Starting at the Beginning: Kidnergarten Reform
Time and time again California students have been shown not to meet up to either their expectations or those of the nation. Despite the huge amount of money that is budgeted for education test scores continue to stay low and each new academic study seems to show another dismal statistic about the ineffectiveness of our efforts. It is now becoming clear that our educational deficits are found not just in the later years of high school and university/college schooling, but also all the way down to the first grades. This across the board situation lends credence to the problem being rooted in an initial deficiency in the system, that being the very beginning of a child’s school experience. Such an important aspect of our educational system should be a top priority for revision in order to achieve the educational hopes that this society holds. The importance of operating an effective educational system should be extremely appreciated by our state and nation. The degradation of knowledge can be seen in many of our communities, from the advancing college student that has nothing but the faintest grasp of the written English language to the homemaker that can’t keep up with their budget because of la
Currently there are two bills in the Legislature of the state to require mandatory kindergarten for all students. Although it is not likely that they will be passed at this time due to budget constraints, they are long overdue (Pardington 1). The expectations of the state are for children entering the first grade to have a firm grasp on basic reading skills. For those that currently do not attend kindergarten it is very likely that this requirement will not be met. It is even very likely that the child has not had any academic exposure at all. Lacking the first major educational assumption is no way to start out an academic career. The six to ten percent of parents that decide to place their children directly into first grade, possible because the current law is based on an age of 6 and not a grade, leave them at distinct disadvantages (Moore 1). Not only will they face more struggles because of their own lack of skill, but the education system will be laden with extra weight when it already cannot bear its load. The costs of bringing about full day kindergarten and, eventually, state-run pre-school would be heavy. It is, however, a step in the right direction whereas many of those taken by the state have not been. Spending in many facets of education has been misguided by our subtle return to a “dump more money in to make it work” mindset. The lack of research and studies that go into these decisions can be very disturbing. Starting poorly on a task will make the end goal incredibly more difficult to attain; yet when looking at the education reform topics that concern the majority of America we see little besides discussion on high school or college curriculums and advancement. This is understandable since these
Some topics in this essay:
ED Hirsch,
Starting Beginning,
educational system,
pre-school system,
basic reading,
school college,
day kindergarten,
education system,
numbered grades,
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Approximate Word count = 1176
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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