(This commentary first appeared in TOP-Ed.)

This weekend, America will observe Mother's Day for the 98th fourth dimension since information technology was officially added to the calendar in 1914. Of the 85 million mothers in America, about five million are stay-calm moms , gild's great expert-for-nothings.

Officially, motherhood is worthless. Unpaid work does not count in economic statistics, so moms officially contribute nothing to thursdaye economic system – unless they also have a paying job. Nosotros all know this is nonsense, but there it is. The numbers don't lie, right?

Jeff's Mom

Jeff's mom,  Diane

Every year at this time, a small flurry of articles, non all of them airheaded, discuss the dollar-equivalent value of motherhood. Mothers aren't paid for being moms – but if they were, what would exist their base pay? Should nosotros believe the insure.com estimate that Mom could exist outsourced for about $60,000 per twelvemonth? (Dads, knock that smug expect off your face. The same source pegs your dollar-equivalent almanac value at around $20,000.)

The usual reaction to these articles is a moving ridge of the hand. How lightheaded, right? Some things have price tags. Those things exist in the world of money. Other things don't take a clear toll, and they exist in the globe of stuff-we-take-for-granted.

Like moms.

Coin is valuable for what information technology tin buy, but not everything valuable is for sale. Savvy teachers and school leaders are aces at recruiting help for free. Many moms (and some dads) are eager volunteers. They bring delivery and skills of tremendous value to the kids, schools, and programs they support. They tutor students who need assistance, including their ain. They organize activities. They chaperone field trips. They organize fundraisers. They assistance in the role, or the library, or at the curb. They translate for parents who take problem with English language. They support after-schoolhouse programs or coach teams.

Unfortunately, this river of unpaid, mostly mom-powered volunteer chapters flows unevenly through America'southward communities. In the most privileged communities, parents are eager, able, and available to help. But in places where moms and dads are merely scraping by or struggling with English, it tin can be difficult even to conform parent-instructor conferences.

This is more than than just an impression, or a stereotype. In 2011, a survey by the Agency of Labor Statistics reported major differences in volunteering activity past ethnicity, marital status, and educational attainment.

Data on volunteering (click to enlarge)

Information on volunteering (click to enlarge)

Volunteerism is a valuable resource everywhere, merely it is unevenly distributed. Some communities and schools are in a better position than others to recruit moms and dads and put their skills to work for kids. This difference plays a very real and usually overlooked part in the gaps betwixt schools of privilege and schools of poverty. Addressing this disadvantage is part of the reason why states allocate extra funds to schools where there are concentrations of students in poverty and with limited English language skills.

Female parent's Day is a good fourth dimension to remember that while coin tin can purchase things of value, not everything of value has a cost.

Jeff Military camp is the primary author of Ed100.org, a primer on education reform options in California. He co-chairs the Education Circumvolve of Full Circle Fund, an organisation of "good for nothings" in the Bay Surface area. Full Circumvolve coordinates small teams of volunteers working in support of keen nonprofit organizations that need a little assist to get to the adjacent level, whatever that may be. A visual summary of Ed100 can exist found at http://bit.ly/edprezi .

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