Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Blagojevich Signs "Preschool for All" - At Your Expense

Illinois will become the first in the nation to offer universal preschool to children as young as 3.

To anyone who initially thinks this is good news: Please reflect on the stellar achievements made as measured by the Illinois Standards Achievement Test:

*In reading, two-thirds of third-graders passed state standards; 60 percent in fifth passed; nearly 73 percent passed in eighth, and 59.5 percent passed in 11th.

*In math, 79 percent passed the third-grade test; 73 percent passed fifth; 54 percent passed eighth, and almost 53 percent passed 11th.

In the words of Ann Coulter, the longer the public school system has your child, the greater the decline in your child's ability to read or do math. By the time they should be ready for university, 40.5% cannot read and 47% cannot do math at grade level.

So do you really want the state to begin "programming" your child at age 3?