Senior Project Paper (1st rough draft)

I'm bored so I'm posting my homework on here. lol

Many people think that preschool is unnecessary or more for the parents than the children, but preschool can help children do well in kindergarten and even after. As weird as it may seem, it's true. Kids learn how to socialize, share, and simply use their imaginations around other kids in preschool. Some may have siblings that they've learned to do this to some extent with, but they might not have the skills later on to socialize with more than just family. Or maybe they're the youngest so they don't share well because their older siblings always get what they want first. As for using their imaginations, they can have different ideas for say a game than a sibling, and the sibling might not like it so they won't play. Making it so that their imagination is left to collect dust.

• Children between the ages of three and five are ready to learn. Curiosity is high in this age group and pre-schools meet the needs of the child. If the child’s inner curiosity is not met with activities and answers, it could possibly diminish his or her future academic performance.

• Children in this age group have a wide range of interests. If these interests are discovered and encouraged at a young age, it will lay the groundwork for a love of learning. For instance, a child who has a love for scribbling and is encouraged will generally learn to write earlier than other children.

• Children who are enrolled in pre-school learn the importance of character through the praise and encouragement they receive through displaying hard work and responsibility. This leads to positive self worth, as well as fostering good study skills, in a child.

• Pre-school children are more likely to learn to read and they become better readers than children who never attended pre-school.

• Children who attend pre-school are more likely to graduate from high school and continue onto college.

• Children who attend pre-school are less likely to be incarcerated or arrested when they are older teens and adults.

It's strange reading that something as simple as sending your three year old to preschool for a couple hours can ultimately prevent them from ending up in jail...or other trouble with the law. I mean who'd think that a few hours a day could do that? And to think that not only will it prevent that, but it increases the chance of that child to go into college after graduating high school. All by simply giving your child up for a few hours so that they can learn what they need to from a teacher who knows how to see and use your child's strengths and weaknesses to help them succeed.

"There's increasing evidence that children gain a lot from going to preschool," says Parents advisor Kathleen McCartney, PhD, dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "At preschool, they become exposed to numbers, letters, and shapes. And, more important, they learn how to socialize -- get along with other children, share, contribute to circle time."

Statistics show that a majority of kids attend at least one year of preschool: According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), more than two-thirds of 4-year-olds and more than 40 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in a preschool in 2005. "Children who attend high-quality preschool enter kindergarten with better pre-reading skills, richer vocabularies, and stronger basic math skills than those who do not," says NIEER director W. Steven Barnett, PhD

"Every child should have some sort of group experience before he starts kindergarten," says Amy Flynn, director of New York City's Bank Street Family Center. "Kindergarten teachers will tell you that the students who are ready to learn are those who come into school with good social and behavior-management skills," Smith says.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eliot Spitzer both agree that quality preschooling should be available to all children who need it. Spitzer said "Effective preschool education can help make all children ready to learn the day they start school and, more importantly, help close the enormous gap facing children in poverty.” And Schwarzenegger said "Preschool gives our kids the strong foundation they need to be successful in school and in life.” Two very different people even agree on this. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out that if two people as different as these two can agree on this, then it shouldn't be hard for the rest of us to agree on it as well.

Many teachers and researchers...even parents will tell you that children need to know things like their ABC's even before kindergarten. True they'll be taught again, but sometimes other students know them already and the kids who don't know them can feel “dumb” or “stupid” because they didn't know something their classmates did. I actually learned that last year when I volunteered at the local kindergarten. There was a couple boys who didn't know their ABC's and so they would start crying because the rest of the class did. It's really hard to watch kids cry because even at the age of five, they think something is wrong with their brain.

There's preschool programs everywhere...literally. There's programs in most daycares, churches and Elementary schools. There's even preschools that are just preschools. So there's plenty of choices if you don't like a teacher for one school. It's not worth punishing your child because you don't happen to like the teacher, for whatever reason.

Preschoolers aren't necessarily students. Yes they have teachers and go to “school,” but preschool is more of a safe place to explore their environment and ask questions. Preschool teachers make sure that the classroom has fun things to do, that teach yeah...but also capture the childrens' interest so they want to learn about the world around them.

The requirements for being a preschool teacher in Washington State are pretty basic. You have to be 18 years of age or older, and must have documented childhood development education or work experience. Some preschools may have the teacher take a basic first aid class and make sure they know how to do CPR.

Some people believe that preschool is just a cop-out for parenting. You send your kid there, and you can do whatever it is you want to do with your day. Those people are thinking about the parent's being selfish only. Honestly, yeah there's probably some parents who do it purely for their own benefit, but the child is still getting an opportunity that they may not have gotten otherwise. I think that honestly preschool should be a requirement just like kindergarten is. I mean yeah, it's not “necessary” but why would you not give your child every opportunity to succeed that you can?

My civic action is volunteering for fifteen hours or more at the local Elementary school's preschool. I'm still waiting on being told I can because I just got a hold of the school, but if it's anything like what I did last year I'm going to basically be a TA (teacher's assistant).

I'll make copies for the teacher, I'll help set out snack, read stories to the kids. I'll probably help walk the kids out to the buses after school...maybe walk the couple that go to daycare afterward to the daycare across the street. My civic action will help me see just how much preschool really effects a child's growth first hand.

My volunteering at the preschool will be providing direct service to the community. It will be helping with the kids that are going to kindergarten. And after I finish my hours I can try to find a way to inform the parents in my town about how preschool really is beneficial to their children. Plus it will help me when I have my own preschool class and I can think back and remember “oh I remember a kid who had a problem like that when I volunteered. This is how we worked around it...I can try doing that with him/her.”

Recruiting people for this could make it so parent's don't have to worry that their child is going to be forgotten about in the class. If enough people volunteer, they could make it so every group of, say 5-8 kids has their own helper. Not their own teacher no, but someone who can help them with whatever they need help with. And public awareness could make it so kids whose parents may be torn on whether to put them in preschool or not get the chance to go. Parent's may not be so afraid of putting their child in preschool if they knew all the benefits that are going to come out of it.

Like I said, I think that it should be made mandatory for kids to go to preschool. Not because parents can't teach their children what they'll learn at preschool or because I want to add more school to a child's life. But if a few hours a day makes it so a three year old has a better chance of graduating high school and going to college and all of those amazing things...I don't see why it shouldn't have to happen.

I asked my mom why she didn't send my brother and I to preschool and she said “Honestly I didn't have the money to. We don't have a free preschool program here, and so being a single mom at the time I couldn't afford to send you guys. I wish I had been able to because then maybe you (Kortni) would have more confidence from learning social skills at a younger age. And Anthony would maybe be able to control himself around people...for the same reason. It kind of makes it so the whole 'rich stay rich, while the poor stay poor' saying takes on a whole new meaning because you guys are going to have to work harder at your social graces because I couldn't afford preschool. Whereas people with more money can afford to do that for their children.”

It's kind of sad that my mom is right. People who don't have money can't send their kids to preschool. They have to depend on their own skills to hopefully pass down enough of those skills to their children. It's not fair...but it's true. Hopefully in the not so distant future more preschools will be free and preschool will be mandatory so kids don't have to deal with the problems me and my brother have to.

We all say that “education is important” and “what a child needs comes first” so why would we take away this amazing gift that we can give our children? Because we're scared that we're going to be thought of as bad parents? Who cares what people think! It's your child...you know what's best for him or her. You know what you can give them, and if you really want the best for your child you'd give them the opportunity to do the best they possibly can. It's not that hard of a decision.

Author's Note

bleh