Dear Editor

...Denver Sally V Allen Project Director, Education Commission of the States Early Childhood Project More comments on The Case Against Universal Day Care plus reply by George F Gilder will appear in our next issue-ED...

...New York City Herbert J Gans Professor of Sociology, Columbia University It is only fair to say that George F Gilder raises some thought-provoking issues which should be accorded greater prominence in the development of child care and, in fact, all social legislation He is right in stressing the need for carefully considered, long-range social planning To a large extent piecemeal programs have become policy because there has been no nationwide sense of public direction Head Start and Title IV A of the Social Security Act are but two examples He is also right in urging examination of the feasibility of a broad-scale child care program (Though long-term dollar costs of good programs should be justified m subsequent savings for remedial, counseling, and even penal and welfare costs ) In any case, it is safe to assume that child care program costs could be high and likely to grow...

...1 The history of this country suggests that we can pay for whatever is considered sufficiently important In fact, there is good reason to believe that educational systems should be restructured to put greater emphasis and funding on early childhood programs and less on, for example, the twelfth grade Gilder's other concerns-for family stability, for the self-esteem of men and for a stable employment picture-are irrelevant because they are based on incorrect assumptions...

...Mothers who work do so for a variety of reasons They should not, as Gilder condones be forced out of the home by work provisions like those proposed in the Family Assistance Plan He is right in suggesting, however that poor women who work are usually the scrubwomen who earn hardly enough to cover their own costs, yet he does not ask why The question of job fulfillment is no more important than the issue of equal pay for equal work...

...Day care-creatively conceived and operated an, better than almost any other social program, enhance the development of young children so that they and their families find the greater fulfillment and self-esteem that Gilder is so concerned about...

...There is no reason to assume, on the other hand, that increased availability of quality day care would mean women would flood the marketplace Many who could now afford care have chosen not to work Women's Lib not withstanding some mothers actually prefer to be in the home...

...Dear Editor Day Care George F Gilder's argument ('The Case Against Universal Day Care," NL, April 3) that day care is a less desirable antipoverty policy than the Family Assistance Plan is sound in the abstract but deficient in the concrete, making it politically far less persuasive than it is intellectually For one thing, despite his enthusiasm for FAP, the present bill does reduce poverty in only a half dozen Southern states, and it should not be passed until its minimum income figures are raised and its repressive workfare provisions are taken out...

...Gilder is concerned about subverting the stability of families -particularly families of the poor-and about undermining the self-respect and head-of the-house position of fathers Fathers have a key role to play in child development, and creative programs recognize this fact Experts agree that the formative years in a child's mental, physical, emotional, and social development are those before he enters first grade And increasingly they agree that the greatest underutilized resource in fostering this development is the family...

...But the question should not be "Can we afford another expensive program...

...The issue is really "What are our priorities...

...His case against day care is developed from the standpoint of the adult Whether he likes it or not, the primary focus of day care is the children There are more than 4 million working mothers with children under six, but only 640 000 licensed day care spaces are available and more than one-third of these are privately run By 1980, the Labor Department predicts, 5 3 million mothers with small children will be working According to a recently released study by the National Council of Jewish Women, about half of the existing day care centers provide only custodial care and 20 per cent are rated poor, offering care that 15 actually harmful to children We cannot stand by and let these youngsters continue to suffer such inadequate care...

...Also, the tradeoff which Gilder sets up between the two policies is merely hypothetical and much too narrow, the President did not, after all, combine his day care bill veto with a promise to fight harder for FAP, and Gilder could have pointed out that if the President cut the war budget both FAP and day care would be financially feasible Finally Gilder is too harsh on the motives of the day care supporters and not cognizant enough of the changes in the American family that justify a Federal day care program...