Much has been said about the United States’ poor education system in international rankings and the ridiculous cost of college tuition. Now, the Department of Education is at it again, this time unveiling new guidelines for states to receive a total of $500 million to reform preschools.
Although Secretary of Education Arne Duncan swears we will not see 3-year olds filling in bubbles for standardized tests, there will be, “more observations necessary to evaluate programs and students and to improve instruction.” In other words, one way or another, the federal government will soon be playing a larger role in a preschool near you.
What concerns me most about this new initiative is that it will open the door to a slippery slope in which the government begins to raise a child more than the parents do. The White House website has already cited a statistic saying only 40% of 4-year olds are enrolled in preschool. If they are drawing attention to this now, it may only be a matter of years until preschool, or even earlier childhood education, is mandatory.
The White House also admits implementing this program will “make it easier for working parents to hold down a job,” because they will no longer have to care for the child themselves or find a daycare provider to do it for them. This, however, raises the question, “Why are we discussing the parents’ interests at all?” Education should always be designed solely to help children learn and develop in the most effective way possible. The real question is whether that is best accomplished by tearing them away from their parents at an ever decreasing age or allowing each family to individually assess their child’s needs. Don’t get me wrong -- I absolutely loved preschool, but I think we should preserve the option for parents to enjoy a few precious years of bonding before their children have to worry about preparing themselves for a job decades down the road.
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Couldn't have said it better myself.
Very sad to see. The Federal Government has no authority to be in high school education let alone Pre-School! Why not just leave us alone? I hate all these "good people" who want to "improve" our education system by mandating this and standardizing that and dumbing down everyone. Why not just let people handle their own education? In any event the Federal Government shouldn't be involved. I tried to explain this to my dad but he just says "yeah yeah, the Government has a vested interest in education" with which I responded "ok then let's give people vouchers instead and actually improve our education system through school choice and competition" he didn't respond to this. Why do people want our Federal Government to get MORE involved in our education? Ever since they began to get involved it has just lowered quality and increased education costs for everyone.
First of all, I can't imagine putting my kids in the care of another person just so I can work - but I'm one of those weird homeschooling types. What freaks me out is the 19854 connotations - taking your kids away earlier to reprogram them. Besides the unconstitutionality of it all, that alone should make parents hesitate.
Parenting should really be left to the parents. I mean sure if the parents want to leave their kids in the care of someone else this should also be permitted but in any event it should really be a personal decision for the parents to make. I trust (most) parents to care for the wellbeing of their own children FAR more than I would trust the government to do so.
Testing is part of education, discipline and evaluation of the principles and know-how acquired. The more experienced they get by passing through these contest situations under prestigious institutional borders, the more prepared they`ll be for all kinds of circumstances in life: college, exams, career, psychometric test free results, lifetime achivements. Everything for making them good citizens of the world, armed with the most priceful professional and educational values. I have recently seen these masters in nursing online learning programs which I am extremely interested in.
The fact is that our educational system is going down and we have to improve it somehow, but I am also not agree with the idea that Government starts to be to involved into this matter. I was contacting some colleges in Colorado Springs and I couldn't believe how much it costs to have a degree in nowadays. I thing it is better to study abroad.