Like this:

These ’Smart Beginnings’ ads I’ve been seeing on TV (and hearing on the radio, and seeing in print media) are really beginning to bother me. They make it seem as if the state/districts had MORE money to put towards educating young children (birth – 5yo), there wouldn’t be nearly as many youth problems as there are nowadays. One ad even points out that “kindergarten is the new first grade…” so if your kid doesn’t know blah-blah-blah by the time he enters K, he will fall behind and never be able to catch up.

Umm, excuse me, but who is it that is setting these new grade “standards?” Certainly not the parents of said school children!! Then to go on and say that 25% of K’s held back in VA live in the Hampton Roads area isn’t saying all that much about the teachers now, is it?! (Guess it doesn’t really matter that the HR area is one of THE biggest “areas” in the state, so the percentage would be a tad bit skewed) When we lived in Upstate NY, and in CT, the school’s were challenging and strict, yet rewarding at the same time, and the children still learned. We got here to VA, and were astonished at how the districts worked.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that if these districts/teachers got off their “ever broadening” minds and for just a second thought an iota more about their students than they do the SOL’s, maybe our kids would have a chance in public schools in this area.

I feel very bad for new parents who sit back, see these ads and begin to get fearful of their new child’s future education. Maybe that’s what these ads are trying to do? I don’t know. But I certainly don’t see how fear works to a new parents’ advantage.

Am I against early childhood programs? Absolutely not! My mother has run a very successful daycare back in PA for over 25yrs. Some preschools are very helpful for some kids, and just about anything geared towards education (in a positive view) is alright in my book! I guess it’s just since I know how the school works (having taken my own daughter out) that the Smart Beginnings approach bothers me.

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TV PSA’s

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Universal preschool is the ultimate goal, I suppose.  Universal.  Somehow, that doesn’t sound quite as ”glorious” of a prefix as politicians think it should.  Universal preschool.  Universal health care.  This basically goes back to my recent finding of ParentalRights.org – as the times go on and the children of today appear to sink further and further into the muck of “their lacking abilities,” the government seems to think that it is not the fault of the teachers and schools, or even the system that they serve, but that of those who raise the children.  So, in their twisted mindset, why not take more and more control over the situation … typical government view, don’t ya think? … Rather than enforce and fix the problem, just create new rules and regulations for the common man to abide by.

As was said by another homeschool mom – “I’m waiting for the day that “they” are waiting at our delivery room doors to grab our babies for school!”

*sigh*

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