Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on September 7, 2006

Click here to view bill details.

Do not do this! Now, parents have the choice of enrolling their 4 year old in "early fives" or kindergarten. Under this bill, that choice is removed. If a child isn't ready, the parent can wait another year. But if the child is ready, they should be allowed to start school. My son, an October birthday, was reading at 4. He would have been so bored if he'd had to wait another year for school. He has been the youngest in his class for 11 years. So what! The only time it hurt him was in flag football! Academically, he is an all "A" student with all accelerated/honors classes. This is "fixing" a problem that doesn't exist.

I was a Kindergarten teacher at a private school with a Kindergarten cut-off date of September 1st. I cannot tell you what value it is to hold off starting your four year old child in Kindergarten. These years are precious and can never be recaptured. Enjoy your child while he or she is young, rather than pushing him or her to learn to read, tally, tell time and more. In addition, children who start Kindergarten at such a young age may very well do fine. However, when that same child is a year younger than most of his or her peers in middle school, will you regret your decision? Children should NOT start Kindergarten at age four. Michigan is one of a handful of states with such a late cut-off date. My own son has a September birthday, and while he is only three, I know I will not put him in Kindergarten when he is only four years old.

I understand the thought process of letting parents choose, but I have lived in over five states, none of which have such a young age for Kindergarteners to start. I think it's about time for Michigan to join the ranks of the rest of the country and not letting four year olds into such a strenuous environment.

Education is the one great tool that will fuel the Michigan economy and our way of life in the future. Many more students need to be going to college and getting degrees and even advanced degrees. Why would you force parents to wait to put children into kindergarten? It just means they are one year older and it is that much later before they graduate from school and start contributing to our economy. I have yet to hear a valid "pro" argument. Stating that other states do it, is not an argument! Some children are not ready, but some are, so let them go to school!

In Florida the cut off is September 1st. My son has an August birthday. He is a year younger than his classmates with a September birthday. There will always be a year difference between the oldest and youngest no matter the start date!

I agree it is best to let the parents choose. My daughter is turning 3 this year and already reads toddler books on her own and knows how to count to 20. Her birthday is Nov 27. If we have to wait until she is almost 6 to put her in school she will be extremely bored and out of place. She already has developed friendships in her preschool and it would be horrible for her not to be able to attend school at the same time as her little friends. Can you imagine how tramatic it is to start school for the first time without your friends.

you could do for your daughter is keep her out of school till she's 7 or better yet homeschool her. Sounds like you are doing a great job already. "At no point in this "study of the results" of all-day kindergarten will anyone mention the ongoing growth of social pathologies among the young -- violent crime, vandalism, unwed pregnancy, drug use, a thorough scorn for their parents' beliefs and standards, and a total absence of historical context as they're led by the nose to demand a new government "program" to solve each new manufactured "crisis." Even though these unpleasant and very costly outcomes track perfectly with the growing amount of time kids have spent in government-run "schools" over the past 70 years, most Americans will look at you like you're nuts if you posit any causal relationship between these problems and locking up our kids in mandatory youth propaganda camps for ever more hours, days and years." VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: The social pathologies of all-day kindergarten Gatto's talk "Nine Assumptions of Schooling -- and Twenty-one Facts the Institution Would Rather Not Discuss"......... "The social pathologies we associate with modern children are natural by-products of our modern system of schooling which produces: " -- Children indifferent to the adult world of values and accomplishment, defying the universal human experience laid down over thousands of years that a close study of grown-ups is always the most exciting and one of the most necessary occupations of youth. " -- Children with a poor sense of the future, of how tomorrow is linked to today. Children who live in a continuous present. Conversely, children with no sense of the past and of how the past has shaped and limited the present, shaped and limited their own choices, predetermined their values and destinies to an overwhelming degree. (Teens and twenties today?) " -- Children who lack compassion for misfortune, who laugh at weakness, who betray their friends and families, who show contempt for people whose need for help shows too plainly. Children condemned to be alone, to age with bitterness, to die in fear. " -- Children who can't stand intimacy or frankness. Children who masquerade behind personalities hastily fabricated from watching television and from other distorted gauges of human nature. Behind the masks lurk crippled souls. ... " -- Dependent children who grow up to be whining, treacherous, terrified, dependent adults, passive and timid in the face of new challenges (Also known as libs/socialists/dems). And yet this crippling condition is often hidden under a patina of bravado, anger, aggressiveness."

tend to reflect the upbringing their parents give them.

There will always be an age difference of about a year between the youngest and oldest childern in a class. If the child isn't ready you can choose head start, don't punish everyone because a couple of kids may not be ready!

hey lets just wait untill there 8 or 10 they should be ready to learn by then, or they should know enough were the teacher can relax and collect a check by working even less

There is no merit for moving children’s age requirement to attend start school until they are at least 5 in a given school year. There will always be a one-year difference on age among kids in a single class no matter what the cut-off date is. My son's birthday is September 15 and it wouldn't be fair for him to be the oldest child in his class. He just turned 2 and already knows the alphabet, can count 1-12 and read simple words. He has mastered shapes and colors and has started writing. His pediatrician agreed that he is advanced for his age. If this bill passes, I will NOT enroll my son in a public school. These types of bill are solving a non-existent problem. Parents know what's best for their children— especially when it comes to education. They should be given the choice whether or not to put them to school and this should not be mandated by any law. Rep. Mortimer, Michigan has much bigger problems for you to solve. Please don’t waste your time dictating how we should raise and educate our children. Our family decided to stay in Michigan despite chances to relocate elsewhere because we believed our state has great schools which support each child’s learning potential. The rest of America has to realize that so that families will move back here and raise their children here.

I'm not sure, but you might want to check up and see what the requirements are for Kindergarteners now compared to what you did as a child, assuming you went to school for some period of time. You should do some research before you post uneducated comments about "lazy teachers."

Why would you want to push your child to start a rigid schedule such as kindegarden at age 4? As mentioned before your child is only this age once. Pehaps parents are tired of paying daycare? Even though you may think your child is the next Albert Einstein (reading and writing at age 2), there is more to school that acedemics. Consider the social skills required. I know for my son who will turn 5 Jan-2009 will wait until 2009-2010 school year. For the simple fact when he is in High School he will be the first one who gets a driver licsense, So I won't have to worry about someone driving him around.

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