Kindergarten: Behind Chain Link in Diapers

I didn't go to kindergarten as a child. It wasn't offered. I don't think I've suffered for the lack of it, and I regard it as just another step by government to get children away from their parents as early, and for as much of the day as possible.

One of the reasons I think this is that some statist "educators" are pushing to start kindergarten even earlier, at the age of four or even three. They've also begun "free" breakfast and lunch programs at some districts so that the kids come earlier in the morning and don't leave to go home for lunch.

Parents can do what they want, as far as handing over their children to strangers to raise and indoctrinate, my only issue, other than a general sense of wonderment as to why they went to all the trouble of having kids if they don't want them, is that they're gleefully forcing me and other dissenters to pay for it.

A couple who are dear friends of mine send their kids to a government children's prison, then spend untold hours trying to undo the damage caused by the (large amount of) pro-government propaganda when they come home. Commendable. They say that the government school their kids attend is of very high quality and has an excellent academic standing.

Let's consider this.

Government "education" is so all-encompassing that it effectively eliminates any attempts at innovation. Even if a private school or a religious school sets its own curricula, it has to follow government approved methods, restrictions and even lesson plans. No one can legally attempt any serious innovation in education without running afoul of government regulations.

So, how can we possibly say that even the best schools are really anywhere near as good as they could be? The top-drawer institutions in the country are held to standards enforced by the ultra-mediocre members of teachers' unions and government drones. How can any critic possibly consider any school high quality if the best that exists is mediocrity?

We've all heard the stories of super successful individuals, a large number of whom dropped out of school early to improve their education. Or, as it's more often phrased, school is too boring. I hate to hold myself up as an example; I doubt that anything I've done or will do is going to change the world for better or worse, but I emerged from high school with no knowledge of mathematics beyond being none-too-adept at the four functions. After my hitch in the Navy, I took a private course in which I learned math through basic algebra, analytic geometry and trigonometry, including principles of surveying, in a little over a year, studying on evenings and weekends.

Standards in education have been slipping downward for decades. I recall looking at some of my dad's high school homework. It scared the crap out of me. My son went to high school in the early 1980's. After a teacher-caused hard disappointment in the prep program, he got disgusted and floated through in the general ed program, which seemed like an eighth- or ninth-grade education by the standards of the high school I attended.

I really hope that parents will withdraw their sanction from government children's prisons, "keep their kids off-book," and teach them at home. Today's computers being what they are, parents can find everything they need to educate kids to college level and beyond--and perhaps learn a little themselves in the bargain!

Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California