Re: California Preschool-For-All Initiative
from Diane Flynn-Keith
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Dear Mr. Reiner,
I am a fan of your films including When Harry Met Sally, Ghosts of Mississippi, and This Is Spinal Tap. I am not a fan of your politics.
Rumor Has It that you have introduced a Preschool-For-All initiative that will be on the California ballot in 2006. While I realize that you have great concern for every little Alex & Emma whose parents cannot properly care for them (as demonstrated in your movie North, about a boy who divorces negligent and self-absorbed parents who are always too busy with their careers to give him the attention he needs), I fail to see the logic in your push to provide taxpayer-funded preschools for every child regardless of want or need.
The latest scientific research by A Few Good Men and women such as brain specialists and child psychologists shows that little children learn best through imaginative play and exploration in the safe and secure environment of their own homes, under the watchful guidance of loving parents who have their children’s best interests at heart. Parents who read wonderful stories like the “The Princess Bride” to their children, and who engage in discussions with their kids, and show them how to do things, and introduce them to the bounty of life, fully prepare them for school and life success. The ideal is to keep early learning All In The Family.
Yet, “The Sure Thing” you propose in your bill would separate little kids too early in life from their parents, and force them to be indoctrinated with standardized curriculum in the artificial environment of a school institution under the supervision of tenured teachers who deliver the curriculum because they get paid to do it. That sounds like Misery to me.
The American President, George W. Bush, is moving the Head Start program for at-risk children ages 2-5 to the Department of Education to make sure that it is an early learning and education program that prepares poor, young children to succeed academically. As you can see, there are government programs already in place to help the underprivileged and poverty-stricken (about 20% of the population).
Speaking as one of the other 80% of the population, The Story of Us is that we don’t need government preschools with standardized curriculum that researchers say can harm our kids. We want what’s best for our children. We hear them when they say, “I Am Your Child,” and we accept full responsibility for their care and education.
I respectfully ask you to reconsider your position and to Stand By Me and thousands of preschool children and their parents in opposing government Preschool-For-All.
Diane Flynn Keith
Publisher, www.UniversalPreschool.com
Author of Carschooling, www.Carschooling.com
Editor-In-Chief, www.Homefires.com
