Absolutely not! If other people want to pay someone else to raise their children full time, that is their choice. But they can foot the bill for abdicating responsibility themselves. Under no circumstances do I want to pay additional taxes so people can leave their children somewhere all day instead of *gasp* 2.5 hours. That is long enough for a five year old to be away from home.
There is a price to pay for not raising your children at home. And if that is what you choose, then you should pay that price. I choose to feed my family organic food. I do NOT expect the government to pay for that. It’s my choice.

Andrea, should we just cut all schooling to half day so your taxypayer dollars aren’t raising other people’s teenagers?

In my experience most parents who choose half day because their “kids aren’t ready” have kids who need full day the most. They need that full day to develop the academic and social skills that their parents use as the excuse as for why they’re not ready. Additionally generally it’s the parents who aren’t ready to let their kids grow up not the kids.

We intentionally moved to a district with full day K (we like the school otherwise, of course). My kids have a November birthday, so they will be 6 for most of Kindergarten. I see no reason for a 6 year old to come home at 11:25 am. I am enjoying my time with them now, and we still have all of next year, but I’m excited for them to experience full time school too. I went to full day K, and I wouldn’t say that means my parents didn’t raise me!

It’s not about having someone else raise your child! It’s about having the majority of kids ready for a school system that is requiring more and more of them at earlier ages. Kids are expected to know how to read and write by the end of K as well as having basic math and science concepts. For kids with little to no support at home and no preschool, that won’t happen in half day kindergarten. Even with supportive parents, your child starts first grade at a disadvantage. By first grade, kids are expected to sit for lessons in all the basic subjects, know how to take tests, have homework, the list goes on. Our kids need more education, not less if the US doesn’t want to fall farther and farther behind other countries. Kids are capable of so much more than we think. My son was lucky enough to attend a Montessori school for preschool and K. He just finished K and turned 6 last month. He can read on at least a 3rd grade level and has mastered addition and subtraction and is working on multiplication and division. That never would have happened if he’d spent his days hanging out at home with me. And he loved every bit of it because of his teachers and their methods.

I disagree with all this and I don’t understand why a shorter day is being correlated with “playing with play dough.” Here, the academic curriculum is the same for half day kindergarten as it is for full day. The additional time is spent doing extra things, and you have to pay almost $4000 a year for full day. Yes, those extra things have value, but so does time alone taking a five year old to the zoo or curling up and reading books in front of the fire all afternoon on a rainy day, It has not been my experience that half day kindergarten lead to any “disadvantage” either. My older kids are excellent students and my child who just completed kindergarten is reading very well and took math with the older kids all year. He was assessed at the same standards as the full day kids. I think the honest reason people want full day kindergarten to be mandatory and free is because they don’t want to pay for childcare.

Oh, totally agree, Andrea and not the least bit ashamed to say that, indeed, many a family budget looks forward to no longer writing tuition checks.

On your point, Ami, I agree with that, too. Kids are expected to learn more at a younger age, sometimes even in direct conflict with what studies/science shows they’re not developmentally ready for. The beauty of the longer day is there’s more time to teach/acquire the skills and STILL time to play with Play-Do, Etc. (I love Play-Do and think kids learn from it, PS).

I think families don’t have to trade in zoo time, etc, either, even with the longer day, for what that’s worth. We manage in my house just fine. (Weekends, summers, holiday breaks, etc.)

The research indicates that all children benefit from good preschools starting at age three. Why on earth are we not providing that? 2 to 3 hours a day of public school pre-school with trained, highly qualified teachers.

And yes, preschoolers can handle being in school 8+ hours a day. Mine did beautifully. He thrived. But it was very age appropriate and it wasn’t purely academic. Instead it focused on play, social skills, pre-literacy skills, making friends, problem solving and executive function.

Because why wouldn’t to be a great idea to turn out kids over to the state for more time at younger and younger ages? @@

I think it’s ridiculous that kids even need to be “highly successful” in kindergarten! It seems like we place such high expectations on our kids when they’re little, but by the time they hit middle school and high school, our expectations are entirely too low. I spent a year as a full-time substitute teacher for a public school district and got to teach every grade level and, to me at least, it seemed as if we were asking way too much of the younger children and not nearly enough of the older ones. Also, controlling for other factors, I highly doubt that whether a child attends half-day or full-day kindergarten has any real impact on their success later in school or later in life.

“I’m sorry to break this to you but most parents are not patient, skilled and knowledgeable enough to teach the skills that their kids need to be highly successful in Kindergarten.” Sorry, but this is just crap, “Most” parents? Now that’s truly worthy of Amanda’s eyeroll.

@Little Frogs said, “And yes, preschoolers can handle being in school 8+ hours a day. Mine did beautifully.”

Kindergarten this past school year went from 9:10am to 11:55am. Our preschool was about the same, but 3 days a week.

Wasn’t it right here on Babble I read about the Finnish kids? They don’t have any academic component to their schooling until age 7, and their graduates test among the best in the world? Not because their best students are better than anybody else’s, but because their AVERAGE students are so much better?
I don’t care whether kids are “highly successful” in kindergarten or even third grade, if the price is paid in other kinds of physical and mental development, and if that price keeps them from being happy and well rounded person from childhood to adulthood. Full day kindergarten may be part of modern day living, but it is one of the ways that modern living is robbing kids of a real childhood.

One of the schools we looked at had one full day and two half day programs. The full day room is by lottery and is no extra charge. What I loved is that the parents came together recognizing research that states full day kindergarten is more beneficial and have a yearly fundraiser asking for donations from all Kindergarten parents (its optional) because as they put it “every child should have access to the same level of education regardless of income.”

I really liked that approach that everyone comes together to help others, and that is what I feel our country is about: helping others for the greater good and doing what’s right. Same concept as having healthcare for all, in the end we all pay less taxes because there are fewer kids in the ER for the flu or other everyday things.

I can’t believe how selfish our country is becoming, it’s pretty sad. We should all be trying to help one another and not be so worried about our precious money. Everyone wants to just live in their boxes, not talk to their neighbors, stare at their mobile phones or Facebook and forget helping those who aren’t as fortunate. Visit areas of your city that aren’t as lucky as you, or other countries. Not everyone has the advantages or opportunities you have. You can pretend they do to make you feel better about yourself, but they don’t. We all need to get a little perspective on what is truly important.

To the homeschooling commenters: I think it’s fine that you homeschool. I have no problems with homeschooling, quite the contrary. I think it’s a great option for those who have the interest, ability, resources, and time. I have read some amazing and inspiring homeschool blogs. And I think that public schools are certainly not doing everything right–too many large classes and too much standardized testing. Kindergarten is not play-based enough these days, from what I hear. All valid points.

But I do have an issue with the first commenter who seemed to be expressing the opinion that just because her kids didn’t need public education, why should she have to pay for a level playing field for everyone else. I couldn’t agree more with commenter Lindsay’s point about how we need to help each other. If you don’t want help and want to homeschool your kids, fine. But don’t use your self-righteousness as an excuse to deny other kids equal opportunity.

I worked in early childhood literacy and it is abundantly clear that some children have great disadvantages from an early age, largely due to socioeconomic class. Not just financial but there was also a study about early language development and the number of words and quality of conversation that parents have with infants/toddlers/preschoolers as a predictor of early language ability. This correlated strongly with future academic success. HeadStart programs were proven to greatly mitigate the disadvantages of poverty in terms of school readiness.

We all need to invest in the education of ALL of our children, because they will ALL be living together and taking care of our society in the future.

Your kid might be spending the rest of the half-day going to the zoo or doing art projects or talking with you about plants in the garden. But someone else’s kid might be spending time with the TV or with an adult who isn’t really interested in their company or doing anything enriching.

Yeah… that study also says that full day kindergarten was created because of working mothers needing childcare, so there you go. It alsodoesn’t address longterm benefits, probably because other studies have shown that in the long term, full day kindergarten doesn’t make any difference academcially.

Thank you Blue, I feel exactly the same way. Full day kindergarten is hardly not raising our own kids. 5 year olds are NOT infants. A community should have a role in raising all of it’s children, the ENTIRE community.
To Anon who referred to the Finnish system of schooling to support the idea that full day kindergarten is “robbing kids of a real childhood”. Having spent several years socialising with a Finnish family, my understanding of the Finnish system is that ALL children are guaranteed a place in childcare (or the option for their parents to take a monetary compenstation to provide childcare at home). I think comparisons are unfair because in contrast US parents who need to work don’t have the luxury of childcare that is charged according to income. Finnish kids may not have an academicly focused early childhood learning philosophy but they are effectively in long day care, many of them from infancy, the cost of which is paid for by ALL. The standards for this care are high and yet even the Finnish have been soul searching to find what it is in their system that results in two mass school murders… and the finding that their children apparently feel isolated and without community. Interestingly, despite a community minded policy toward young children, there are a questions about cultural aloofness. I’m no expert but my children have all had wonderful pre -school experiences which have prepared them well for full day kindergarten. I’m an intelligent, creative university educated mother but I do not pretend for a moment that I have the skills of a well trained teaching professional (especially the patience) . I do my best to parent, teach values and to compliment/extend the formal learning they recieve. It is my experience that children are often more co-operative with their teachers than with their parents. And I strongly believe that 2 1/2 hours for a kindergarten ready child is insufficient to learn or build social skills that give a child confidence in the process and themselves. If cost were and issue for a community, I would much rather a full day twice a week than a week full of “1/2″ days. I would also support parents who took their children home early if they felt it was too much for them. Children at this age differ so widely in their readiness.
And since I am here…. I think there needs to be more flexibility in education to allow kids to progress at their own pace in combined classrooms so that “repeating” a grade isn’t necessary and graduating within the same age group in all subjects isn’t expected… they should be able to work both ahead of their “age level” as well as behind it. As long as they eventually achieve competency why should it matter in which year they do it (within reason of course).

No, I think I understand your point regarding the debateable academic objectives of kindergarten, and I agree with it to a certain extent. I am saying it’s way too complicated to use Finland as a comparison because many of them ARE in a full day care whether it has an academic agenda or not. It could also be that their early childhood experience of day care in a very nuturing environment contributes to their social, analytical skills and self discipline and that may help determine academic “success” at the later stage.

“Full day kindergarten may be part of modern day living, but it is one of the ways that modern living is robbing kids of a real childhood.”

Is it the “full day” that bothers you or just the “academic” focus or is it both ?

Your statement also begs an interesting question as to what a “real childhood” means because this must have a different meaning depending on your cultural values. At the core the UN I think strives to ensure security, nourishment, health care, an education and safety for children- and that seems universally accepted. But I’m not sure if that means being “over educated, over protected, over fed” means you are winning at childhood? Just pondering.

And to address Andrea-
“If other people want to pay someone else to raise their children full time, that is their choice. But they can foot the bill for abdicating responsibility themselves.”

Our school provides a full day kindergarten (8am-2.20pm) and a special needs pre school/pre-K to ALL residents. A pre school is now available at an additional fee. I can only assume that the vast majority of our community sees this as worthwhile and responsible which is why the budget to fund this is passed each year. Our community is not abdicating responsibility for it’s children, it is embracing it’s responsibility in terms that it’s residents are happy with and I am thankful for that. We pass our children into the care of trained professionals and allow them to be a part of our student community. I know it’s not 100% perfect. Our school board administers it and our parents volunteer and are extremely active in the school. Perhaps you are not a good match for the community in which you live if you don’t see the value in your taxes being spent that way?

Anyway- interesting debate for an insomniac…I had better try to join the snoring!

oh, and what’s more: A number of studies have shown that such programs as Head Start *don’t* help kids in the long run — poor kids whose parents don’t read to them inevitably lose anything they gained within a couple years. HeadStart is a taxpayer suck — it allows “the haves” to feel that they’re doing something nice and lovely for the poor, and it allows the “have-nots” to send their kids somewhere on someone else’s dime. Same goes for kindergarten.
and finally, the whole “social skills” thing is BS. You want to know what teaches social skills? Doing normal kid things, like grocery shopping, taking public transit, going to the library, interacting with neighbors, meeting friends or new friends at the park, church attendance. These are the things that teach kids how to interact with the real world and its multi-age inhabitants, not just a group of peers in pre-K and K. ugh. This post is seriously what’s wrong with America. It’s not the parents’ fault for refusing to raise their kids the right way, it’s “the greedy taxpayers’” fault for not wanting to turn more of their money over to raise other peoples’ children.

So for those who don’t want to fund kindergarten or Head Start–what do you suggest? We just write off kids whose parents aren’t just like you?

@blue care to share those blogs?

Yahoo displayed your blog when I looked for a specific keyword, that’s why I ended up here. Anyway, you have a great article, it’s worth reading and worthy of my time.