A production of the South Carolina Educational Television Network.

♪ We need orientation way down in the kindergarten pertaining to careers, pertaining to, planning for our careers after high school.

♪ ♪ Bill> The problem with teenage d approximately 6 million teens in the United States each year.

And what we are looking at is not only a local concern, a local problem here in the Midland area, but also a nationwide epidemic.

♪ >> I think that it's very good to have a grand mommy around, you know, if they are available, but the child development centers do offer an alternative.

If you do not have relatives to keep your children.

Hi, and welcome to another session of the Job Man Caravan.

I'm Bill Terrell.

Today we'd like to welcome the newest member of the Caravan staff, a young lady that will serve as producer and co-host Adrian Hays.

Hays> Thank you very much, Bill.

I'm very, very pleased to be a part of the Job Man Caravan family.

Right now we're standing before W.A.

Perry Middle School where recently they had a career day and Joe Scott and Darrell Early, two members of our staff participated.

And here we have some highlights.

>> My name name's John Williams and I'm going to celebrate.

And for a career day I learned about everything.

♪ >> Well, you learn about all the that they to offer around South Carolina and which one that you can choose for your career and future.

>> The day was fun learning about, the different careers that the people had and we'd all like to have one of those careers.

My name is Martha McDowell and I am in seventh grade, and today it is really exciting because you learn so many differ that you haven't already learned that you didn't know.

♪ Okay.

I think it was a good idea because, you know, it gives the students a chance to start to think about what they want to do for a career.

If they don't have a career, they could look around and maybe figure out what they want to do.

>> On an annual basis, we bring in community resource people to talk about their world of work with the children, their careers, and those things that helps to prepare them for the careers.

And at the same time, we hope out of the exposure of those careers, our children will begin to plan for career setting goals and also test their interests and their abilities.

>> I think I would like to try engineering because it's a very open field and a lot of money, and you can go into electronic engineer or work in the field, and they have a lot of opportunities.

♪ >> We think that without a doubt that it was very valuable in terms of providing the information for the children.

Already.

We've had a number of young folks coming to us asking if it's a possibility that we could bring back some of the resource people so that they can, again, talk with them and find out basic kinds of things or information pertaining to academic planning for their careers and that kind of thing.

>> My name is Erica Bostic, and I'm in seventh grade.

And, what I've learned from career day today is that, in the professions that they have, I've learned that you have to do and everything is to accomplish your goals, like being a computer programmer or a nurse or whatever, what, what have you.

You have to do a lot of studying in school, and everything it's really important in you don't play.

♪ >> That's all.

Bill> With nearly half of the total workforce in the United States being comprised of women.

Now more than ever, there's a need for child development or daycare facilities.

>> Child development centers do offer an alternative if you do not have relatives keeping your children.

For the single parent, it helps the child to get to know that there are other children who have the same family structure as they do.

It gives the child another an opportunity to share, because when you have a single parent, you have all of the attention of that one parent.

Here at a child development center.

You have to wait your turn.

You have to learn to cooperate.

And it is very good in helping the child to, be socially prepared to, function in a school setting.

Bill> When seeking a center for children to attend, parents should check out the conditions of the facilities before making a selection.

>> For a parent, it is very critical for them to look at the capacity of the center.

They need to look at the ratio.

How many adults per, children there are going to be at the setting.

They need to look at the menu.

Perhaps, they need to look at what educational materials are available.

How many, pieces of puzzles are they available for, how many children to use during the day?

Are there manipulative things as well as educational setting type materials for the child?

And they have to make sure that the child is wanted there at the center every day.

That every day they're eager to see that child, because that is important for the child to understand that someone's there, ready to serve their every need during the day while their parents are away.

Bill> You're watching the Job Man Caravan, and there is much more in store for you after this entertainment break with Evelyn King.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Bill> That was Evelyn King.

More entertainment is coming your way a little later an associate superintendent, will talk about competency exams and we'll take a look at teenage depression.

Hays> Earlier in the program, we took a look at the need and effectiveness of childcare centers.

And now Job Man Caravan profiles the child care specialist.

>> A child care specialist is someone who has been trained to work with children from infancy up to about the age of five.

You can either get a certification through your regular college institutions and we are trained to deliver a service where we can provide practical experiences for the child to do things in the emotional, the cognitive, the social and the intellectual realms of education and experiences.

We have to greet parents each morning as they bring their children to the center.

It is our responsibility that during the day, we, make some mental notes to ourselves or write them down accomplishments of the child, to make sure that the parent can be told whether the child has had good lamination or the child eat their food during the day, or they were moody, or they, didn't feel well.

So whatever the case is, we have to be able to share with the parents the activities of the child during the day.

We have to be able to provide snacks for the child so that the child has some nutrition during the day, as well as a lunch.

We, provide activities for the child so that he develops his eye hand coordination so that he also strengthens his educational knowledge in terms of intelligence growth.

We try to have the child do some physical activities, as well as learn to get along with other children, and to learn to get along and associate with adults.

To become a child care specialist, you need either an associate degree in child development or a bachelor's degree in early childhood education.

The associate degree program requires two years of schooling, while the bachelor's degree program requires four years.

I think a person to be a child care specialist is a person that does more than just like children.

When people come for an interview, they say, oh, I just love children.

Loving children isn't enough.

What we have to do is to not only show a physical love and understanding for the children, we have to love them enough to do some homework, some homework for a specialist would be to provide a setting where they can do lessons or instructions.

You got to plan your day.

You may have to shop for special effects and tools to use with your children during the day.

So it goes beyond love.

It goes to planning and actual implementing of a setting for the growth of those children.

So we need childcare providers that do more than just love children.

We have purchased a computer to strengthen our daycare center instructional program, and we use it two ways.

We use it as an instructional to where the child actually, manipulates the, bars or keys on the, on the system, which is just like a typewriter keyboard.

Or we ourselves operate it in an instructional manner.

And the second way we use it is for entertaining, activities for the children who are above the ages of six and like to do your regular games that you would have at home.

Bill> The employment outlook for is very good.

Persons who are interested in this career can find employment in large, small, church affiliated, public or private childcare centers.

I think a young person, male or female, we need as many males as we can in child development that they begin taking home economics courses, childcare courses in high school or in your trade schools so that they will become familia what will be expected of them in the future.

Then go on to pursue either a child development associate credential or a two year or four year, degree from your local colleges or tech systems.

Bill> There's been a great deal of discussion on competency exams.

Dr. Donald Henderson, an associate school superintendent, offers these observations.

>> Public schools across this country in a number of states have gone to what they consider to be, competency examinations for students.

That is, in order to get a high you must demonstrate by examinat you have learned certain fundame I think that's a step in the right direction.

The only problem with that is that it is incumbent upon a state or a school district who gets involved in exit examinations for a high school diploma, to be awfully sure that they are teaching what those children are being tested on.

You will find in public schools a number of youngsters who come to school unprepared to begin formal instruction.

Teacher> All right.

What's the t >> It puts them a year or more behind the day they walk in.

They do not have the benefit of kindergarten experience.

They do not have the benefit or benefit of an excellent daycare center experience, which gets them involved.

And in, socialization processes, getting along with others, learning to take your turn.

Learning to say thank you.

Please may I, learning colors, learning shapes, learning your name, learn to recognize your act, address those kinds of things that are that are really fundamental.

The kindergarten experience is one that is extremely important.

And those youngsters who are not exposed to that experience start school behind.

And for many of them, they never catch up.

They will always be underachievers.

That's a fact of life.

Every child is not going to go to college.

Doesn't need to go.

But every child can achieve.

And I think part of our responsi is to try to determine the best and build on that strength, as opposed to.

Feeling that everybody is going to learn this simply because I'm going to say it and put it on the board, on the blackboard, or simply because we're going to read 20 pages, everybody's going to understand.

It doesn't happen that way.

You know, there are youngsters who need to see it in film who need to touch it, who need to feel it.

who need to, you know, to visualize it in a concrete manner.

Okay.

And we need to begin to, to address more of that and what it's going to do for the under achiever.

Hopefully.

Is cause us to look at it more concretely why they are not achieving.

Because if you subscribe to the notion that everybody can learn something, then the issue becomes how best to see that happens.

Hays> You're watching the Job Man Caravan.

Bill> And when we return, we'll take a look at teenage depression after this entertainment break with Hall and Oates.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Hays> Depression among teenagers is a very real and frightening problem.

Every day an average of 18 young people in a depressive state commits suicide.

That's about 6500 preventable deaths a year.

Many other teenagers experience chronic depression year after year.

Since the problem of teenage depression has become more apparent in recent years, which affects every facet of their lives, interaction with family members, ability to do schoolwork, peer relationships, the medical community, and local help organizations have made a concerted effort to reach teens who are having cycle problems.

Audrey Grant is a family planning and life enrichment coordinator.

She explains how pervasive the problem of teenage depression is.

>> The problem of teenage depression plagues approximately 6 million teens in the United States each year.

And what we're looking at is not only a local concern, a local problem here in the Midlands area, but also a nationwide epidemic.

Hays> What are some of the sympt among teenagers, and how do those symptoms manifest themselves?

>> It can manifest itself in a variety of behaviors.

One that is fairly common to identify is the disorders that center around sleeping and eating.

If we have a teen, for example, that all of a sudden shows a lot of fatigue, is sleeping more than is what we would term normal the usual eight hours, or would awaken in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep.

And also, when we look at eating, this is an area that sometimes we overlook.

If we have a teen who is really eating more than what we perhaps would expect an increase in weight gain.

This can be indicative of trying to deal with stress.

Stress plays a big, important part in how teens cope with behaviors.

>> What role does a parent play in helping a teenager overcome chronic depression?

>> Communication is the best avenue, and really almost the only avenue in terms of reaching their teen Zeroing in on self-concept.

Because when we look at the whole issue of depression, it's really loss of self-esteem, loss of self-concept.

And parents do have to realize that it's okay to seek outside help, that just because we're going to a counselor or a therapist doesn't mean that my family is not okay, or that I'm not okay as a parent.

And we strongly suggest this because it often takes an outside professional to point out certain insights into that parent child relationship.

>> Grant adds, Black teenagers experience a greater incidence of depression.

When we look at the Black teen, we do have to look at a whole array of concern that are perhaps almost exclusive to their population.

Unfortunately, the suicide rate for Black males between the ages of 17 and 24 surpasses any other group in our population.

When we look at the whole issue of self-esteem identification, this again is a big problem with Black teens.

Also, we look at the family structure, which plays a big part in our child's development.

We do have more single parents now.

We have more step families now which do bring into play a lot of complicate issues surrounding the entire family.

Hays> Even though teenage depres is a significant problem, a problem which more acutely is found among Black teenagers, it can be rectified if help is sought from the right source.

Bill> And we're talking with some of our friends, and we've reminded them that preparation is the keynote All> to success.

Bill> That's our program.

Until next week, I'm Bill Terrell >> and I'm Adrian Hayes.

And on behalf of the Caravan staff, thank you for joining us.