Planning for the future: Why we need full-day kindergarten
Creative Commons licensed photo, credit
Note: the names in this post have been changed to protect privacy.
While walking door to door yesterday I met a single mother of three struggling to provide for her family, raise her kids and better herself through education. Her oldest child, entering kindergarten this year, was just accepted to the full-day program at the local elementary school and is well on his way to becoming a bright student.
While Ronda would like to stay home to enjoy these early years with her son James, as the sole breadwinner, working a full-time job means this is not an option for her. On top of that, she attends classes at night in pursuit of a college degree so she can advance her career. For her, the full-day kindergarten option is crucial for her family and for James’ future.
So James is now in the full-day program and everything’s right with the world, correct? Not exactly. The Nevada Legislature this last session set up a pilot program in select schools targeted to assist at-risk students. Amazingly, despite Ronda’s tenuous economic status, James was not qualified to attend full-day kindergarten. Luckily, Ronda’s a fighter. She lobbied local school administrators incessantly- wrote letters, made phone calls, juggled her schedule to make meetings.
Her hard work paid off, but she’s left feeling like although she won the battle, winning the war is a long way off. Remember, Ronda has two more kids coming up in the system and she worries she won’t be as fortunate the next time.
“Why can’t this be an option for all kids, for all parents?” she asked me.
It should be. The research is clear: full-day kindergarten provides a platform on which all future educational success can be realized. Providing support for all Nevada students is something we can achieve in the next Legislative session, and something for which I will fight.
I can tell you that James is a delightful kid. He stood right there by Ronda’s side as we talked, paying attention as the two adults discussed his schooling. I’ve no doubt James is going to grow up to be a great citizen- working hard to provide for his own family in the future, contributing to innovation, our economy and community.
We need to work for this future for all our kids. Strong education is what will build Nevada’s future economy. As James stands by Ronda as she works hard for her family, let’s make sure we stand by James and all of Nevada’s students.
September 24th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
[…] David Bobzien includes another close encounter with a voter on his blog–this one on an issue close to the minx’s heart–all day kindergarten. The research conducted in the 90’s backs up the significant effect all day kindergarten has on children’s future achievement in school as long as the curriculum is well designed. (The 90’s research was more stronger methodologically than that done in the 70’s and 80’s). […]
September 27th, 2006 at 9:28 am
While I agree all-day kindergarten may be beneficial to certain segments of the population, the key word here is “optional”. Parents should not be required to put their very young child into school for 6 or more hours if they prefer not to. One of the problems of all-day kindergarten is many parents view it as free day care, which it should not be. In that case, we should be lobbying for high-quality, affordable subsidized daycare programs where children can receive before and after school care in a no-pressure, no testing and non-academic environment.
I also disagree that being low-income automatically labels a family “at-risk”. This woman seems to have done a great job with her kids *herself* despite her economic circumstances and life situation, not because her child was accepted into all-day kindergarten.