Posted on 05/28/2007 5:07:56 AM PDT by Kaslin
I think HeadStart would be more effective if certified early education teachers were the actual instructors, but that isn’t the case here either.
From what I can tell, the problem with Headstart is that it is just one more governemental program, instead of an educational organization. IF our system manages to wrest control of the program, it would be interesting to see what would happen. I’d be half-interested in working for that age-group. I’ve been thinking for a while I’d like to go low
How did we ever win WW1 and WW2 with all those non pre-kindergarten trained soldiers, sailors and marines? Is that why we can’t even secure our own borders now...because of the enlightened wusses created in the last couple of generations? Total crapola!
Actually, the problem is that the children whose parents would go to the trouble to sign up for vouchers, and research and enroll them in private schools, probably don't need the preschool education anyway. They probably are already being read to at home, and they probably already know their colors, shapes, numbers, and letters.
The children who really need this sort of program unfortunately have parents who don't know how to do sign up for & research private schools and/or can't be bothered to do so....which is probably why the children are so behind educationally to begin with.
Sort of a Catch-22. How do you fix it?
Your mistake is getting into a debate with these left wing commies in the first place,once you do that you lose .
Let the kids be kids .Sending them to school at 5 is soon enough maybe even to soon ,giving them over to government schools pre Kindergarden and left wing indoctrination is insanity ,if you cant prepare your children for school at home you should not have them . I guarantee when you send your impressionable pre kindergarden out to these Brown shirted thugs they will be sending home little Eichmans
You’ve got a point. But I don’t see Hillary’s proposal as a way to fix it.
“The next year...Catholic school and a fine education!!”
They cry even more about money. I know; my sister teaches at a Catholic school.
We already have the voluntary Georgia Pre-K program, and here in N. Fulton county, at least, it is extremely popular. It is difficult to get space in the Pre-K of your choice if you don’t sign up very early. For instance, my sisterinlaw went to sign my nephew up at two locations near home, back in February. She only managed to get him on the waiting lists for both of them, she is spot #2 on her second choice school list, and spot #6 on the first choice. I believe that the families in this area are of a mind that enrolling the children in this program will give them a leg up on the other children in kindergarten, I know that is my SIL’s motivation.
The downside of the pre-k program is that once the children are enrolled, they must stay enrolled in school until they are graduated from high school, they attend school the same number of days and hours as the other public school children and are subject to the same rules as far as attendance (i.e. no more than three days per year absence without a doctor’s note), etc. A typical pre-k requires that the 4 year olds be at school at 7:00 AM until 2:00 PM M-F.
Well, there's the problem in a nutshell.
Too many people having children who shouldn't be.
I would feel secure betting you that NONE of the people reading this article are people whose children would need this program.
That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of children out there who DO need such a program - although such a program might not be enough to help them.
Interesting point. We do have a program around here called “Parents as Teachers.” The only person I know to have participated is a fourth grade teacher and her husband. Having P.A.T. available to pregnant teenagers would probably be more effective than head start. Depending on how it is arranged, it could be done at a much lower cost, especially if the school has onsite daycare.
If you'll notice the Georgia State study referenced in the article, I'll bet that is the reason a lot of middle class families enroll their children - and I bet it's one reason the program seems to exascerbate the achievement gap.
I haven't read the study, but I'd be willing to bet that while the lower-level children improve, those at the top improve more.
Hillary indoctrination for tots. I thought she already had something called “hillary’s royal children”.
You’re probably exactly right. I did make the mistake of putting my oldest child in the public school kindergarten (it has a wonderful reputation, of which I personally would beg to differ!), and because most of her classmates had been through the pre-k program, most of the children were able to read beginner books very early in the year. By halfway through, they were required to take turns (2 kids per day) to read entire books aloud to the rest of the class, and by the end of the year, they had written, illustrated, and bound story books of their own. It was a far cry from the coloring and learning letters and numbers that we had at the same age. Luckily, even though my daughter hadn’t been to “pre-k”, I had “played school” with her at home, complete with and old school desk, and she already knew how to read, spell, and do elementary math before K.
The sad part of the K program was that the children were pushed so hard to work and excel, that they didn’t have any time left for just being kids. Just like in the rest of elementary school, they weren’t allowed to talk to each other except at lunch (and then only to the person on either side of them, quietly) and at recess, which was 15 minutes, and at “centers time” (where they had their choice of a location to go to in the classroom, which could be computer time, reading time, coloring time, etc., where, again, they could speak quietly to the child(ren) right next to them). The rest of the day, they sat in a chair at at a table and did schoolwork. Our daughter’s “energizer bunny” personality didn’t mesh well with all the physical restriction, so we have been homeschooling her ever since (she is entering 8th grade in the fall, and still takes a break to jump on her trampoline or ride her scooter for 10 minutes after every 45 minutes or so of work!).
yes, i agree, early intervention programs would certainly
be more effective if they were educational programs with
certified staff.
i’m just a frustrated kindergarten teacher. :(
programs like the one you’ve described make me so sad. :(
This is for kids who did not get aborted.....
Keep us updated!
Probably not. If it's mandatory, children who don't need extra help will be included, and the gaps will just get wider. If it's voluntary, the children who really need the help the most won't be there, because someone would have to get them up & get them ready.
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