Democratic Debate

Okay I've been focusing in & out of the debate tonight...mostly because it is mostly the same old thing---even had a heckler.

So the '100 Black men' group (don't get me started on that name) asked Obama what he woud do to encourage black men to stay in education.

I like his answer that it isn't JUST a black issue, that there is also a simular problem-if not worse-in the latino population.

BUT what I didn't like was the idea--and both the other candidates agreed--that pre-school is the answer to it all. NO ITS NOT!!! That is a stupid idea. Why not simply make kindergarten start at age 3 or 4 then instead of 5 or 6? Then the government will have to set some sort of standards for monitoring your child's progress.

And chances are if there is a working mom in the home that child is getting "early childhood education" any ways! The majority of inner-city kids have some sort of daycare...so unless the government is ready to say that one form of daycare is better than another they should keep their noses out of it.
There are some forms better than others...center daycares are not always better than homebased centers....montesorri is not always better than open daycares...I'm afraid that no matter what the government tries to do they will spark an education war that they don't want--it will be as bad as "church & state" in my opinion.
Its not that there is "competition" but everyone always thinks that they have the better system.
For instance I don't like the Montisorrie (sp?) program because the programs I have seen take much of the job that parents should be teaching....but on the other hand they do teach kids amazing math concepts that you would never think possible--like squaring numbers!
Can you imagine a 4 yr old understanding-not just knowing-what 10X10 is?? What about cubics? Yes they actually taught these kids cubics! I was so amazed...but its not for me.
While I could see doing some of it....a lot of it just didn't ring for me.
But the other issue is...who would qualify? would it be "at risk" kids based on income/race? If that's it we already have that thru the public schools. There is already the Head Start program...which is underfunded....but its there all the same.

The democrats seem to have a 'program' that will fix just about anything---but not the funding. You know what that means---the middle class will be taking home less income...but those at the bottom still won't qualify for the programs they are paying for.

sorry--truth hurts.