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#640245 11/04/10 10:46 AM
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A while back, before the current economy crunch, there was talk about establishing state-mandated preschool. It would provide free and regulated (paid by tax dollars) preschool for all children. However, it would pretty much force a lot of private preschools to close.

What are your thoughts about this?

Also, I MISS my kids' preschool years!!! I even thought about running my own in-home preschool. I have a master's in education and a valid teacher's credential (I also homeschooled during some crucial periods in my kids' academic lives) but would need to return for more early childhood units. At this point, I'll just wait for grandkids. If they ever get here!

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Hi Lori!

Thanks for your input- I am in Florida and we have a "VPK" program that fills up quickly. What state/country are you in?
Before I began homeschooling my son attended a Montessori school for Pre-K and K.



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I'm in California where education is facing a lot of challenges, especially with budget problems.


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How is the preschool situation in California?


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There are many privately run preschools now in addition to the Head Start Program (preschool) for low-income families. Lots of people run daycare programs out of their homes, too.

The wealthier families can afford Montessori schools and such but the poorer families have to turn to simple babysitting from neighbors and relatives.

There are no mandated standards as yet for pre-school unless it is a kindergarten readiness program. A lot of the curriculum once was developmentally based but now there is a push for academic readiness!

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Thanks for your input Lori! Happy Thanksgiving!


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Originally Posted By: Chi-Japanese Food
A while back, before the current economy crunch, there was talk about establishing state-mandated preschool. It would provide free and regulated (paid by tax dollars) preschool for all children. However, it would pretty much force a lot of private preschools to close.

What are your thoughts about this?


At the risk of becoming unpopular, I'll say that I hate this idea. If our public education system was a great and successful one, it might make sense to expand it, but why when the system is constantly criticized for doing so poorly, both academically and socially, would anyone think that expanding it is a good idea? Every time we hear that US students are falling behind, the proposed solution is to have them spend more time in school. Um, call me crazy, but if our schools aren't doing a good job at educating our kids, how is more of the same going to help?

The other huge problem I have with state-funded preschool is this. Some of us have or are sacrificing our personal standard of living to have a parent stay at home with our young children, rather than putting them in daycare, while others choose to work. If that's what someone wants to do, fine, that's their choice (I'm talking about two-parent families obviously, single moms & dads are a different story). But why should my family have to subsidize another family's lifestyle through increased taxes? That's just not fair.

--Maria

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I hear you, Maria. Good points. But some of us are already paying higher taxes to fund state-provided preschool to underprivileged or at-risk children. In CA, we have the Head Start Program.

It's true that government-run programs don't seem to achieve the level of quality that the private sector (due to business competition) can provide. That's true of any industry, really. But there is accountability and regulation in government programs while today, anyone can open up a daycare and call it a preschool. There are some requirements but they are so few and easy to obtain that they aren't worth mentioning.

I also opted to sacrifice and stay home full-time to raise my children. I felt I could do a better job of teaching my kids anyway, and I did transition them to a short preschool experience in order to socialize, get accustomed to separation from me, etc. So I'm with you here and only providing other viewpoints for sake of objectivity!

This whole argument about our failing school system is a huge topic for another thread, but I have a valid CA teaching credential and taught in the public school system, albeit for only a short time, but I saw the flaws. If the government education department is to blame, it is because it does not address the underlying problems that exist in today's classroom. Populations and society have changed drastically:

1. Kids are coming into the classroom with far less what teachers call "prior knowledge" due to language, cultural or family challenges. Once upon a time, parents actually spent time with their children, reading them bedtime stories, talking to them with proper grammar, etc. Today, children come with deficits because the English they've heard all their young lives is incorrect and so hearing proper grammar sounds wrong to them. They haven't heard a variety of very common words nor seen them in print. You'd be surprised how many kids don't own a single picture book. And these are children from well-to-do families! Many wealthy parents don't spend much time with their kids at all, leaving early teaching to nannies or television.
2. Classroom discipline problems take up huge chunks of teaching/learning time. Kids once respected their elders or authority figures. Busy, stressed or dysfunctional parents have not set down foundations for learning because they haven't parented properly.
3. And speaking of stressed parents, their lifestyles directly impact a child's success in school. Too many parents fail to make parent-teacher conferences. They don't help with homework or even check to be sure it was completed properly. But are they sure their kids get to soccer practice or turn in fundraising for extracurricular activities? You bet.
4. Parents raise kids to have priorities other than education. Are Asians smarter than other cultures? No. Absolutely not. It's just that the Asian family puts education above sports. Please don't bring up how much pressure they put on their kids. I know it's true. And balance is key to everything but my point is that if a parent puts priority on learning, their children will have a better chance at learning.

This could get long, so I'll end here. There are other flaws in the system itself--true, too true--that I objected to. But that is another thread!

Oh, back to the original post!!! LOL! Because of more children today are coming to the classroom unprepared, our society in general could benefit from state-mandated preschool. Not all stay-at-home parents are as diligent as you to prepare their children for kindergarten readiness. Today, in the pressure to get the kids up to speed with other countries, children are not taught developmental things in school anymore (like tying shoelaces, etc.) they are expected to read and write immediately. They should know their alphabet before kindergarten and counting.

When they don't, they fall behind their peers right away which sets them up for a spiral of lagging. Why should that matter to us? We can't only be concerned about our own child because the other children will be a part of the society he lives in. We need to think in broader terms of the collective. True, your child might excel and secure the better job in the future but he will live in a society that will be challenged by those who struggle to survive and thus be a drain and even a threat to his world.

I don't like the idea of state-mandated preschool because it would take away the rights of the diligent parent who wants to spend more time with her child, teaching him naturally. But it sure would help a lot of kids out there who don't have that type of parenting.

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Sorry the above post was so long! But I wanted to reiterate here that I did homeschool my children during some crucial periods of their lives. I loved it. I believe in it.

A child's parent is his first, best and lifelong teacher. And given today's flawed educational system, I am a proponent for homeschooling.


Moderated by  Amy - Preschool Education 

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