Blog #7: Texas needs a child care quality rating system

   Many Texans watched in horror on their smartphones, Facebook feeds or local news this past week a video of a Plano child care provider carelessly tossing and pushing toddlers under her supervision. The video was disturbing and it raises a huge question to every parent that how could actions like this happen at a licensed child care center? One thing is clear from the video that parents as consumers need and deserve a guide on how to recognize and find quality child care.
   Decades ago, child care became a national need, and licensed child care business flourished, as did women in the workforce. Child care may have begun as a support for working parents, but today, early care and education is much more. Brain scientists, researchers, educators, and even economists agree: The first five years of children's lives have the tremendous impact. Quality child care must fundamentally ensure a child is safe from harm while outside of parent's direct care and supervision. However, quality child care can do much more. Children's early experiences impact the developing brain and their future academic success. Quality child care fundamentally supports a growing child and his or her health. Warm relationships with an adult caregiver guide the young child toward developing strong emotional bonds and social-emotional skills. And as we've all heard, quality early education and care is foundational to a child's school readiness.
    Quality child care, however, is not easy to find. Many parents are not sure what to look for and can be overly impressed with buildings and sales materials vs. analyzing the stuff that matters. Now, 48 states have child care quality rating system available for all licensed child care facilities. Sadly, Texas is not one of them.
     Texas does have the rating system for child care, but its reach is only to child care programs that accept state-funded subsidies. Without a reliable star rating to communicate the quality of child care program, parents are left as uninformed consumers. We can do better. It's time for Texas to better inform the parents. Parents deserve a simple way to identify quality child care in our communities. It's time to expand the current Texas Rising Star child rating and quality improvement system to include all licensed child care.

Blog #6: Comment on a colleague's work.

     Texas allows college students to carry guns on campus, which means they can carry packing handguns with the textbooks into their classrooms. It sounds so terrific to me. Being a college student myself, I am against this law and I completely agree with one of my colleague's blog "Texas SHOULD NOT Allow Guns On College Campuses." I agree with her saying, "Someone carrying a gun could easily think someone is trying to harm them, and possibly shoot them in a matter of "self-defence" when the victim was innocent all along." As it takes no time in pulling a trigger instead of going through the effort of holding a knife to stab someone when the victim can still defend themselves.
     Although, the people of the United States agree with the idea of keeping guns with them as they can defend themselves when they confront a violent person. I personally do not find it right to allow people keeping a concealed weapon especially the college students on campus. Colleges are emotionally volatile environment and allowing guns on campus turns classroom debates into the crime scenes. I think the gun on college campuses distract the learning environment and brings an air to the campus that you don't feel safe and you feel that you always have to be protected. In addition, colleges are too crowded to safely allow the carry of concealed weapons as any dangerous person might jump someone who is carrying a gun, take his gun, and use it to do harm. As our constitution allows ownership of guns, it's not easy to remove the guns. However, we can definitely slow the usage of it by using a pepper spray or a police baton as an alternative in the matter of self-defence.
    Therefore, I completely agree with my colleague's blog and definitely, Texas should change the law soon making the college environment free from the fear of guns.