To the Editor:
After reading the letter from last week’s issue of the Sun Rise entitled “Optimism over plans to implement full-day K,” I was convinced of the absolute necessity for bringing full-day kindergarten to Johnston. The author made several compelling points that support the implementation of full-day K in our community. For those reasons alone I believe that it is in the public interest to fund this initiative. There is no doubt that implementing full-day K in our town is a progressive step forward and will benefit our children’s academic achievement. However, I was struck by the letter’s silence on how this initiative would benefit women and families in a larger context.
I believe that the argument for improving the quality of our early childhood education programs sometimes gets lost when it rests solely on its educational merits. We also need to see the value and benefits of full-day K from the perspective that it promotes economic progress, social justice and gender equity.
Motherhood today brings with it all of the inherent social connotations with which we are familiar. Typically, the responsibility of caring for young children falls squarely on the shoulders of women. However, this biased ideal does not entirely fit with the stark realities many women and families find themselves in. Improving our early-childhood programs, which include full-day kindergarten, can only have a positive economic impact for women since it will allow many of them to return to the workforce sooner. This includes women who are raising children alone and giving them a head start back to work will help lift many of them out of poverty. In a nation where a woman, on average, earns only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, funding programs like this, which would improve the lives of many women and children, seem like a good investment. I applaud Johnston’s plan to implement full-day K as a bold and progressive step forward.
Sandra Connors
Johnston
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aricci
And don't forget all the jobs that have been promised out already. Oh, did anone really believe this program was for the benefit of children or their families? What amazes me is people writing letters in support even though this has already been approved in the customary Johnston back room method. Of course we should have all day kindergarten but we don't because our " leaders" chose to give away foolish pennies on the dollar tax breaks;; Stuart's Plaza, the Landfill, A Duie Pyle, , Broadrock Renewable, Florida Power........... The list goes on. But I don't see any of the letter writers mentioning how we are giving away our children's futures every day in back room deals in Town Hall. In Poland do they tell Johnston Jokes?
Thursday, March 12, 2015 Report this