Regina McLaughlin

Professor

“What we’re involved in is shaping the lives who are going to shape the nation. And people are starting to realize that.”

“I remember writing on a recent resumé that I hoped I would live long enough to see a person in the White House who had a knowledge of the importance of early childhood education,” says Regina McLaughlin. “And six months later, there was Hillary Clinton.” Regina began her own promotion of childcare in the Head Start programs during Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. She’s heard a lot of political promises made, but now she feels the ball is really rolling.

“I’m very excited because the students I’m getting in my psych and child development classes are so eager to learn. And they’re seeing this important field as being much more than being in a class with children. They’re incorporating what they learn in their approach to careers in mental health, corporate childcare and medicine. And I’m getting students from all walks of life: multi-cultural, low-income, older students. And they’re all just so eager and excited.”

Regina points out that, historically, childcare as a profession has meant limited growth and low pay. “And that’s why it’s incumbent on those of us who are dedicated professionals to bring a higher sense of awareness to this important and noble field. One way to recognize the importance of the role we play is with money, of course,” she says. “But I want my students to feel that they must go on to the higher degrees and not be perceived as doing a domestic charity kind of thing. With the power of the right education,” she continues, “those in our profession have the opportunity to make a tremendous impact on society.” The road to the White House begins, after all, in a sandbox.

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