LAUSD should mandate kindergarten


As another school year rears its head, state legislators must again face California’s poor education standards. In an effort to keep students in school and promote higher education, legislatures are pushing a pending mandate for kindergarten education.

Though the majority of students at USC probably went to kindergarten, it is not fully mainstream. This first year of education is entirely optional, and most of our memories of kindergarten include nap time, recess and the occasional piece of homework. However, there is value in attending. Even though kids are learning in kindergarten, the main focus of the first year of schooling often tends to be social interaction. Kindergarteners make friends and learn to play with new people, skills that will form the foundation of social interactions for the rest of their lives. Many parents agree that attending kindergarten is important for their kids to become more independent and spend time away from home — and indeed, kindergarten is crucial for full educational development.

Opponents of the movement say that parents should be allowed to choose whether or not their kids attend kindergarten because parents always have their children’s best interests in mind. While this is not always the case, parents often like having a say in their child’s life. There is a compromise within the motion as it holds true to the current provision that all 6-year-olds must be in school. Even if the parent wants to delay schooling, the 6-year-old will still be allowed in kindergarten, fulfilling both rules, should kindergarten become mandatory. The mandate would also remind the public of the level of importance schools play for children.

Kindergarten also impacts students after early childhood, as attending kindergarten prevents students from falling behind in first grade. The mandate would prioritize education early on, creating a foundation to succeed in middle and high school.

California’s high school graduation rate has been steadily climbing since 2010, and the class of 2014 boasted a graduation rate of 80.8 percent, according to State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. Coupled with the removal of the exit exam, mandatory kindergarten will encourage students in all grades to complete their schooling.

State Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris noted that California school districts lose $1.4 billion per year to truancy as a result of students missing school frequently. These frightening levels of absentees often correspond with the state’s “chronic criminal justice problems.” Staying in school improves much more than just attendance, allowing the state bill in question to act as a first step to solve our education crisis.

Education in California has slowly buried itself in regulations and bureaucratic problems. It is true that the state has much more to solve than just getting students to show up to class. But the first step to fixing the bigger problems — the ones often dealing with the regulation-obsessed nature of the education system — is ensuring that schools do not lose funding because of excessive absences. If the state can save $1.4 billion from these truants, then we are one step closer to an education curriculum that can improve the quality of education students are receiving. Not only that, but attending school will mitigate the socioeconomic gap.

By requiring children to attend kindergarten every day, the bill hopes to instill the value of education at a very young age. Since kindergarten is the primary building block for the rest of the K-12 school system, it is for the best that these students learn to come to school early on in their educational career. While it may not seem important for kindergarten, the practice remains consistent throughout one’s life; a Baltimore study from 2013 showed that sixth-grade attendance rates corresponded strongly with graduating on time. Staying in school also aims to lessen the achievement gap, especially within the minorities. According to a recent study conducted at the University of Michigan, “children in the highest socioeconomic group entering kindergarten have cognitive scores 60 percent higher than those of children in the lowest socioeconomic group.” Unless the state legislature takes bold actions (like mandating kindergarten), these gaps could play bigger roles later in their lives and their earnings.

By making this move, California takes the first step in eliminating barriers in the rigid structure of public education and gives the state’s students, from kindergarten to college, the hope they need.

1 reply
  1. Liberty Minded
    Liberty Minded says:

    “the bill hopes” There is no evidence that mandatory kindergarten attendance instills a desire to continue to go to school. School is an artificial environment of socialization. In no other organization are people separated out by age so rigidly. After the few short years of schooling one is expected to join “the real world” where organizations are more rationally divided. Kindergarten is entirely optional and should stay that way.

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