【TED演讲】如何解决儿童保育问题？

中英文字幕

This, this is Yoli. I went to her childcare program that she started out of her home in the community where I grew up. I was in her program when I was four. Over the years, she served hundreds of children in our community. Her program was so fun. We played outside, we played hide and seek, there was play dough, there were blocks. Yoli would ask us things like, "How are you feeling today? Are you feeling happy? Are you feeling sad? Are you feeling angry?"

这位是尤里。我去了她在家里开的托儿所，在这个我生长的小区。我四岁的时候，参加了她的托儿所。多年来，她为我们社区的数百名儿童提供服务。她的托儿所非常有趣。我们在外面玩，捉迷藏，橡皮泥，还有积木。尤里会问我们：“你今天感觉怎么样？你开心吗？你伤心吗？你生气吗？“

She really helped us make sense of the world. She really focused on communication. It was a mixed-age classroom. There were children that were infants, there were toddlers. The older children learned to lead, the younger children learned from the older children. As it turns out, we were doing incredibly important work in her program. People often think that the real learning starts in kindergarten, but 90 percent of our brains develop between the ages of zero and five.

她帮助我们感受，了解这个世界。她非常注重沟通。这是一间不同年龄段的孩子组成的教室。这里有婴儿，也有已经开始蹒跚学步的孩子。年龄较大的孩子学会了领导，年龄较小的孩子向年龄较大的孩子学习。结果是，我们在她的托儿所里做着非常重要的事情。人们通常认为真正的学习是从幼儿园开始的，但是百分之九十的大脑是在零到五岁之间发育的。

And far too many children don't get access to the type of early learning experiences I had in Yoli's program. Whether that's through a childcare program in a home, a center, a nanny, a caring parent, a grandparent. In fact, 175 million children age three to six don't get access at all. In the US, 51 percent of Americans live in areas called "childcare deserts," where there's not enough childcare. And what this shortage does is it leaves parents having to choose between their careers and childcare. Even in places where there's free childcare or public pre-K options, there's not enough spots.

太多孩子没有机会接受尤里那样的早教计划。无论是通过家庭、育儿中心、保姆、体贴的父母还是祖父母的托儿计划。事实上，有一亿七千五百万个三到六岁的孩子没有任何的渠道去获得这样的教育。在美国，51%的美国人生活在被称为“保育沙漠”的地区，那里无法提供足够的儿童保育服务。这样的短缺，使得父母必须在他们的孩子和事业之间做出选择。即使那里有免费儿童保育或者公立幼儿园，也没有足够的名额。

So parents are forced to drive across town for options that don't meet their needs. They're forced to wait in these really long wait lists and succumb to lotteries to try to get into programs. And this shortage isn't due to us not trying. In the '70s, we pinned our hopes on television to solve our problems. Today, the touch-screen generation's learning how to count, how to read, using apps and games, but apps and games can't care for our children. Apps and games can't change diapers, can't ensure our children are getting access to the appropriate socio-emotional growth that they need.

所以父母被迫开车跨市去满足孩子的保育要求。他们被迫进入长长的等候名单，不得不通过幼儿园的抽签才能获得这一名额。这些短缺并不是我们不努力造成的。在70年代，我们寄希望于电视解决我们的问题。今天，电子产品一代可以通过应用程序和游戏，学习如何算术，如何阅读，但这些应用程序和游戏不能照顾我们的孩子。应用程序和游戏不能换尿布，不能确保我们的孩子获得他们需要的适当的社会情感教育。

And there hasn't been enough money, enough teachers, enough classrooms. We've tried everything, we haven't been able to solve it. So what if we could live in a world where we did have enough childcare, where parents had a multitude of options to choose from in their communities? Maybe the answer is right under our noses. Maybe Yoli was onto something: our homes. Rather than investing trillions of dollars building new buildings, what if we empowered more people to start childcare programs out of their homes?

而且我们也没有足够的资金、足够的教师和足够的教室。我们什么都试过了，但还是没能解决这个问题。那么，要是我们生活在拥有足够的儿童保育的世界，在社区里，父母能有各种各样的选择，那将会是怎样的情况？也许答案就在我们的眼前。也许尤里有一些答案：我们的家。比起花上亿美元去建造新的幼儿园，授权更多的人在自家开设幼儿园又会如何呢？

Based on our data, it costs about $25,000 per spot if you create a commercial space for childcare. That's 25,000 times each child you want to serve in that program, where you can do that for a fraction, a couple of hundred dollars, if you do it in a home-based program. And we can make it easier for parents to find these programs. Software is great for this. So with software, we can make it easy for folks to start programs, get connected to parents.

根据我们的数据，如果你为儿童保育创造一个商业空间，每个位置的成本约为2.5万美元。总花费是2.5万美元乘以孩童的人数，然而只要花费一小部分的钱就可以做到这一点，如果在家开托儿所的话，只要几百美元就可以。而且可以让家长更容易找到这些托儿所。软件是个很好的选择。用软件可以让大家更加容易开始托儿照护计划，和其他父母取得联系。

Decades ago, who would have thought that we would be able to create a software network of drivers, connect them to millions of passengers and solve the transportation needs, or play a role in solving the transportation needs, of our fastest-growing cities? Or take our spare bedrooms and apartments and make them available online and create an industry that competes with the largest hotel chains? So my dream is to create that kind of network but for home-based childcare:

几十年前，谁都没有想到我们可以通过软件，将司机和几百万个用户联系起来，解决交通需求，或者在这巨大快速发展的城市里扮演着传输者的角色？或者把空闲的房间和公寓放在网上形成一个巨大的酒店产业链？所以我梦想着能够建立这样的网络，专为家庭式托儿打造：

to create a movement where we empower people to start childcare programs out of their homes and play a role in solving the challenges in their communities.These programs could be more affordable, they could be nimble, safe. They could be laboratories of innovation. And I'm one of the entrepreneurs who's working on advancing home-based childcare. And what I'm going to share with you is how I think we can turn that idea into a reality. So first off, when it comes to starting a program, we want to make sure that the program is safe, it's high quality, it's a program parents can trust.

去开启鼓励人们把自家变成托儿所的运动，解决他们社区的问题。这些项目可以更实惠，它们可以灵活、安全。它们可以是创新的实验室。我是致力于发展家庭托儿服务的企业家之一。我要和你们分享如何实现那个想法。开启计划的第一件事是要安全，它要是个高品质，是个家长可以信任的计划。

This is Christina. Christina started a childcare program out of her home in San Francisco. She started with her husband. When she decided to start a program, she had to get registered with the state. She got licensed by the state. They came out and visited her program, made sure she was operating a safe program. She was background-checked along with her husband. And if there's any issues that she experiences in her program, any violation, she shares this information with the state, and the state makes it publicly available.

这个是克里斯提娜。克里斯提娜在她旧金山的家中开启了她的托儿所。她是和她丈夫一起创办的。当她决定开启这个计划的时候，她必须在州政府注册。她拿到了州政府的执照。政府的人去视察她的幼儿园，确定她在运作一个安全的幼儿园。她和丈夫一起接受了背景调查。如果在她的托儿所中有任何问题，任何违规行为，她都会上报州政府，州政府会将其公之于众。

To make this work, we've got to make sure it's easy for parents to get this information when they're making a decision for their children. Along with this, we need more information about Christina's program. What's her background, what's her philosophy? What are her tuition rates? Who else is in the program? Is she operating a safe program? Is this a program parents can trust?Along with this, what do other parents think about the program who have been enrolled in the program? This is the type of information parents need when they're making this decision for their children.

要做到这一点，我们必须确保父母在为孩子做决定时很容易获得这些信息。除此之外，我们还需要更多有关克里斯提娜托儿所的信息。她的背景，她的人生观是什么？她的学费是多少？谁在她的幼儿园？她运行的幼儿园是否安全？这个幼儿园值得父母信任吗？还有已经托儿的父母们怎么看待这个幼儿园？这是父母在为孩子做这个决定时需要的信息。

When operating a childcare program, it's not the same as driving a car, making your apartment available online or delivering groceries. It's really important we ensure that the programs that get created are safe, secure, and allow us to live up to the promise of early childhood education. Lastly, when it comes to starting a childcare program we need to make it easier for folks to take the leap. There's this big misconception that starting a childcare program out of your home is expensive, and you can barely make a living doing so. But that's not true.

运营儿童保育项目，与开车、在网上日租公寓或送货上门不同。我们必须确保幼儿园安全无虞，这一点非常重要，这样我们才能不辜负幼儿教育的承诺。最后，要开设托儿所，我们需要让有意愿开设的人更容易迈出这一步。这里有一个巨大的误解，认为在家里开办托儿项目成本很高，养活不了自己。但事实并非如此。

The economics vary widely by location, by your home, by your background. It's really similar, from an economic standpoint, the way real estate works in terms of how rents work in different markets. For example, when Christina started her program, she was able to break even within three months of starting her program. And we're seeing folks start programs in studio apartments with one or two children in the program. And we're seeing a wide variety of different types of folks starting programs.

不同的地区、不同的家庭、不同的背景，经济状况差异很大。从经济角度来看，就租金在不同市场的运作方式而言，这与房地产的运作方式非常相似。例如，当克里斯蒂娜开始她的生意的时候，她能够在三个月内实现收支平衡。我们也见过开设在一居室里的人，照护一两个孩子。我们看到各种各样不同类型的人开设幼儿照护项目。

We're seeing grandmothers or former K-12 teachers. We're seeing social workers, artists. We're seeing Montessori teachers who've been in the field for 20 years and realize the opportunity of running their own program. Folks who are into forestry and have master's degrees, former nurses, starting fully outdoor programs.

Going back to Christina. Christina was a former child therapist, and when she started her program with her husband, she quickly got to a point where she was earning six times as much income running her program than she was in her prior career.

我们见过奶奶、从幼儿园起包括初中到高中的学校老师。还有社工和艺术家。我们见过入行20年的蒙台梭利教师，意识到他们有自己开启计划的机会。我们见过林业系的研究生前护士开始他们自己的户外项目。说回克里斯提娜。克里斯蒂娜以前是一名儿童治疗师，当她和丈夫开启这个计划的时候，很快就赚着比她之前的工作多出六倍的薪水。

She's able to move to a single-family home in San Francisco to operate her program. And the big reason why she's able to do this is she's not having to incur the costs of commercial real estate. She's doing this out of her home. And her program is actually more affordable than programs nearby. It's a win-win for her and for the parents. So I want to live in a world where there's more Christinas, where there's more Yolis.

她现在能搬到在旧金山的单户居所继续开托儿所。她能够做到这一点的最大原因是她不必承担商业房地产的成本。她是在家里做这件事的。而且她的托儿所实际上比附近的托儿所更实惠。这对她和孩子的父母来说都是双赢。所以我想生活在一个有更多的克里斯提娜，有更多的尤里的世界。

Where parents don't have to drive across town for programs that don't meet their needs, where parents don't have to drop out of the workforce to ensure their children are getting access to the vital early education our children need. A world where we can walk around our neighborhoods and tour a Spanish immersion program, a fully outdoor program, a science-based program and make a choice.

在那里，父母不需要开车跨市去寻找并不符合他们需求的托儿所，在那里，父母不必放弃事业，以确保他们的孩子能够获得孩子所需的至关重要的早期教育。在这个世界里，我们可以在我们的社区里走走，找到沉浸西语的、室外的，专注科学的幼儿园，并做出选择。

It's during these early years children learn to speak, they learn to communicate, they learn teamwork, they learn what it's like to start something and fail and try again. A lot of the skills I use as a CEO today, running my company, these are things I learned before I was five. These are the moments and experiences that make us who we are and make us human. And I can't think of anything more important than that. Thank you.

在这些早期阶段，孩子们学习说话，学习交流，学习团队合作，他们要学习去开始一些事情，学习体验失败和重启的滋味。作为一名CEO，我今天在管理公司时使用的很多技能，都是我在五岁之前学到的。这些时刻和经历让我们成为真正的自己，让我们成长为人。我想不出还有什么比这更重要的了。谢谢。