Find out more about the federal data collection in this article by Emmett McGroarty and Jane robbins of the American Principles Project. The plan is to collect children’s personal information from their first early learning experience to adulthood. This article is from a few months ago, but it is still relevant now because, with the inauguration behind us, the federal government will feel free to move boldly ahead.
Early Learning
For the last few years the State has been expanding kindergarten, increasing regulation of preschools and daycare centers, and developing early learning programs for children from infancy. There is no question that the early years of a child are critical in establishing his emotional well-being and a foundation for achieving academic and social skills later in life. However, we at CURE maintain that the parent is responsible for this learning, not the state. Such programs may be useful for a small group of parents, but the state should not be providing universal early learning.
“….For the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”
— William Ross Wallace
Imagine a future world in which every aspect of each citizen is compiled in a data base. Oh, wait, it’s already happening….starting with the early learning data base that is being implemented. Watch this video . Although it mentions Oklahoma, it applies to us in Washington as well.
A Kindergarten Career Test! This is wrong on so many levels–and also very revealing. Read more.
Pull Quote: “…Fundamentally, the preschool and kindergarten debate is not about the effectiveness or expense of the programs. At heart is the question of in whose hands the responsibility for young children should rest. On that question, plans to entrench the state further into early education cannot be squared with a free society that cherishes the primacy of the family over the state…” Read more..
Fade out of academic gains, academic harm, emotional harm….these are some consequences of early childhood programs. Read the article on studies of effectiveness of these programs.
Understandably, many families have no choice but to use outside child care for their small children. However, that doesn’t mean the state must fund an entire system of universal early learning, or universal all-day kindergarten.
“A six year comparison of almost 35,000 children has shown that there has been no change in developmental levels of pupils entering primary school in this period, despite the introduction of several new early years’ initiatives over the past decade, new research from Durham University’s Curriculum, Evaluation and Management (CEM) Centre reveals.”
The Department of Early Learning’s new licensing requirements closed down a valuable YMCA child care program for Navy families in Bremerton.
At its best, the record on the 40-year-old federal Head Start program was mixed. Now, the middle-aged government program is becoming downright dangerous, according to Karen Effrem, a director of EdWatch.org.
Dr. Carlson debunks four myths of early education, in a 2005 debate about state run early learning in Oklahoma. The debate is from a few years ago, but the issues remain the same.