I was perusing twitter when a story from the Winnipeg Free Press popped up about how Manitoba has plenty of research on all day kindergarten but refuses to fund it. I agree with them due to some conversations I have had with people in the education area and the thought is that kindergarten may be too late to help kids.
Imagine you are five. You have never been in daycare before, you only know your own home. How would you feel if all of a sudden you are forced to go to school for a full day. That would be hard on kids and there are some kids who at that age still need a break. There was also an article in MacLeans magazine about how the results don't stick for ever, by the times the kids in full day kindergarten reach grade 2 or 3 there is no advantage.
What should be done instead? More money into early childhood education and helping families before they reach kindergarten age. Some kids go to school having never been read to, never been taught how to hold a pencil, and never have been socialized. This is a major problem. If there are families with illiterate parents (and there are) more needs to be done to help kids before they reach school age, not once they do. Schools can run programs to engage in families before their children start school in effort to engage the family in learning before the child goes to school. It is not what they learn when they get to school but what they learn at home before and after they start school that will lift kids up and help them learn better.
