Here's Your Opportunity To Comment On "Universal Preschool" Proposed By Pres. Obama

[Candy]

Actually, Louisiana's compulsory education age is 7. So you could keep your child at home until he/she is 7, then start school.
This is the problem I see. People assume that their kids have to go to school at 5 because that is what everyone else is doing. And, do you see/hear schools telling people what their local law is? Nope. More kids, more funding. Once a universal preschool is in effect, then many will assume that their kids have to go to school at age 4, rather than finding out the laws for themselves. Then, we will see "it's a success! Look at how many are signing up! Oooohhh, aaahhhhh. Don't want your kid left behind, now do you?"

Yes my cousin stayed home until she was 7 but that was in the 90's but she didn't graduate til she was like 21 which was awful for her socially. Her academics weren't so great either not sure if its because she started school so late or for some other reason.

[Willow]

Yes my cousin stayed home until she was 7 but that was in the 90's but she didn't graduate til she was like 21 which was awful for her socially. Her academics weren't so great either not sure if its because she started school so late or for some other reason.

That math doesn't add up, unless she was held back in other grades a couple of times.

I started when I was 6 (just a couple of weeks shy of 7) and graduated when I was 18.

[Blackcat31]

That math doesn't add up, unless she was held back in other grades a couple of times.

I started when I was 6 (just a couple of weeks shy of 7) and graduated when I was 18.

Same here. My kids didn't make the 5 ON or BEFORE Sept 1 cut off date.

DS missed by 18 days and my DD has an October birthday. I'm glad though because that extra year at home helped them both alot socially.

They both spent their senior yr in high school as an 18 yr old. Neither repeated a grade.

[bunnyslippers]

I guess im in favor of this because i don't see anything wrong with it. And obama got a second term because more people voted for him, its as simple as that. I agree with person that obama had a load to clean up after bush. I always remind people that yall gave bush 8 years to make a mess so why would you expect Obama to clean it up in 4?

Oh good grief! I can't understand how everything that is wrong with this country - the worst it has been in my lifetime - is the fault of Bush. Obama, God help us, is the POTUS now, and he is making things progressively worse, each day he is in office.

Trying to stanardize preschool and child care is just one more step towards the socialist government he is trying to sneak by the uninformed members of society. Everything in this country is NOT equal. That is why it is important to WORK for what you want in life. We were not founded on the principles that everything will be equal and government mandated.

Parents have the right to choose what type of early childhood program they want their child to attend. If I want my child learning to read at age one, that is my choice. If I want him to carry around a blanket and bake cookies until he is in kindergarten - also my choice. It is important to have the variety of program styles available, so parents can exercise their own free will in determining how they want their chld educated.

Much like universal healthcare, this is just another program that will help the "I don't need to work to live a great life" members of our society keep right on living that way. Once again, when it is all said and done, the quality of care will be sacrificed to make things "equal".

I work hard for my money, so my children can have the best that our country has to offer. I don't work hard so everyone in the country's children can have access to the fruits of my labor. If they want a better life or opportunity - WORK FOR IT!

This preschool plan is just another way for the government to control how we live our lives. I am not interested in that lifestyle. Please let these four years end before this man can do any more damage to the country. And, without a doubt, when the country is a mess after his term ~ it will STILL be Bush's fault.

[AmyLeigh]

Parents have the right to choose what type of early childhood program they want their child to attend. If I want my child learning to read at age one, that is my choice. If I want him to carry around a blanket and bake cookies until he is in kindergarten - also my choice. It is important to have the variety of program styles available, so parents can exercise their own free will in determining how they want their chld educated.

ITA here. But, that would require people to actually think for themselves. Why do that when all you have to do is do what the man on the boob tube says to do? Then I can blame him when my decision is wrong. (I don't mean just POTUS. It could be any politician, regardless of party affiliation, or a paid spokesman on a commercial touting the latest and greatest.)

[bunnyslippers]

ITA here. But, that would require people to actually think for themselves. Why do that when all you have to do is do what the man on the boob tube says to do? Then I can blame him when my decision is wrong. (I don't mean just POTUS. It could be any politician, regardless of party affiliation, or a paid spokesman on a commercial touting the latest and greatest.)

Exactly! That is what is so frightening about what our country is turning into. When did all free will and thought go out the window?! Personal responsiibility is essentially gone, and it is just pathetic.

[Crystal]

Oh good grief! I can't understand how everything that is wrong with this country - the worst it has been in my lifetime - is the fault of Bush. Obama, God help us, is the POTUS now, and he is making things progressively worse, each day he is in office. Ahem. PLease go back in history and look at the state of our nation before Bush took over office and AFTER he was done. PLEASE. Then complain about Obama.

Trying to stanardize preschool and child care is just one more step towards the socialist government he is trying to sneak by the uninformed members of society. Everything in this country is NOT equal. That is why it is important to WORK for what you want in life. We were not founded on the principles that everything will be equal and government mandated. I am not an uniformed member of society and highly defend instituting a Universal Preschool program. No one ever said anything about it being "standardized" only that preschool would be available to ALL 4 year olds. I work for everything I have, but I use the public school system for free. No diffeent than I would if preschool were free when my children were 4 years old.

Parents have the right to choose what type of early childhood program they want their child to attend. If I want my child learning to read at age one, that is my choice. If I want him to carry around a blanket and bake cookies until he is in kindergarten - also my choice. It is important to have the variety of program styles available, so parents can exercise their own free will in determining how they want their chld educated. No one is saying that the rights of the parents to choose child care for their child would be affected. In fact this is NOT AT ALL about child care. It is about free part-day PRESCHOOL for FOUR YEAR OLDS. I do not understand where anyone came up with the argument that this is about taking the choice away from parents. Parents will still choose who they want for child care. They will just have the OPTION of sending their child to preschool 3 hours a day for free as well. Some children do not attend daycare, and never get socialized into being a part of a group until they go off to kindergarten. Giving them that for free three hours per day would help them begin formal school with the social and emotional skills neccessary to succeed.

Much like universal healthcare, this is just another program that will help the "I don't need to work to live a great life" members of our society keep right on living that way. Once again, when it is all said and done, the quality of care will be sacrificed to make things "equal". How so? Why would someone not need to work because their child gets 3 HOURS of preschool each day? How will the quality of care be sacrificed when the government is providing funding to programs to improve the quality of ECE they offer?

I work hard for my money, so my children can have the best that our country has to offer. I don't work hard so everyone in the country's children can have access to the fruits of my labor. If they want a better life or opportunity - WORK FOR IT! Again, who is saying people will not have to work? You do know that taxes will help fund this, right? Most of the families this will benefit are the middle income families who do pay taxes. Free preschool is already available for those living in poverty.

This preschool plan is just another way for the government to control how we live our lives. I am not interested in that lifestyle. Please let these four years end before this man can do any more damage to the country. And, without a doubt, when the country is a mess after his term ~ it will STILL be Bush's fault. If you aren't interested in it, no one is twisting your arm forcing you to do so. Simply don't participate.

Responded in bold above.

[MarinaVanessa]

Oh my goodness.....Wisconsin and Iowa have had 5 by Sept. 1st and 5 by Septmber 15th for more than 30 yrs to enter kindergarten. For many, many years parents with kids with summer birthdays often times hold their late birthday child back for kindergarten until they are 6. You have had some really young kindergarteners in CA.!

And I think that now (in my area at least) they are beginning to realize that as well. They are now slowly pushing the deadline further and further back because we have so many really young Kindergartners that simply are not ready for Kindy.

Crystal made a comment about how many children don't get to go to preschool or daycare and so don't get to benefit from the social skills that other kids to get to work on and so I think that's what the transitional-kinder is supposed to address. The younger kids get to "practice" in a pre-school type environment to prepare for kindy but it's not as structured as kindy. I for one am glad that we are doing this, I think it's because so many of our kindergarten kids were struggling and not enjoying school because of the pressure .

[spud912]

Oh good grief! I can't understand how everything that is wrong with this country - the worst it has been in my lifetime - is the fault of Bush. Obama, God help us, is the POTUS now, and he is making things progressively worse, each day he is in office.

Trying to stanardize preschool and child care is just one more step towards the socialist government he is trying to sneak by the uninformed members of society. Everything in this country is NOT equal. That is why it is important to WORK for what you want in life. We were not founded on the principles that everything will be equal and government mandated.

Parents have the right to choose what type of early childhood program they want their child to attend. If I want my child learning to read at age one, that is my choice. If I want him to carry around a blanket and bake cookies until he is in kindergarten - also my choice. It is important to have the variety of program styles available, so parents can exercise their own free will in determining how they want their chld educated.

Much like universal healthcare, this is just another program that will help the "I don't need to work to live a great life" members of our society keep right on living that way. Once again, when it is all said and done, the quality of care will be sacrificed to make things "equal".

I work hard for my money, so my children can have the best that our country has to offer. I don't work hard so everyone in the country's children can have access to the fruits of my labor. If they want a better life or opportunity - WORK FOR IT!

This preschool plan is just another way for the government to control how we live our lives. I am not interested in that lifestyle. Please let these four years end before this man can do any more damage to the country. And, without a doubt, when the country is a mess after his term ~ it will STILL be Bush's fault.

I agree! And regarding the difference in the US between when Bush took office and when he left, there is a HUGE reason that everything went downhill......911, followed by a war on terrorism, then Katrina. He may not have handled everything perfectly, but you have to at least give ANY president some credit for having to deal with all of those things...no wonder it was a mess at the end! What is Obama's excuse (besides the easy copout...."he inherited a mess")?

Obama hasn't done one thing to uplift this country since he took office. Instead of dealing with the real issues at hand that everyone can agree with (which are stimulating the economy, bringing up unemployment, making us more oil independent and getting us out of war), he added a ton of debt to us and our children and their children without solving one of those problems or even one step in the right direction! He basically got a credit card in my name, bought a bunch of things that I don't think was necessary and pushed the tab to my children and their children. Now, instead of trying to pay off that debt, he is taking away my personal income (and my husbands) and pushing us to become more and more dependent on the government.

We as a nation are being pushed further and further from being one of the top major developed countries. I'm seriously scared of what we are leaving for our children! I'm scared of the education my children will receive! I'm scared that there won't be enough educated people in this nation to even compete with the other countries! Instead of putting so much emphasis on the curriculum of the very young (when they need more time learning the most important social and family skills), we need to put our focus on improving the school system we already have in place (because that is where we are failing as a nation, not in our 5 and under crowd). And if a parent wants their children to attend early education preschools....fine, that is their choice (something that lacks in his newest agenda).

[bunnyslippers]

I agree! And regarding the difference in the US between when Bush took office and when he left, there is a HUGE reason that everything went downhill......911, followed by a war on terrorism, then Katrina. He may not have handled everything perfectly, but you have to at least give ANY president some credit for having to deal with all of those things...no wonder it was a mess at the end! What is Obama's excuse (besides the easy copout...."he inherited a mess")?

Obama hasn't done one thing to uplift this country since he took office. Instead of dealing with the real issues at hand that everyone can agree with (which are stimulating the economy, bringing up unemployment, making us more oil independent and getting us out of war), he added a ton of debt to us and our children and their children without solving one of those problems or even one step in the right direction! He basically got a credit card in my name, bought a bunch of things that I don't think was necessary and pushed the tab to my children and their children. Now, instead of trying to pay off that debt, he is taking away my personal income (and my husbands) and pushing us to become more and more dependent on the government.

We as a nation are being pushed further and further from being one of the top major developed countries. I'm seriously scared of what we are leaving for our children! I'm scared of the education my children will receive! I'm scared that there won't be enough educated people in this nation to even compete with the other countries! Instead of putting so much emphasis on the curriculum of the very young (when they need more time learning the most important social and family skills), we need to put our focus on improving the school system we already have in place (because that is where we are failing as a nation, not in our 5 and under crowd). And if a parent wants their children to attend early education preschools....fine, that is their choice (something that lacks in his newest agenda).

[Willow]

And I think that now (in my area at least) they are beginning to realize that as well. They are now slowly pushing the deadline further and further back because we have so many really young Kindergartners that simply are not ready for Kindy.

Crystal made a comment about how many children don't get to go to preschool or daycare and so don't get to benefit from the social skills that other kids to get to work on and so I think that's what the transitional-kinder is supposed to address. The younger kids get to "practice" in a pre-school type environment to prepare for kindy but it's not as structured as kindy. I for one am glad that we are doing this, I think it's because so many of our kindergarten kids were struggling and not enjoying school because of the pressure .

I think this is where cookie cutter theories that every child needs pre-k or every child should learn to read, write and do math by the age of 6 is falling short.

My son started kindy - having never attended daycare or pre-k - three weeks after he turned 5 and he's done amazingly well. The only reason I went that route is because after much contemplation of his kindy eval and review of how he interacted with the world it seemed more than reasonable to do so. He tests off the charts compared to his class, district and nationwide standards and he's got plenty of friends. He hasn't been stressed about the work load and he absolutely ADORES school, homework included. If he'd have waited another year he'd have been bored out of his mind and I think that definitely could have hurt him in the long run.

It worked for him. And I'm not against 5 year olds or even 4 year olds making that leap if they are actually ready. Heck, if you're a 2 year old genius ready to graduate by 10 more power to ya.

My trouble is with what AmyLeigh pointed out. That if lots of kids are encouraged by the government pushing them to go earlier and earlier it's going to become a social norm, something that's expected, and THAT'S what's going to land so many kids in a pickle. I completely believe that's the catalyst when addressing what is wrong with the public education system to date.

Each kiddo is different. Each kiddo may need different things to excel. When you have a class of 40 to one teacher there's no way they can provide that and so many many kids end up falling through the cracks.

The government shouldn't be telling parents pre-k is necessary.

The government shouldn't be regulating what constitutes an adequate pre-k or dictating what every single child supposedly needs.

Fact is they tried via a program they designed and the proof is in the puddin'
it just didn't work. In the end there was no real benefit to the children Obama still claims today that it saved. That's not my opinion, those are the findings of the professionals who evaluated the whole shebang.



Kids don't necessarily need daycare or pre-k to be socialized or become intelligent human beings. It certainly shouldn't become mandatory and I sure hope it never becomes a social norm parents feel pressured to compete with.

[Crystal]

I think this is where cookie cutter theories that every child needs pre-k or every child should learn to read, write and do math by the age of 6 is falling short.

My son started kindy - having never attended daycare or pre-k - three weeks after he turned 5 and he's done amazingly well. The only reason I went that route is because after much contemplation of his kindy eval and review of how he interacted with the world it seemed more than reasonable to do so. He tests off the charts compared to his class, district and nationwide standards and he's got plenty of friends. He hasn't been stressed about the work load and he absolutely ADORES school, homework included. If he'd have waited another year he'd have been bored out of his mind and I think that definitely could have hurt him in the long run.

It worked for him. And I'm not against 5 year olds or even 4 year olds making that leap if they are actually ready. Heck, if you're a 2 year old genius ready to graduate by 10 more power to ya.

My trouble is with what AmyLeigh pointed out. That if lots of kids are encouraged by the government pushing them to go earlier and earlier it's going to become a social norm, something that's expected, and THAT'S what's going to land so many kids in a pickle. I completely believe that's the catalyst when addressing what is wrong with the public education system to date.

Each kiddo is different. Each kiddo may need different things to excel. When you have a class of 40 to one teacher there's no way they can provide that and so many many kids end up falling through the cracks.

The government shouldn't be telling parents pre-k is necessary.

The government shouldn't be regulating what constitutes an adequate pre-k or dictating what every single child supposedly needs.

Fact is they tried via a program they designed and the proof is in the puddin'
it just didn't work. In the end there was no real benefit to the children Obama still claims today that it saved. That's not my opinion, those are the findings of the professionals who evaluated the whole shebang.


Kids don't necessarily need daycare or pre-k to be socialized or become intelligent human beings. It certainly shouldn't become mandatory and I sure hope it never becomes a social norm parents feel pressured to compete with.

You keep referring to this publicly funded program that didn't work. The only program I know of is Head Start and there are longitudal studies that show that it DOES work. Can you please refer me to some statitistics that give me some proof that pre-k doesn't "work"?

[bunnyslippers]

You keep referring to this publicly funded program that didn't work. The only program I know of is Head Start and there are longitudal studies that show that it DOES work. Can you please refer me to some statitistics that give me some proof that pre-k doesn't "work"?

It may be different in your state, but where I am from, Head Start is well-known as an abysmal failure.

I think the point that is being made about preschool is not that is isn't beneficial, but rather that children don't need to attend preschool in order to succeed in kindergarten. The fact that it is being included under the public school umbrella is the issue. Our schools are already under-funded, under-staffed, and a general mess. We need to fix that problem before we add one more level of education to the public school system.

I am a suipporter of preschool, but I also know many children who have not gone that have been incredibly successful scholars.

[Lyss]

Well I guess my DD is going to have a terrible life because she will NOT be going to preschool and will be nearly 6 when she starts kindergarten (her birthday is in Nov so she misses the Sept cut off).

Maybe we should actually work on the education system we have. Our K-12 system is a mess and to some extent a joke, why add to it with universal preschool?

I'm for dealing with the problems we already have before we just pile more on.

[Scout]

It's money this country doesn't have, to put into a program that's already proven not to work, and even more government intrusion that the vast majority of providers do not want.

Kids need to learn through play when they're toddlers, not be pushed to learn things they should be learning K-2nd/3rd grade. I could teach the kids in my care algebra when they're here *or* I could teach them manners, respect, self care/help skills and how to control their emotions so they can actually do something productive with the algebra they learn someday.

My son's preschool teacher teaches him both...He is learning to read, write, be a good friend, and more while at preschool. I see nothing wrong with this proposal. Let's say nothing is done with our education system. How would our country fare in 30 years if kids keep failing to meet the standard requirements? This all can start when they are 3 or 4 and they can still have fun learning what they need to. In Ohio kids need to know how to write their names by kindergarten, which is fine with me because my son needs to know how to write his name for the rest of his life. I know that I only want what is best for this country and education is a good start.