Is Kindergarten a Right?

Head Start needs reform and greater accountability of organizations receiving funding (some provide little more than day care; I'd like to see funding limited to education-based organizations with well qualified teachers), but government programs that invest in early childhood education payoff for the kids/family and for the community.

 

My experience in Ontario was half-day Jr. Kindergarten and full-day Sr. Kindergarten.

 

I'm not against kindergarten, nor any level of education. I'm an education snob... the more, the better. But I also have concerns about the current education system having been hi-jacked from its main role of education with the secondary role of socialisation. Kindergarten is a great place for this, with the importance of the roles reversed - socialisation with some learning. Most children do extremely well with kindergarten, and those that go almost invariably do better in school than those that don't.

But I don't think it should be mandatory. There is still a major part to be played by parents in the education and socialisation of their children, and THEY, not the government, should decide if it is appropriate for their children.

And I definitely don't believe that it should be necessary or expected that children know the alphabet, or how to read or write going into the first grade. Most will, but it certainly shouldn't be expected. That IS what school is for - learning, starting with the basics.

 

So far as I've sorta-kinda always known (or thought)... it wasn't "mandatory" per se, but you'd have to do paperwork NOT to send your child to Kindergarten. However, I'm from California, what the hell do I know.

Honestly, it's a good thing, IMO.
I've seen a kid without pre-school enter Kindergarten, already ahead of the curve (caring parents read every night, etc...)
I've seen a kid with pre-school enter Kindergarten, way behind the curve (stupid parents who do the bare minimum of feed & clothe their kid).
But, more often, and from my own observations... kids who haven't gone to kindergarten have been socially behind the curve, as well as educationally.

It's honestly MORE the way a parent raises a child, and not the early education. The earlier you start education (home or school), the better off your kid is in the long-run. Same-same for things like discipline and regime (e.g. bed time, doing homework, etc...)

One thing I'm a HUGE proponent of is early exposure to different languages... the language centers of the brain allowing you to differentiate different sounds shut-off around 7 years of age. If not exposed, it becomes extremely hard to differentiate certain language sounds later. Just one point to be made about earlier exposure to things that we Americans only really start paying attention to later. My brother is American, his wife Brazilian, my niece multi-lingual, and they're thinking about asking her company to move her to Germany or China so my niece gets exposure to one of those two base languages in her early years.

* Note: don't ever get me started on religion (I got brain comments about that, too).

 

In Wales the kids go into half day nursery at 3, they do this for a year then reception at 4 which is a full day, they legally have to be in full time education at 5 years old. Before 5 it's up to the parents if they want to use it or not. Everyone does as it's free in Wales. I think they pay in England before 5.

 

When I read the question, I assumed we were talking about pre-school children and what we would call nursery schools. In other words, ages 3 and 4).

I think 5 is an age to be at school (or getting special needs education). In fact, when my kids went to school at 5 (they had done some nursery education already and we'd also teach them basics in the evenings), I was shocked to discover how many kids couldn't read AT ALL, or even write their own name, or count. Some had to be taught to hold a pencil.

So, hell yes, they should be learning at that age - especially as so many have parents who put no effort in at all!

It's also a good time to learn some social skills.

 

I definitely agree with you that parents should be involved in their parents as well. The trouble is that many parents don't have the slightest idea of how to do so or the means to purchase tools that would help them with this process. I read to my daughter from birth onward, we made puzzles out of her name so she would learn how to write it. We did various games and activities together to get her prepared but there are certainly some parents out there bogged down from too many kids and not enough father involvement etc that to even find the patience to manage day by day, would be tough. Sure there are free programs through the libraries but if they fall within your working hours, you get left out. I hate to blame parents too much here because I realize a large part of this is that some simply don't know what to do or how to do it. They aren't necessarily all bad parents, just uninformed/ignorant. I know many of us came from a generation where kids weren't expected to know much at all when they started school, and that has changed.

I see a lot of children in my line of work. The majority of them, when they arrive around age 4-5 for their kindergarten vaccines, they see it as a means to get to school. They are excited to be growing up and joining the lines of students on the bus. I think my own daughter would have been devastated if I chose not to send her.

You make a number of good points about kids walking into school for the first time at various levels of knowledge. I imagine it is a great frustration at times for educators to try to deal with that while still moving the rest of the class forward. I see kindergarten as a way for students to prepare and acclimate to their future education.

I totally agree with you on the foreign languages. I can tell you that my own brother learned Icelandic in is toddler years simply by playing with a kid down the street. Spanish was taught in my child's elementary school for that reason. It is unfortunate that due to budget cuts the program ended. I truly wish more emphasis were put on languages in the US. I believe learning foreign languages gives also a better understanding of general language structure and syntax and makes for better English writers and speakers as well.

 

While I think schooling starts too late for most, I myself didn't go to kindergarten, I don't know why they just didn't lower the age to start, and still call it 1st grade, and add more schooling at the end as needed.

Being nit-picky I'd think anybody getting to the FIRST grade would not have had any previous schooling...