Sunday, April 1, 2012

Camping out for kindergarten

Here's an article that caught my eye a couple weeks ago: Parents Forced to Camp Out for Lincoln Kindergarten Spots.

The article detailed how "Dozens of parents in one Lincoln [Placer County, near Sacramento] community are being forced to camp out for three nights in hopes of getting their kids into a kindergarten class."

Apparently the area has experienced rapid growth in housing but not in schools, despite promises to build an additional elementary school. There are a limited number of slots for incoming children, so those slots are available on a fist-come-first-served basis.


Besides the misnomer "forced" (nobody is "forcing" these parents to do anything), I must question why so many people can't grasp the obvious: skip the school altogether. Keep the little tykes at home. Plenty of room at the kitchen table.

7 comments:

  1. But Patrice, not all of us can homeschool effectively. I don't think I could. I would be doing my kids a disservice to try. It's not a lack on the children's part, it's mine. But I have to admit I would not be a good homeschool teacher.

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  2. Right now Kinder ( ages 5) is not mandatory. So the school will say oh well to you. However if the child is 6 -18 they must be in schools if not homeschooled, it is the law. This makes me wonder what happens to those kids in 1st grade? Is there enough teachers, classrooms and supplies for the children in first grade, sure to the increase in the community? If I had to camp out for my 6 year old for a spot in the 1st grade class boy oh boy would there be lawyers there too.

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  3. Well, the parents are "forced" to camp out only IF they want their children to attend that Lincoln Kindergarten. We had similar problems years ago with public schools where we lived. We didn't camp out, however. We informed the school that our children WOULD be there and they had BETTER have accommodations for them! We let the school system know this several weeks before school began, which gave them time to bring in temporary buildings. Public school systems get more than enough money to do what's needed to accommodate every child. Not everyone can homeschool their children. We couldn't, but we closely monitored everything they were taught and made sure they were learning and being challenged every day. Americans need to stop letting themselves be bullied by liberal-progressive schools and our political leaders. We have rights! The Constitution is still the law of the land. Obama hasn't managed to do away with it yet! --Fred & Deb in AZ

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  4. There are other schools available...this one is suppose to be the BEST...

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  5. My sister is a first grade teacher in a fundamental public school in California (
    kind of a magnet school). When she started it was first come, first serve and parents would camp out to get their kids into this school.

    Someone decided this "wasn't fair" to the parents who didn't want, or couldn't spend the time. So they started using a lottery system instead. Put your kid's name in, and you have an equal chance.

    Well, what happened could have been predicted easily. When it was camping out to get in, the parents were more involved, helpful and supportive of the teachers. Yes the work is hard - it's a fundamental magnet school. Now that it's a lottery and there is not much effort extended, there are way fewer parents involved, discipline problems, teachers yelled at over work expected or grades not given. In short, it's a mess and sister hates dealing with the parents.

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  6. i did not go to kindergarten. my sister and my brother did although they had to be five yrs old to attend and baby brother ran away from school on the first day...by the time i had a child ready to attend school they were starting four yr old kindergarten and five yr old kindergarten...and at registration time they gave parents a two page check off list of all the things the new kindergarten student needed to know before starting school...the list made most kids of the age of five ready to skip kindergarten and start first or second grade...i kept my son out of kindergarten and he was more than ready to begin first grade without any formal homeschooling...it is amazing to me what a kid will learn just by being home with mama or daddy who are willing to teach them their numbers, their abcs, how to tie their shoes, have good table manners etc...

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  7. Well, this is not about kindergarten,
    but you might get a kick out of it anyway.
    This is about New York City public schools.

    Get ready to say Grrr !

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2017877081_pitts01.html


    - Charlie

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