There are risks in sending your child to kindergarten: is he/she ready, is there motivation, are their motor skills developed?
There 14 states where full-time kindergarten is not mandatory and six states that don’t require schools to provide kindergarten.
Young children are naturally curious and engaged. It is only logical that attending school at an early age is beneficial. Attending kindergarten creates a level playing field for future success. Educators contend that delaying sending a child to kindergarten causes more problems than it solves. If parents wait until a child is older, it creates an unfair environment for the children that start at the suggested time.
There are several states that do not have mandatory kindergarten. They include: Alaska, Idaho, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York with the exception of Buffalo. School officials in Buffalo say that parents don’t take attendance for kindergarten classes seriously because it has not been mandatory. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo believes that mandatory kindergarten will send a message to parents ‘that it is no longer an option’ to keep 5 year olds out of kindergarten.
The NEA believes that states have a mandatory full-day kindergarten for all five-year-old children.
There are too many gaps forming in the child’s learning process with some children attending pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs and some not attending either.
In the state of Pennsylvania, lawmakers are pushing to make kindergarten mandatory.
In Indiana, Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill to create a voucher system for preschool. However, Indiana is not making kindergarten mandatory.
Illinois has a bill awaiting a vote to lower the compulsory attendance age to 5 from 7.
The states that are considering a bill to make kindergarten mandatory at least see the value in educating pre-k and kindergarten aged students. A Full-day kindergarten consistently shows that students make greater academic gains in the early grades.
How can our children have a level playing field academically when states can’t make up their minds whether or not to make kindergarten mandatory? We need to understand that early programs shape attitudes that influence a child throughout his/her education. It provides them with group experiences, sets the stage for collaboration skills, and addresses the developmental needs. In my professional opinion, kindergarten should be mandatory for all schools throughout the United States.
