In a recent Twitter post that has now amassed more than 150,000 likes, user Chloe Clinton (@__chloeclinton) revealed she had to bring her baby daughter Elsie to class as she didn’t have a babysitter that week.
“I didn’t have a babysitter last week so I had to bring Elsie to college and she started getting agitated so my teacher took her off me and taught the class with her in her arms,” the tweet read.
The image appears to have been edited by Chloe in order to respect the teacher’s privacy.
Chloe’s post attracted an overwhelming flurry of support for both the young mother and her supportive teacher. The name of the college is unclear, though Chloe’s bio indicates that she is based in Dublin.
A commenter by the username beautyofcafe205 shared: “[That] is absolutely sweet of her, having compassion and understanding for someone else’s life. [Helping] you out made me look up to your teacher… We need more people like her!”
Chloe also received praise from other users, including Caleb_TheAriFan, who said: “This makes me happy! A woman getting her education at all costs and women supporting women at their most stressful times! We love to see it.” VanessaLangers also supported Chloe by saying: “This needs to happen more, doesn’t it?”
Another user, olivia_ros3, added: “My school has a free daycare for students that also doubles as a place for early childhood education majors to learn/work, [this is] something that more colleges need!”
However, as is the case with most viral posts on social media platforms, multiple users expressed their disapproval of Chloe’s choice to bring her child to class.
“Surely that college has some daycare or summit not fair on everyone else in the class when there’s a baby sat there screaming,” one user wrote.
Chloe didn’t hesitate to respond to the negative comments by saying: “She wasn’t screaming or crying ? If she was I obviously would of walked out and if there was a daycare I would have her in it? Just trying to pass my course…”
“Just trying to better out lives I’m not the first in college to do this and I’m not the last I don’t understand the negativity around it I haven’t done anything wrong but if you see a negative in it then fair enough,” she continued.
It also appears that not all users have been so fortunate to have attended colleges that offered childcare solutions or support for young parents. One tweeter, RetiredNHRN, commented: “[When] I was in nursing school, if you [missed] three classes in a semester, you failed. Nobody WANTS to bring a baby to class, but failure is NOT an option.”
Another Twitter user OlphertKristal also shared her past struggles as a single mother and a student: “[You’re] lucky, I did that once with my very well behaved 5 yo and got told not to come back to my course. I was 8 weeks away from finishing and as a single parent I’ll honestly never forgive my tutor. Unfortunately at the time I was so used to being judged I didn’t make a complaint.”
Despite the national birth rate continuing to fall, a study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) shows that parents make up more than a fifth (22%) of all college students in the United States. Of these students, 70% were mothers.
In addition to factors such as mentoring and peer support, the IWPR found that having access to affordable childcare more than tripled the likelihood of student parents graduating from college on time. At the same time, student parents are also more likely to earn better grades than other student groups.
Chloe’s Twitter post wasn’t the first instance of a college teacher helping care for a student’s child during class. Newsweek previously reported that a math professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia held a baby for 50 minutes while teaching after a student was unable to find a babysitter. And earlier last year, a video of an employee holding a baby while working went viral.
Newsweek reached out to Chloe Clinton for comment.
