RE: Mandatory Kindergarten/Alternate opinion

If a full day kindergarten would provide every child with two nutritious meals, a 90 minute nap, 2 hours of outdoor play (sand and water, tricycles and swings), and the remaining time spent mashing playdough, painting at an easel, dressing up in costumes, dancing to music and being read the books of Helen Lester and Bill Martin Jr., I would be all for it.  But I suspect the reality would be "desk incarceration" and little hands without the necessary small motor control cramped around a #2 pencil.

I believe the public school kindergarten experience I enjoyed in the 1970's more than adequately prepared me for first grade, because the focus was on socialization and citizenship (i.e. sharing and not fighting) and not a push to force recognition of the alphabet down my throat.  Books were introduced as a priviledge and stories read-aloud, but I have no memory of stress over decoding phonemes.

I would very much oppose mandatory kindergarten and mandatory full day kindergarten.  Education is a priviledge and until all parents realize that and do not consider it simply an opportunity for free childcare, California's educational system will never improve.