Passage III

Willow Day Care

At 7:00 a.m Susan Chambers unlocks the doors of the Willow Day Care, where she's been a teacher for two years. Susan finds her job; satisfying, she earned her college degree in Early Childhood Education so that she could work with children in a setting like this. But frustration is hers too. As a skilled professional and who has a degree, Susan works hard to meet the emotional and developmental needs of the children. Yet her work is regarded in a mere step above unskilled labor. She often reflects, that it would pay more than $7.25 an hour if childcare weren't viewed as strictly a "woman's" job.

For these reasons, Susan has decided, with reluctance, to pursue a career with more promise of potential. That decision, however, conflicts with the responsibility she feels toward these children. Several other teachers have left the school in recent months for better-paying jobs. Her own training tells her that the school's lack of stability, can only be detrimental to the kids.

At 7:05 a.m., Rebecca Howard is dropping her son off at the Willow Day Care on her way to work. She'll be glad when he starts school when childcare costs almost $5.00 an hour, not leaving much of the $12.00 an hour earning as a typist.There's been talk that her company might provide on-site childcare as a company benefit, but so far the company insists that "responsibilities of the home should be attended to there."

But what's worse for Rebecca than the financial strain is the self-doubt that she feels. In listening to the public debate over state subsidies for childcare, she was at times almost been persuaded that she really has abandoned an important role-motherhood to strangers. She wistfully thinks of the days of The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie.

At 7:08 a.m., Alex Howard, age four, kisses his mother good-bye and heads into the Willow Day Care, hoping that Susan, his favorite teacher, will be there today.