TK Is Not OK

[Kamaji]

TK Is Not OK

Studies have found that universal pre-K programs don’t work in aggregate, and some do harm. But California’s governor and most of its legislators just can’t seem to avoid peddling a shoddy product.

By Larry Sand
April 17, 2022

According to just-released data from the California Department of Education, the state has lost 110,000 students this school year, and has fewer than 6 million students for the first time this century. Additionally, on the college level, California’s fall 2021 undergraduate enrollment dropped by nearly a quarter-million students since pre-pandemic fall 2019, according to a survey released in January. The report from the National Student Clearinghouse shows that California saw an overall decline of more than 99,000 (4.3 percent) in undergraduate enrollment from fall 2020 to fall 2021, driven mostly by a 9.9 percent drop in the community colleges.

So now the government is doing what it can to expand the system by adding bodies—specifically 4-year-old bodies—by implementing universal free transitional kindergarten (TK for short).

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But then, there is reality. In fact, studies invariably show that pre-K school doesn’t help, and can even damage young kids. The results of a study done in Tennessee were released in January 2022, revealing “that children randomly assigned to attend pre-K had lower state achievement test scores in third through sixth grades than control children, with the strongest negative effects in sixth grade.

A negative effect was also found for disciplinary infractions, attendance, and receipt of special education services, with null effects on retention.” It is worth noting that the Tennessee study was of the highest quality because the program was oversubscribed, so applicants were selected to participate by random lottery. As researcher Greg Forster reports, “That allowed the study to use the top-quality method used in medical trials, comparing outcomes for a “treatment” group (those who won the lottery and attended pre-K) and a “control” group (those who lost the lottery and did not attend pre-K).”

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Source:  https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/17/tk-is-not-ok/

[Smokin Joe]

Cradel to grave indoctrination (subsidized babysitting)

I never went to Kindergarten, but started first grade at 5 (birthday before the end of the year).

My grand daughter went briefly to Head Start, where she was told she couldn't know her colors, numbers, or the alphabet already, even though she did, and was being dumbed down as a result. We pulled her out.

What happened to letting kids be kids? Are adults so jealous of those that don't shuffle off to a job every morning that they have to impose that further loss of childhood (and the imagination and wonder, the thrill of discovery) on their children?