<story><title>The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-joyful-illiterate-kindergartners-of-finland/408325?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>adventured</author><text>Where I live in the US you can send a child to a good daycare for about ~$350 per month.&lt;p&gt;What causes daycare to be so expensive in Australia? Wages, regulation, not enough supply, something else?</text></item><item><author>interpol_p</author><text>The cost of day care over there is stunning. The day care we send our children to in Australia is very similar to what you describe (i.e., compassionate and loving staff, focus on play in a mixed social environment, lots of outings and great food).&lt;p&gt;But the cost is $85 per day, per child. We have two children so it costs more than our mortgage to take our children to day care. It is also one of the more affordable day cares.&lt;p&gt;The government is supposed to cover 50% of the cost, but only up to maximum of $7,500. Meaning they end up covering far less than half.</text></item><item><author>pavlov</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve lived my life in Finland. I don&amp;#x27;t know if the schools are all that (it&amp;#x27;s been 20 years since mine)... But I can speak for municipal daycare &amp;#x2F; kindergarten, as I have a 3-year-old daughter and I&amp;#x27;ve been extremely happy with the care.&lt;p&gt;The teachers and staff at the center are so competent and compassionate. Playing is always at the forefront, but they have educational themes for a full year that are cleverly integrated into the daily rhythm. The children are always doing short trips that reveal new things of their daily surroundings in the city. The social environment mixes children of various ages: there are kids of age 2 and 5 in the same groups.&lt;p&gt;I know my child&amp;#x27;s life would be a lot poorer without daycare. And it only costs about 200 euros &amp;#x2F; month. (We&amp;#x27;re paying the maximum price since we&amp;#x27;re two working parents; with less family income the price would go down to nearly zero. Also, children are eligible for daycare even if their parents are not working.)&lt;p&gt;Giving our kids a rich social life and early education without the pressures of a traditional school model is probably the one thing Finnish society has figured out. (The rest is more or less a mess right now.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bryanlarsen</author><text>$350?   Is that subsidized?   That doesn&amp;#x27;t seem possible.&lt;p&gt;A good student:teacher ratio for 1-2 year olds is 1:3, for 3 year olds is 1:5 and for 4 year olds is 1:8.   Assuming an even mix, that&amp;#x27;s an overall ratio of 1:4.   350 x 4 x 12 is $17K a year per teacher, and that&amp;#x27;s only if nothing goes towards rent, supplies and the other costs of running a day care.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Joyful, Illiterate Kindergartners of Finland</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/the-joyful-illiterate-kindergartners-of-finland/408325?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>adventured</author><text>Where I live in the US you can send a child to a good daycare for about ~$350 per month.&lt;p&gt;What causes daycare to be so expensive in Australia? Wages, regulation, not enough supply, something else?</text></item><item><author>interpol_p</author><text>The cost of day care over there is stunning. The day care we send our children to in Australia is very similar to what you describe (i.e., compassionate and loving staff, focus on play in a mixed social environment, lots of outings and great food).&lt;p&gt;But the cost is $85 per day, per child. We have two children so it costs more than our mortgage to take our children to day care. It is also one of the more affordable day cares.&lt;p&gt;The government is supposed to cover 50% of the cost, but only up to maximum of $7,500. Meaning they end up covering far less than half.</text></item><item><author>pavlov</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve lived my life in Finland. I don&amp;#x27;t know if the schools are all that (it&amp;#x27;s been 20 years since mine)... But I can speak for municipal daycare &amp;#x2F; kindergarten, as I have a 3-year-old daughter and I&amp;#x27;ve been extremely happy with the care.&lt;p&gt;The teachers and staff at the center are so competent and compassionate. Playing is always at the forefront, but they have educational themes for a full year that are cleverly integrated into the daily rhythm. The children are always doing short trips that reveal new things of their daily surroundings in the city. The social environment mixes children of various ages: there are kids of age 2 and 5 in the same groups.&lt;p&gt;I know my child&amp;#x27;s life would be a lot poorer without daycare. And it only costs about 200 euros &amp;#x2F; month. (We&amp;#x27;re paying the maximum price since we&amp;#x27;re two working parents; with less family income the price would go down to nearly zero. Also, children are eligible for daycare even if their parents are not working.)&lt;p&gt;Giving our kids a rich social life and early education without the pressures of a traditional school model is probably the one thing Finnish society has figured out. (The rest is more or less a mess right now.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nmcfarl</author><text>Just to give a good indication of the range of options&amp;#x2F;prices in the US, a good day care in Seattle proper runs just under $2000&amp;#x2F;m and has a 1 year long waiting list.   We applied for 3 and got into 1.  (For an infant, prices go down about $150&amp;#x2F;m for every year  of life).</text></comment>