All-Day Kindergarten

I came across this interesting news article today, but what spiked my interest were the 18 pages worth of comments. The most heated arguments centred around the quality of child care, home-schooling versus public schooling, and how parents should parent.

There were differing opinions on the quality of daycare and public/private schools. I agreed 100% with one reader (a parent who stays at home with young kids) who said that the quality of education that daycares or kindergarten classes provide depends on the philosophy on which the education was formed and delivered. I've seen daycare workers who sit in lawn chairs and read magazines or chatting with each other while "supervising" kids. I have also seen daycare workers who work extremely hard in a structured setting, ensuring safety and education for the kids. The same could be said for some teachers, and for that matter, parents.

Many responses come from parents who home-school their children. I do not have a problem with parents who homeschool their children, but I will when some of those parents call other parents who send their kids to daycare selfish. My husband and I have discussed schooling for our kids, even before we discussed if we were going to have any kids at all. My husband could support the three of us, but it would be tight. Plus, I do enjoy my career and I would go back to work even if I had a kid -- that does not mean that I love my child less than the parent who stays home to be with his/her kids. I have taught students who have been home-schooled for more than ten years of their lives and they absolutely floundered in school (private and public, I've seen both). I have also worked with children who have been home-schooled almost all their lives (up to age 17) and they are completely capable individuals. Again, it goes back to the structure surrounding the education of the child. One response went as far as to say, "...working parents make the choice to work because of their desire to 'get ahead'." Um....what? A lot of people I know who are parents go back to work because they HAVE to, not because they want to be first in the rat race. Like I said, my husband and I could live off of one income, and we don't do too badly comparatively, but it would be tight and we are not the type of people who live from paycheque to paycheque. I cannot speak for other people, but I do NOT go back to my job just to get ahead of the game. I'm not even sure how to do that as a teacher (and not considering becoming an administrator, either); if I go back to work, it wouldn't be because I'm ambitious.

Some others have also argued that 5-year-olds cannot handle all-day kindergarten. Perhaps, they have other reasons behind this statement. Again, playing Devil's Advocate, I would like to point out that research has shown that "by age three, children's brains are twice as active as those of adults" (Shore, R. Rethinking the Brain). Follow any two- or three-year-old around and you'll be amazed at how articulate and complex they really are. A group of linguists and psychologists of Harvard University did a study in the early 1980s and in one particular case where 122 transcripts were recorded of a two-year-old talking to herself after her parents put her to bed, they found that toddlers' "prattle" is significantly more advanced than thought by adults (Nelson, K. Narratives from the Crib). If enough engaging activities are balanced with downtime, then I believe 5-year-olds are more than capable of handling all-day kindergarten.

What is also distressing me while reading these comments ("then stop reading them" my inner voice says), are people who aim to direct others how to parent. No two families are exactly alike; there may be groups of parents who have similar parenting styles. So many comments are generalized and some are even extreme. I'm ok with people who post comments based on their own experience, but comments like "this policy just encourages more single-parent families and separates kids from families" or "parents are denying themselves the nurturing responsibilities they are entitled to as the creator of a life in favour of the states [sic] indoctrination" make me chuckle in a humourless way. On that note, my blog entry today is a discussion, but it is not meant to condemn anyone.

As with everything else, there are exceptions and factors that contribute to the success of a particular event, in this case, a child's education in private and public child care. This news article certainly generated a heated debate, but it is, after all, an age-old debate. I welcome discussion until comments become scathing remarks toward persons of different beliefs. I may be impartial, but I do believe that the government is going in the right direction with funding all-day kindergarten, helping to ensure a solid educational foundation for our children.