Kindergarten Credit is a non-partisan grassroots group that aims to put a halt to the McGuinty government's top-down implementation of All-day Kindergarten and 'no-choice' government-controlled childcare in Ontario communities.

We want Kindergarten and childcare arrangements restored to their current form. If the McGuinty government does not stop this plan, we demand that parents be given funds directly — a 'Kindergarten Credit' — so they can make arrangements that actually work for their families.

Kindergarten is under threat in Ontario. Rebranded 'The Early Learning Program', this century-old tradition of a few hours of play, arts and crafts, cookies and songs is being replaced by a bureaucratically constructed program of early childhood assessments & interventions, standardized outcomes and all-day schooling. With provisions for an 'extended day', some children could find themselves in a state-run school setting from 7:30 in the morning to 6 at night, all year.

We trust parents. Research continually shows that strong childhood development occurs only when and if parents are empowered to act as their child's 'first agent'. This plan by the McGuinty government, if coupled with the full recommendations in their commissioned 'Early Learning Report', goes well beyond all-day Kindergarten to include the potential for a wholesale restructuring of social policy for families with children from ages 0 to 12. It would diminish the role of parents in the lives of their own children.

PRIMER
The following is a 'Primer', informing Ontarians as to why All-day Kindergarten and the accompanying recommendations in the 'Early Learning Report' form bad public policy. Please click on the links in the following four headings to learn more.

1. STATE-RUN CHILDHOOD

All-day Kindergarten is the TIP OF THE ICEBERG. The goals of the all-day Kindergarten proposal can not be fully appreciated without understanding the full scope of the 'Early Learning Report' that accompanies it.
The ICEBERG is the report prepared by Dalton McGuinty's 'Early Learning Advisor', Charles Pascal entitled, 'With Our Best Future in Mind - Implementing Early Learning in Ontario'. There is no way to read this report without realizing that, if acted upon, it would represent an unprecedented - and dangerously intrusive - level of government involvement in the lives of families in this province. (Please see section on data collection & data linkage.)

2. REAL NEEDS & WISHES OF FAMILIES

The small but disproportionately vocal group of people ideologically pre-disposed to having all parents of young children out working and all little kids in government-controlled daycare have manipulated facts to sell the public on the need for 'more childcare'. Skewing public opinion in this way is not helpful as it prevents us from developing programs for families that they truly can benefit from.

3. RESEARCH - IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF OUR CHILDREN
    (click on Sections One and Two below for more information)

While parents intuitively know that children this age should not be in school all day, government officials tell them otherwise. Parents are right - the existing body of research on early childhood education actually points away from the Pascal-McGuinty plan.

Section One - A Critique of the Pascal Report: Pascal's report has numerous misrepresentations of the accurate research and data on early childhood education, often going so far as to cite studies which adamantly do not support his recommendations in a manner that makes it appear they do. In this section, we list Pascal's citations, then what the studies actually say.

Section Two - Evidence of lasting harms & no lasting benefits resulting from similar policies AND Evidence of benefits from late, not early, school entry age

This analysis is the work of Helen Ward, President of the non-profit Kids First Parents Association of Canada Ward's work as a childcare researcher has been used domestically and internationally to further the aim of developing policy that actually is in the best interests of children.

4. KINDERGARTEN CREDIT

This section is short because it is powerful in its simplicity. Kindergarten Credit puts resources directly into the hands of parents so they can continue to make childcare and education choices that are in the best interests of their families. There is no need for lengthy explanations because parents know what to do – already, and every day, they care for and educate their own children.

"I am very concerned about the growing trend toward institutionalizing children as soon as possible and keeping them institutionalized as long as possible. This is an alarming trend, and, as a teacher, I see its negative results every day - kids who don't know who they are! These kids are suffering from school fatigue at 12 and 13. By the time I get them in grade 9, a good half have lost all interest in learning. They are tired of jumping through hoops. They have been robbed of their childhoods and they know it. The earlier you start kids in any kind of institutional process, the sooner they'll burn out and lose all interest in that process. We are going to reap a bitter harvest from a generation of over-institutionalized, over-programmed kids. I believe the rising incidence of depression and substance abuse in later adolescence is, in part, the product of kids growing up over-stressed and under-nurtured by state-run institutions that claim to serve their needs." – Michael Reist has taught high school English for 25 years. He is a Department Head, author of ‘The Dysfunctional School' and father of four.

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©copyright Kate Tennier, 2009