefit from this system leads to the government, and not anyone else. Overall, this data shows that most workers within this program do not excel at their jobs, further proving that this system is a waste of an immense amount of money.
Some might argue that we should not use government funds to help pay for the childcare system because it is too expensive, and soon enough we will not be able to afford all that. However, there are many possible solutions to this argument. One would be that, instead of still making citizens pay a fee for their child’s safety, the government could just remove the cost altogether in some areas, like the system in France. Other countries have used programs like this and it has ended up being beneficial. According to the article “Childcare in France” by the site “Expatica”, an online news and info portal that is created by and for expatriates, “French nursery schools, or ècoles maternelles, accept children from two to six years of age and are free of charge” (1). This type of government system, as shown in the excerpt, will allow parents to worry less about not having enough money for other needs, and focus more on other, more important things, such as their jobs. If you were a parent, I bet you’d be seriously happy to be a part of this program. Who wouldn’t? The government can do so much to fix all these faults in the v, as seen in other countries’ work.
Therefore, I implore you to take action upon this nationwide problem, and convince more people to join us. I need your help to fix the childcare system, and I cannot do this alone. If we work against this together, we can make a change. We want the government to fix their faulty system, so that parents and kids alike may live normal lives. This will make a difference because if we are able to attract the attention of the government, we will be able to stop this unfairness once and for all. We can start off small, but soon we will make a huge difference. Thank you for hearing me out.
Sincerely,
Jalen A
