30 April 2008

Glenn Grothman: blaming moms for kindergarden?

Three little items from Glenn's Senate homepage.


Item 1:

Secretary Burmaster repeats the same old line that “communities want and need financial support to improve services for 4 year olds”.
Item 2:
The number of children in this program has more than doubled in the last seven years. This year will be the largest increase of all. It should also be pointed out that during the last thirteen years virtually every school district in the state has gone from half-day kindergarten to full-day kindergarten.
and finally, Item 3:
"It’s sometime said that mothers today all work and this is the reason 4 year-old kindergarten is necessary. Studies I have seen indicate half of young mothers stay at home, work part-time or leave children with extended family. Many of these mothers like taking care of their own children and to put these children in the care of the government should be questioned. Sadly, on a national level some politicians are pushing for more federal involvement in this area as well."


As usual, Glenn is letting his slogans do the work his brain should be doing.

  1. Of course everyone wants financial help from the state to improve their kindergartens. All the major recent studies indicate kindergarten improves children's performance in school (see my previous posts on this). It's the sort of thing that serves everyone's interests and makes Wisconsin a better place to live -- plus, it's way cheaper than prisons.


  2. The program expanded because taxpayers wanted it. They're voting with their feet -- and their kids' feet. If they didn't want it, the program wouldn't have expanded.


  3. I barely need mention the usual whining neo-con sentiments about women who refuse to stay at home to bake cookies. It's clear that Glenn believes women who have to work for a living are bad mothers and a burden to the tax payer.

Earth to Glenn, poor women have always had to work. If they don't, their kids go hungry. Maybe your mother was one of those happy middle class Betty Crocker feminists who complained that she couldn't get a job -- maybe that's why you don't like working women now.

Oh, and apparently middle class women are bad mothers too, if they want to work and start their kids off on the only sure path to economic success: a decent education.

How that could be bad for any citizen of Wisconsin is beyond me.

Frankly, I'm done trying to understand any of your positions anymore. Since TABOR crashed, you've been shooting from the hip... and blanks at that.


hiho
Mpeterson

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

At times it seems that no rebuttal or analysis is necessary - that merely letting the words or statements that are chosen by the wrong-wing-nuts themselves should be enough to thoroughly discredit them. Those are the times that let me know that I'm getting tired and need a change.

Don't miss the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's newly released, superb, easy-to use compilation of state legislative action or inaction regarding reforms needed to defend and restore democracy. This one page summary and color-coded ranking is not to be missed if you care about good government.

Guess which category Grothman falls in.

wisdc.org/pr042908.php

I am writing a column to highlight this WDC study with emphasis on the regional "halo of hubris and privilege" I have explored in previous columns on conservation, women's rights, health care, and campaign financing.