13.2 Education and Employment Changes to Education: Birth through Adulthood
13.2 Education and Employment Changes to Education: Birth through Adulthood
Elizabeth B. Pearce
It is difficult to imagine a more important, or at least as time-consuming, aspect of family life, than education and employment, in the United States. Education is compulsory for children in the United States, although federal, state, and local policies govern when that begins and when that ends. Kindergarten is mandatory in 17 states and the District of Columbia (Barrientos, 2023). The age that students may leave schooling varies between 14 and 18 years old. In addition, many children attend childcare for both full day and part-day settings (sometimes called “preschool”) between birth and starting kindergarten or first grade. And college has become an increasingly important part of life in the United States. In this section we will use an equity lens to view what options and choices that families have and how their decisions impact generational outcomes.
Later in the chapter we will look at employment, or work, through an equity lens. Most importantly, we will examine all work, whether paid or unpaid. In 2022 individuals employed in full-time paid work tend to spend 8.42 hours working each weekday. Those that hold multiple jobs spend more hours working than people who have one job. Increasingly, people in the United States need to hold multiple jobs to make ends meet (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d.). But what about unpaid work, such as housework, caring for family members, volunteering, and other needed work, such as planning and budgeting for a family? We will look closely at who does that work, and how much time it takes. Lastly, we will examine the relationship between the education that a family has access to, and how this affects future employment, wealth, and health outcomes for children and families.
Education: Birth through Secondary Education
In this section we will consider what options for care and education are available to families between birth and early adulthood. We will look through an equity lens at childcare and secondary education, or K–12.
Childcare
Childcare is generally presumed to mean “non-maternal” or “non-parental care of young children.” A big question for many is whether regular non-parental care benefits, harms or is neutral to children’s development.
The most comprehensive attempt to answer this question was undertaken by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) between 1991 and 2006. In this study over 1,000 children and families participated in research conducted between the birth of the child and approximately ninth grade. This study is by far the most complete look at quantity, quality, and types of childcare to date (figure 13.1).
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Childhood and Youth Development provides a great deal of basic information about childcare, along with detailed