Yes, let us get our evil hands on you children's young minds a couple of years sooner!
Abandon Government Schools!
Posted on 04/20/2005 2:57:30 PM PDT by John Jorsett
LOS ANGELES - Filmmaker Rob Reiner and a coalition of business, labor and education leaders Tuesday touted plans for a June 2006 ballot initiative to help offer preschool for all 4-year-olds statewide.
"Providing access to preschool for every California child is the key to creating a level playing field in California; it is a critical step toward reforming our education system," Reiner said.
"We need to pass this initiative now so that no more California children fall behind as they languish on preschool waiting lists," Reiner said at a news conference at Para Los Ninos, a preschool near downtown Los Angeles, where 106 children are on the waiting list.
The actor, director, producer and writer is chairman of First 5 California, which was established following passage of a 1998 initiative to use tobacco tax dollars to fund programs that promote early childhood development for expectant parents and children through age 5.
The Preschool for All initiative, which Reiner unveiled yesterday in Sacramento, would affect the wealthiest 1 percent of Californians. It would increase the tax rate by 1.7 percent on annual income over $800,000 for married couples or $400,000 for individuals.
The announcement follows the launch of a universal preschool program in Los Angeles County that aims to eventually offer quality preschool to all of the county's 153,000 4-year-olds.
Less than half of the county's 4-year-olds are now enrolled in some form of preschool, according to First 5 LA.
According to a recent survey by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California, three out of four subsidized programs have waiting lists.
Working families whose children do not qualify for subsidies often cannot afford the cost of private preschool, which can be more expensive than tuition to state universities, proponents of the ballot initiative say.
"Preschool is an idea whose time has come," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "Solid research tells us that investing in preschool is not only the right thing to do for our children, it is an investment that will pay tremendous economic and social dividends in the long run."
According to a RAND Corp. study, the state would get $2.62 back for every dollar put into quality preschool for all 4-year-olds.
Children who have been to preschool are more likely to be productive workers, avoid trouble with the law and contribute to the economy as adults, according to the study.
"We know good preschool programs put kids on the right road, through school and in life," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. "We can build these positive programs for children now, or build jail cells for many of them later. I know what I would rather do."
Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, introduced legislation which, coordinated with the initiative, would lay the foundation for a statewide quality preschool system.
I always thought “pre school” was “day care.” That’s basically what we’re talking about, right?
Yes, and as we all know, day care not provided by the parents is GOOD for children.
They can say it in Spanish, or they can say it in English, it always translates into more money, more money, more money...
The Governor of Tennessee is currently stumping the state selling a similar program. They passed a lottery for college scholarshipe and it isn't working out so they are dragging the babies into the conflict.
Ostracize a teacher today....
The Governor of Tennessee is currently stumping the state selling a similar program. They passed a lottery for college scholarshipe and it isn't working out so they are dragging the babies into the conflict.
Ostracize a teacher today....
Yes, let us get our evil hands on you children's young minds a couple of years sooner!
Abandon Government Schools!
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Well, I'm only 17, and I've never attended a pre-school thing when I was 4, and I still rank in the upper 80's/lower 90's on my standardized tests. I dunno what that WHOLE year would do for a 4 year old who would rather eat sleep and play games.
It would let the State get an earlier start on indoctrinating them. Some of you apparently are resisting the inculcation of PCness, so evidently they're hoping to catch kids at a more malleable age.
I remember that episode. They had Reiner scarfing down food continually, and sweating profusely. Funny and probably accurate. They sure got his "shut up, it's for your own good" attitude down.
Years ago, when California was the Golden State, we got along fine without gov't. preschools. And we had the best schools in the country.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
To paraphrase P. J. O'Rouke, if you think day care is expensive now, just wait till you see what it costs once it's free.
You are right on. I remember years ago reading about a study done on Soviet educational experiments. When the Cold War was going hot and heavy, the Communists decided it would be to their advantage to get kids through school sooner, the better to become productive apparatchiks. So, instead of starting school at age 5, they started them a year earlier.
One problem: For an unknown reason, after three or four years of school, these kids kind of "burned out" and stalled on learning anything for about a year. In the end, they didn't become productive citizens any sooner and cost the education establishment more for that wasted year.
Everyone needs a childhood. If they don't get it during the early years, they will take it later as adolescents or adults. So you are correct in thinking the extra year won't help much. Now, kids who are disadvantaged because they are not being raised properly might benefit from some help but not the kind of educator's full employment program envisioned by Reiner.
To top it off, Reiner's source of funding is extremely volatile, depending as it does primarily on the stock market. Yet it would become an entitlement program so the funding would have to come from somewhere else when the stock market bit into the "rich peoples" income.
Hey Meathead - you want the give the same people who screw up K-12 a head start? STIFLE YOURSELF!
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