Ontario to rid itself of full-day kindergarten
February 10, 2012 | 4 Comments
This is (potentially) tremendously good news:
Love it or hate it, the government’s costly new full-day kindergarten program is on the chopping block.
Don Drummond will propose axing the all-day school program for tots in his much anticipated report on ways to control government spending, a senior Queen’s Park source says.
Drummond, a former TD bank economist, has been given the job of finding ways to wrestle the government’s whopping $16 billion deficit and $200 billion accumulated debt under control.
Ontario is certainly in bad fiscal straits, and full-day kindergarten ain’t cheap. If Mr. Drummond can offer a path to fiscal sanity – and if it includes ditching full-day kindergarten – kudos to him.
But let’s ignore the financial implications. Even if it wasn’t contributing to the province’s deficit, elimintating this program would be the right thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, Ontario’s public education system ranks pretty high by North American standards (and Mr. McGuinty deserves some credit for overseeing some improvements over the last decade), but it still lags far behind Scandinavian systems. With our emphasis on programming, curriculum, homework and “constructive” play, we’re failing our kids, and doubling down on this folly through the expansion of kindergarten was always a mistake.
I understand that a broad public education system will require a rigid, cookie-cutter design that will be the optimal system for about zero kids (though why we need one broad public education system is a whole other question) but the more we delay full-day institutionalization of our young children the better.
Tags: Dalton McGuinty > Don Drummond > Education Policy > Kindergarten > Ontario
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4 Responses to “Ontario to rid itself of full-day kindergarten”
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February 12th, 2012 @ 5:20 am
This is gutsy of you, Jonathan, and I would like to hear more about the basis of your assertion that institutionaliziation should be delayed, and also whether you think there is any difference in kind between institutionalized daycare and kindergarten. Never mind rich preppies from New York trying to enrol their two year olds in early math and reading courses to fast track them to Harvard, it seems to me the “experts” have been hammering us about the value of something called “early socialization” for a long time, a modern form of child abuse for many toddlers, the likes of which haven’t been seen since Dr. Spock advised parents to let their screaming babies writhe in hunger until rigorously-scheduled bottle-hour to teach them discipline.
Then there is the other end of the spectrum. Let’s hope Mr. Drummond promises us gazillions in savings by reversing McGuinty’s absolutely mad decision to compel disruptive and stupid students to stay in school until eighteen.
Isn’t it quintessentially Canadian that these kind of issues of principle so often come to a head in the context of budgetary crises? In the States they’d be waging a rhetorical civil war over the philosphical underpinnings of proper childcare with both sides taking the can-do attitude that money and resources were secondary.
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Jonathan McLeod Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Thanks, Peter. I really should write more (and probably will), but it’ll have to wait until I have a chance to get all my sources lined up.
Some quick thoughts:
- the daycare/kndergarten question is a good one. Neither need be institutionalizing, but both certainly can be. Lines are getting blurred as the schools seek to run daycare programs in-class.
- There’s no evidence those early start programs work. Even if some kids start a rigourous academic regime at 2 or 3 (as you note, this happens), everything tends to even out by grade 2. In Norway (I believe), they don’t even bother to start teaching kids to read until they’re about 7 – and they have no problems with literacy (or, at least, fewer than North America).
- Socializing seems good. Socialization doesn’t. Kids need to go out and meet and play with other kids. I think we can all agree on that. Structured play, well, that’s something completely different.
- Yeah, Spock can suck it.
-Interesting observation on the Canadian-ness of this sort of thing. I’ll have to think on that more before commenting.
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February 13th, 2012 @ 11:38 am
I find it very convenient that Mr. Drummond’s motion is not somehow linked to the loss of revenue that many daycares are currently (or could be) enduring. His motives could be solely based on remedying Ontario`s economic health, but how often are the actions of a politician altruistic?
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Jonathan McLeod Reply:
February 14th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Good point, Adnan.
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