HuffPo Criticises Daycare

In Sweden. It's old news, but still interesting:


Ninety-two percent of all 18 month to five year olds are in daycare in Sweden. Universality is a much admired principle and it's true that this has been achieved.

However, the outcomes are otherwise unremarkable, even negative, for psychological health, learning, maternal health and parenting.

Let's start with the ever deteriorating psychological health of Swedish youth, which has become a major concern in Swedish public debate today. A 2006 investigation by the Swedish government reveals that Sweden is worse in this regard when contrasted with 11 comparable European countries since the 1980s.

Other studies show similar results. And if you interview any Swedish school teacher with a few decades of experience they will confirm this.

Examining attachment-based developmental science, it is very hard to deny a possible connection between daycare and these outcomes. This is especially true since Sweden is doing extraordinarily well on a host of other indicators such as equality, low child poverty, education expenditure and a generally high standard of living.

On international educational (PISA) scores, Swedish school results have dropped from a high position a few decades ago to merely average among OECD countries today. A Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study shows that disorder in Swedish classrooms is among the worst among comparable countries.

The government blames the schools but an increasing view among Swedish teachers and school psychologists is that the school problem is, to a great degree, a family problem. Children are simply not sufficiently emotionally nourished to be teachable in school.

Read the whole article over here.