Part of President elect Obama’s campaign platform was support for states to provide voluntary, universal preschool. Many studies have shown that kids who go to preschool are more likely to learn to read early and are more likely to succeed in kindergarten and beyond, since the first five years of a child’s life are crucial in learning. Therefore, this seems like a good idea to me. What do you think? Does anyone come from a state where preschool is available free to all, such as Oklahoma or Alabama?Sunday, November 30, 2008
Should State Governments provide preschool for all?
Part of President elect Obama’s campaign platform was support for states to provide voluntary, universal preschool. Many studies have shown that kids who go to preschool are more likely to learn to read early and are more likely to succeed in kindergarten and beyond, since the first five years of a child’s life are crucial in learning. Therefore, this seems like a good idea to me. What do you think? Does anyone come from a state where preschool is available free to all, such as Oklahoma or Alabama?
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I believe children develop learning skills when they are very young.. If you help develop them early in life, it makes learning much easier for the child in his future.I dont think that putting a child in preschool is forcing them to grow up to fast. They say knowledge is power.As parent I think it is our job if we set our children up to succeed or fail.
If most parents don't have even the knowledge and abilities to teach their 3 and 4-year-olds "basis skills," like shapes, colors, their name, a few numbers and letters, and we have to count on the government to provide preschools do it, then the U.S. really is in decline. A child's social skills can be developed through playmates, and doesn't require formal preschool, either.If moms and dads lack basic child-rearing skills and abilities, THEY should be the ones provided with parenting classes. Otherwise, it seems as if this argument really boils down to parents wanting affordable government-provided daycare.
Of course, the time the child spends at home is invaluable, but not every parent can develop all the skills in their child while making him/her just sit at home. Some parents do have the knowledge and skills to home school their kids, but majority of the parents don't. There is no pressure on parents that they have to send their kids to school. If they believe that they can do a better job than sending their kids to school, then they don't have to. Same goes with preschool. Whether state government provides preschool or not, it won't be compulsory for any parent. Everything will still remain the same. The only difference would be that since state will be providing it, it will have some common grounds and basis(in terms of curriculum, activities, skills taught, etc.)and it will be affordable. Parents who now think that preschools are not meant for their kids, can still think the same way after this transition. This change will be for majority of people who do send their kids to preschools and pay huge amount of fees.
The original reason my son went to preschool was because I am a single mother and needed childcare. I was surprised and thrilled to find out that his school was actually teaching him things, ABC's, numbers, a little music, etc.
When it came time to enroll him in Kindergarten, I went to the parent orientation in July. The principal announced that all children coming in September had to already be proficient in ABC and had to be able to count to 10. Many of the parents turned a nice shade of green/white and visibly gulped, as it was plain to see that these parents were going to have to prepare their children in just two months.
I think that preschool should be part of the public school program. Children who do not have access to preschool for whatever financial reasons, are coming into Kinder at a disadvantage that can last for the rest of their lives.
Little children can be mean to eachother, and little feelings are easily hurt. Children who are picked on because they are not prepared, might think that brawn is a good replacement for brains. Others may have their self-esteem plummet.
Of course, a lot of this is dependant on parents. Even with preschool, parents who do not encourage learning will have problems.
The thinking behind providing preschool for all is that the kids who arrive at kindergarten having gone to preschool are at a significant advantage. They know their numbers, they're familiar with books, they know about sharing with other kids. Kids who don't go to preschool have a lot of catching up to do and often end up in remedial classes, have behavior problems that lead to academic problems and need all kinds of extra help. By investing in preschool, we could save money down the line that might be spent on other expensive education and counseling services.
Oklahoma and Alabama put in place universal preschool with the intent of investing education dollars earlier in the education cycle to prevent problems later. You may not see the results from these programs immediately on test scores for schools in Oklahoma and Alabama now but the hope is we will see results in years to come. Incidentally, other states that have state-funded preK for all initiatives include Illinois, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia, among others.
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