From Mrs Wendy Ferguson Sir: Rhodes Boyson's article 'Blots on
the White Paper' (January 20) suggests that mothers send their children to nursery school (a) because of their own inadequacy to rear them, and (b) in order to go out to work. He suggests that these maternal defects could be remedied by education of the mothers themselves, and tax allowances for fathers of pre-school children.
As a teacher of adults I am painfully aware that the people most likely to attend any "weekly class " are the people comparatively least likely to need it. Would Rhodes Boyson compel mothers to attend? It would be the only way for the majority.
A degree and social science diploma, with subsequent youth work and teaching experience, possibly qualify me both on the grounds of " oracy and literacy ", and "adequacy " to rear my two children. They both went to nursery school at the age of three. I did not go to work while they were away from me, but I know many mothers who do so, either to enjoy different faces and surroundings for a few hours (and please remember that a woman with only two children is likely to be tied to them and her home for at least six years before the younger one goes to 'school), or because on a fixed housekeeping allowance they have little over for ' extras ' for themselves and their children. Sadly, no amount of ' liberal tax allowances' would be likely to alter this situation.
My children did not go to nursery school to be reared, nor, specifically, to gain " oracy and literacy." Like most children by the age of three they were developing distinct personalities, which I believed would gain by contact with other children and adults in an environment different from home. In the meantime, for a few hours each day, I had the opportunity to develop my personality in whatever way I chose, which undoubtedly benefited the children as well.
In nursery school, children have facilities for development of skills they may well not have in a small home which the mother feels she needs to keep clean and tidy. In fact, as I am not over house-proud, my own children had most of the advantages of sand, water, newspaper, paints and cardboard cartons at home, but they still went to nursery school to learn to adjust to a wider society than that of their immediate family. The child who at five years cannot integrate into a class of thirty-odd other children is starting school with a disadvantage.
My children are now in Junior School, and show no signs of mother deprivation. (From what can remember of Dr Bowlby's theories, I suspect Rhodes Boyson of misinterpretation.) They were, after all, ' deprived ' of my company 'for only two and a half hours a day, and enjoyed every minute of it. They are now secure and relatively independent individuals who have every chance of living full lives, and who might e-en be sufficiently adequate to bring up children of their own eventually. Wendy Ferguson The Cottage, Crown Road, Orpington, Kent
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