Glenn Grothman: standing in the way of kids from working families.

Hi everyone,

Maybe it's just that Glenn doesn't like little kids.

That would make sense.

This doesn't:

From the Wisconsin Radio Network, May 12th.

Wisconsin now has the seventh highest level of enrollment in the nation for those programs. However, State Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) says that's no cause for celebration. Grothman is a long-time critic of four-year-old kindergarten, claiming it costs the state millions of dollars for no real benefit to the education of young children. He says those kids would be better off at home with their parents.

If Glenn wants to disagree with all of the major studies about the benefits of four-year-old kindergarten, and with the well understood economic advantages for kids who start education early, and with the idea that kindergarten makes it possible for hard working parents to work a few more hours a week and thus provide for their families... um.... well, then he's nuts.

-- and since no one has said it lately, this is the sort of thinking that makes him a threat to the economic well-being of Wisconsin.

hiho
Mpeterson

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

Glenn Grothman: still short-sheeting 4 year olds.

Hi everyone,

There he goes again, cutting off children from programs what would help them compete in the global economy.

Maybe Glenn wants our next generation to be poor and dependent on China and India?

[I was going for sarcasm but, the more I think about it, the more that last sentence looks like a mere restatement of mundane fact.]


Anyway, I posted a note about this back in December but Glenn's still at it:

Wisconsin Radio Network: An attack on 4-year old kindergarten:

Friday, February 15, 2008, 3:46 PM
by John Colbert, WIBA

A state legislator hopes to halt new spending on what he calls a 'dubious' education program.

Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) wants to put the brakes on new spending for 4-year-old kindergarten classes. He says the state is in a fiscal crisis, yet it continues to encourage more and more districts to set up those programs. Grothman says that could cost the state an extra $13 million next year.

Grothman questions the academic justification of putting young children in those programs. He's doubtful of their effectiveness.

Academic justification? Um, so, studies by state school systems and a couple of major universities are doubtful?

Lawyers only believe what their clients pay them to believe. Maybe this applies to lawyers who become state senators.

Here's what I said last time. Follow the links for the justifications Glenn, apparently, is unwilling to examine.

It always helps when you know what you're talking about.

I just Googled up a swamp full of data and longitudinal studies by universities and the Federal Government Accounting Office.

The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University has been keeping track of 5 states worth of pre-K education. They've noted good results.

The state of Tennessee thinks it's a great idea and the GAO's data from Oklahoma and Georgia suggest we might think about ramping up as well.

Maybe Glenn doesn't want our pre-schooler students to be as well prepared as they are in Tennessee, Oklahoma, or Georgia.

Maybe he wants us to be the new Oakies, migrating with our cows across the dustbowl of Midwestern manufacturing, hoping for a better life in Georgia.

It took me 5 minutes to find all that stuff. What's keeping Glenn?

hiho
Mpeterson