All day Kindergarten

All day kindergarden isn't for me. I can't see it making kids any smarter or dumber.

If parents spent more time with their kids reading and playing it would make a difference, if parents would teach responsiblity to their kids maybe there wouldn't be such a problem with then, maybe if the schools were allowed to punish the students more then kicking them out we'd see a diffence in attitude.

But no lets send them to school allday when they are 4 or 5 and let the government teach them...cause they can do it better then us. But if it is a law or mandated for what ever reason I guess there isn't much anyone can do about it but go along. I wouldn't homeschool my kids either though. School interactions are important too.

mE not goo two kindRegraten and me turnn out ok ?

I am not sure whether all day kindergarden will help to a large degree. Yes there are some like the gentlemans wife that started at 4 and went thru PU with a 4.0, but then again doesn't she actually fall into the academically gifted grouping? Where as my granddaughter that graduated this spring took L D classes from the first grade on would have just had another year to be tormented by fellow studends for being learning disabled. How many families are actually raising their own children to school age. Dog gone few. Unfortunatly it takes two to work now, not to discount all of those one parent homes out there. Then how many spend time teaching their child to read, add, subtract, play catch, bounce a basketball, hunt, fish? Or do they stick them in front of the television? And yes sometimes you just want some time to yourself and the television is a good obtion.

As for the istep- get rid of it. If you pass your tests and meet the requirements of reading, writing, math then you should be able to graduate. You have to take the sat tests to get into college anyway. You have to take tests to get most jobs. If you can not pass these tests you are going to end up working at a service job anyway. Giving someone a card that says you have completed 12-13 (including kg) years of schooling without graduating is telling them that they are failures in life even befor they get a start.

As for the Asian students. Just go to an 8th grade graduation and see who is at the top of the classes. Who has already qualified for several thousands of dollars worth of scholarships, total free rides thru schools such as Purdue, Rose Hulman, etc.
A lot of that is simply that they are willing to work harder and still enjoy sports, etc. I think most of them have the idea that if you beat them at sports; Its ok because someday you will work for me.

It was my wife who graduated with a 4.0 from Purdue... Putting her in kindergarten for a full day probably would not have helped her much, since she had a mother who actually spent time with her as a young child.

Your granddaughter was labeled LD, but so many times the kids are given a label such as LD, EH, etc., without there actually being a problem. I'm not saying that was the case with your granddaughter, but it is the case with a LOT of kids. In the middle school where my wife teaches, IIRC, nearly 25% of the kids have a label attached to them, be it Learning Disabled (LD), Emotionally Handicapped (EH), or what ever the label might be. There's several more, but I can't remember what they all are. 25% is NOT normal, and it's not because there's something in the water!

One side of the label issue is that the problems are being recognized earlier and thus help is available more now than what it used to be. That may be true for some kids, but the problem is that so many parents believe their kids "can do no wrong" and don't discipline them at home which leads to the kids acting out at school. The teachers and administrators are really restricted on what they can do and thus a label is placed on the kids. That label *RARELY* ever disappears.

I'm still for all day kindergarten. It's not *that* much more time that the kids will be in school, and it will help them to retain what they learn. However, I think there needs to be a bigger push for more parent involvement at an early age. I don't know how that should be done, but I know it's gone downhill a LOT since I started school 22 years ago....


Dan