To the editor:
I want to put in my two-cents' worth on the all-day kindergarten debate with one bald, politically incorrect question: Why should we, through our school system, subsidize child neglect? The "convenience" to parents of all-day kindergarten should not be a consideration in the decision to force young children to attend school for seven hours a day. I would like to see the data that support the idea that young children (circa 5 years) can maintain attention, interest and energy for seven hours sufficient to educate them above and beyond the half-day schedule.
It seems from the LJW article on this subject (March 16, 1B) and a subsequent "On the Street" public interview, that consideration of all-day kindergarten tradition at five other Lawrence schools (when did this happen?!) and convenience to parents are the main reasons for offering all-day kindergarten. The article even cited the precedent of all-day preschool programs at Woodlawn and Pinckney as reason for offering all-day kindergarten. Coincidentally, I would like to see the data that show that all-day preschool (or daycare) is as healthy for young children as half-day or less, and being home with family.
I know that staying home with young children is not always an option due to unfortunate turns of fate (single parenthood, poverty, etc.). But for those who DO have the option, I feel that parents should raise (support, interact with and nurture) their own children, especially when they are young. What better reason for postponing or modifying a career (been there, done that) than our precious children?
And in an age when we are frantically trying to determine what is going wrong with our older children, as they turn guns upon schoolmates, teachers and themselves, we as a society should be looking for ways to UNITE families, not separate them. Rather than offering longer school hours for younger and younger children to accommodate parents' work schedules, we, as a society, should be working to insure more family-friendly work places with flexible hours that accommodate the objectives of family unity and emotional health. This would benefit parents and children alike, while maintaining the more gradual, less stressful entry of our youngest citizens into our public school system.
Sharon Dewey,
Lawrence
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