BAYNE Home Who is Floyd Other Sites Email Me Commentary-- Updated 2/6/06! WC Archives |
Floyd's Opinion
Pre-K ProgramBeing a liberal Democrat, I guess Governor Kaine just couldn't help himself. Having promised during his campaign not to raise taxes, he just had to find a way to get more money from us, while reducing the risk of backlash. What better way than to do it "for the children?" Now comes his plan for a statewide pre-K program. We must prepare our young charges for the rigors of kindergarten by starting them in another State-run "education" program. But fear not, our fearless leader allays our concerns by telling us that he wishes for this to be a volunteer program, utilizing churches, private, and existing pre-K programs. Of course this is soon followed by his desire to have a new State office created in order to oversee and run this program. Can you say "Bureaucracy"? And where does one suppose the money to fund this new level of bureaucracy will come from? I have a novel idea, which may offend some, but has been proven over the course of many years to work just fine. How about we insist on parents taking the responsibility to prepare their children for school? Read with your child, play educational games, take them to museums, watch educational programs on TV with them, the list goes on and on. The results will prove worthwhile and with no increased cost to the taxpayers. Stop looking to the government to be your caretaker. Of course, should pre-K programs prove to be ineffective, I suppose we can always look forward to a pre-pre-K program in our future. Right from the womb and into the classroom. Floyd Bayne
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