RE: Grounding Tenet for Learning

I agree with all you say, Lynda.  We must not be afraid to consider change and to embrace it.  The theme of a single curriculum for all is ambitious and admirable in attempting to correct our errors of the past, when schools (and students and parents) mistakenly made uninformed decisions for students who were traditionally under-represented in higher education.  However, we must be careful not to set ourselves up for tracking or higher drop-out rates as students are unsuccessful or do not wish to pursue the A-G pattern at this particular time in their lives.  To prepare all students for various opportunities takes, as Marian Sheppherd pointed out, many more counselors.  It will also require self-paced and individualized programs for many students.  We are headed in the right direction, but need to make sure we anticipate the unexpected (think of nuclear waste and MBTE).

Regarding the issue of full day kindergartens:  This seemed to work fine with those of us old enough to remember when California did this in the fifties.  We simply had "nap time" in the afternoon.  The school provided the mats.  The British,   French, Japanese and Thais (and probably many other countries)consider starting full-time school at any older than four years old as missing an incredible opportunity when the child is, as Senator Vasconcellos says, "wired to learn".