The government's universal solution lately seems  to be to throw more of the taxpayers money into programs and systems that are failing- whether it be banks, automobile manufacturers or education.

High costs are only the beginning. In the current private preschool market, there are a wide range of choices. Pre-K is available to those who want to use it and there are already headstart and daycare programs for those who feel they need it, but can't afford the cost. The point some people may be missing is that Pre-K is not necessary and there is no correlation between children attending Pre-K and their future academic or life success.

Just take a look at the existing Headstart program.  This federally funded preschool program has had questionable results, so how can we expect universal preschool to fair any better?  Numerous studies have found that any gains made by Head Start children disminish or disappear once children entered regular school.  Magnuson, Ruhm, and Waldfogel conclude that,  “Early education does increase reading and mathematics skills at school entry, but it also boosts children's classroom behavioral problems and reduces their self-control. Further, for most children the positive effects of pre-kindergarten on skills largely dissipate by the spring of first grade, although the negative behavioral effects continue."

Government preschool is a formulated, one-size-fits-all approach to education that institutionalizes young children at their most impressionable ages. Three and four-year-olds do not belong in a classroom to begin with, and certainly not all day. They just don't have the attention span to deal with the structure of a classroom. They need to be playing in an unstructured environment. This is a move backwards that should be avoided.

As a public school art teacher for 10 years, I saw the schools from the inside. I had to deal with the school politics and inane bureaucracy on a daily basis and saw first hand how good teachers who cared about their students were limited and ineffective due to the system.

When my son was tested for Kindergarten, those testing were amazed that he was already reading and had never attended Pre-K. Three months of Kindergarten was all we could take. My son was bored to death and had lost all enthusiasm for learning. He has been homeschooled since and at grade 5 he tested at almost an 11th grade level for vocabulary and well above grade level across the board. The school district he attended is considered one of the “best” districts in the county. The public school system is a complete failure and throwing more money at it is not the answer, nor is starting the ordeal earlier.

The reality is the public school system was designed during the industrial age to produce factory workers, not independent thinkers. The activities public schools have students participate in which supposedly develop “creative thinking”are a joke. It is “think creatively my way”. Read John Taylor Gatto if you want to learn the truth about the development and state of the public school systems. He was an award-winning NY City teacher who got out because he realized the public school system was a failure.

The public school system indoctrinates children and teaches them to think within the school system's limited parameters.  If you look at any studies on creativity you'll see that children tested prior to attending school are highly creative, yet levels of creativity plummet after just 2 years attending school.  The public schools never teach financial literacy or entrepreneurial skills.  History is re-written and independence is squashed.  

Those who think they can not afford to stay home with their children have been “brainwashed” by the school system to believe that the only road to success is by working for someone else, that both parents need to work to get by,  and that buying on credit is the answer to our increasing demand for immediate gratification. There are other options, and especially with the access of the Internet, the time couldn't be better for people to be able to earn a comfortable income from home and raise their children themselves. It really is possible to live comfortable on one income, if you choose to do so, and that single income does not necessarily have to come from a traditional job.

I have worked from home since 2002 and I help other people to do the same.  As a recent single mom, I just purchased a home on my own at the end of 2008 and will be completely debt-free, including the new mortgage in less than 8 years.  Unfortunately people just aren't aware of their options and believe that the road to a successful life is in doing well at school.  

Certainly, for certain career choices you may need a degree, but there are so many more options in education today, and institutionalizing children at an early age is not the answer to improving our children's ability to learn and develop higher levels of achievement.

Once Pre-K is made universal you know the next step will be to require attendance at an earlier age. In the late 1800's children used to start school at age 8 and were doing work at a higher level by 8th grade than high school graduates, and even many college students, today. The public schools keep trying to lower the mandatory attendance age because.... there is big money in it.

Complete the Contact Wendy Mills form or give Wendy a call at 716-515-8858 to schedule a complimentary consultation or discuss your options.