During the early 20th century, the number of nurseries increased exponentially in metropolitan areas such as Osaka and Tokyo, and their role in Japan's growth was unmistakably important . These nurseries provided basic services such as education and medical care for children aged three to seven from low-income families at little to no cost. Since in many families both parents worked full time, most children were sent to these nurseries and thus a large part of the population was greatly influenced by the different nurseries. Kathleen Uno, in her article Transitions to Modernity: Motherhood, Childhood, and Social Reform in Early 20th Century Japan, describes the different aspects of child care present at that time, its influence on the masses, and the importance of their support. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Child care was huge in this era because the working class didn't have the time to work and support their family while caring for their children. Nursery schools were free so they relieved parents of any financial burden of paying for child care. Nurseries also provided medical care and education for children, which were provided free of charge by nurseries, but would likely have cost additional costs to parents of children not in the centers (One, 150). These three services provided for free helped strengthen the position of the working class because suddenly they were no longer strapped for money and were able to use their money to improve their quality of life. Medical care and education also had a huge impact on the improvement of the working class as they now had healthy, educated children who were able to work and support their family. Educated children were also able to pursue higher educational opportunities and become better citizens, which helped the government seek healthy, educated people to join the military. The biggest conflict that arose from these child care centers during the Taisho era is the opposing opinions and their goals. Ogawa Shigejiro's idea of caring for children was a vision widely discussed in Uno's article. Uno writes that Ogawa advocated for child care to shift emphasis from infants to infants due to rising infant mortality (Uno, 154). Ogawa believed that saving children's lives was more important than educating children as it reduced infant mortality and brought about improvements for the working class. Ogawa also believed that parents who send their children to these nurseries should pay a fee because free nursery may lead parents to neglect their parental duty of caring for their children. In contrast to his idea of child care which gained little support, Ogawa's idea of paid day care was supported by many of his contemporaries (One, 156). Even as Ogawa pushed for these ideas to pass, most daycare centers rejected his ideas and continued to provide free child care for children ages three to seven because of how expensive day care centers could become if they provided child care. newborns and because Ogawa was relatively new to the world. the area of the day centers (Uno, 156). Furthermore, because kindergarten standards and goals have been well established, Ogawa's new ideas have not gained much support. Other ideas that were being pushed in this era were the KSKH's emphasis on providing services.
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