Practically Speaking

Ms. Kyle, the fact that you are a 4K graduate does not bode well for your argument against it!

Having just documented the fact that I am indeed just another Kyle Prast lackey, let me add that continuing this highly effective rhetoric against 4K may well be counter productive.

I can already hear the sound of the 3K moms marching toward the school district offices!

4K is nothing more than taxpayer funded babysitting for working parents. Elmbrook residents can afford to send their kids to private daycare if they feel it's that important. Statistics don't support any particular academic benefit from 4K programs. In fact they often prove detrimental as parents attempt to introduce academics and socialization to youngsters not yet prepared to enter this structured environment. I would feel just a little better if the district and certain parents would come clean with the real motivators;  free babysitting and state aid.

A salient point indeed. However, I don't believe that our kid's ability to read and write will count for much in the new Global Village. With all of 'them' coming here to fill our jobs, and all of the remaining jobs going over 'there', the only degree of literacy our kids will need down the road is just enough to scratch a mark on their welfare papers from time to time. You don't need K12 to do that!

Speaking of spending, did you notice that the development of Percheron Square has been delayed while VK and his crowd find some cash? Looks as though we'll continue to have one remaining open field in town. At least till vinnie takes out a second mortgage on his castle!

Do you really think that if a child goes to 4k that that child should ultimately have better test scores later in their education than one who does not? I really dont understand the logic. Each child is an individual and derives different lessons from education. Education is not simply about test scores. Education is all encompassing.  Doesnt it make sense for a child to have that advantage.

Again all the comments you post or are posted echo the same thing. "It costs too much". This group's selfish interests are really quite pathetic and should be soundly derided if they were not so pathetic. What is next lets cut kindergarten, because kids really dont learn to read and write there anyway so must be a waste of taxpayer dollars. Better yet. Let's cut elementary schools because real learning doesnt begin until 6th grade.

Kyle's reply: FYI, school attendance is not compulsory until age 6, 1st grade. No one said anything about cutting elementary schools. As for comments posted, I am not censoring them based on pro 4K or against 4K. I only censor based on tone or objectionable content.

Since there is not an unlimited supply of tax dollars, there is nothing wrong with channeling tax dollars into the programs that produce the best, most long lasting results. You call that desire pathetic. May I suggest you wishing others to pay for something you want, that is not a necessity, selfish. 

I do agree that test scores are not the end all and be all in measuring learning, however, they are the measuring stick used by public education. High ACT and SAT scores and other test scores are what school districts tout when promoting their district against another. Certainly if 4th grade reading skills go down when students attend 4K as compared to higher reading skills without 4K, that disparity does little to promote 4K as a necessity to excelling later in school.