Cranky Complaints-Lady in an Election Year!

Sent this evening... variations to all MPPs and provincial leaders. The one below is the governing-party version, which includes the paragraphs about implementing all-day kindergarten. Feel free to copy, paste, and pass along to any provincial leaders in your riding.

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Friday, June 24, 2011 1:20 AM

Subject: Education Funding for Parents

Mr. McGuinty and/or Dr. Hoskins (okay, I called him Mr. in the original - whoops!):

As we approach the coming provincial election, I'm wondering if your party has considered offering some type of financial relief to parents educating their children outside the public school system.

Your party seems rather proud of its track record in introducing all-day kindergarten in Ontario, but as a parent of four, I feel the program is a disaster that will ultimately produce little by way of educational results, while "relieving" parents of their higher responsibility to care for and educate their own children.

I am shocked at the money being wasted on all-day kindergarten, its rollout and propaganda, while my two children, JK and SK age, receive nothing because they are homeschooled. Meanwhile, my older children, in Grades 10 and 11, earn the same math, science and history credits as public-school kids through Ministry-accredited Jewish high schools, and, again, we have received not a cent from the province for their education.

If we were Catholic, they'd have a free ride through high school, but as it is, I believe this government is focusing its attention, educationally, on the wrong areas and ignoring the many Ontarians who are opting out of the system.

I realize the full-day program has already been implemented - at great cost to me and zero benefit to my children - but I would be interested in seeing the data to back up your claims that "A full day of learning... makes the transition to Grade 1 easier for both parents and children."

Okay, to be honest, I don't care if it's easier for parents, though I know parents are the ones who vote, but by what criterion do you measure "easier for children?" (Do they cry less because they are used to the idea of being abandoned?) Also, Dr. Hoskins's site claims that "students who achieve early success in school are more likely to perform will [sic] later in school." I would be interested in these data as well. Does "early" really mean at ages 4 and 5?

Your thoughts and comments on behalf of your party - on the issue of accomodating the true diversity of Ontario families and their educational choices - would be most appreciated.

<3 {moi}

Correction: YBoy who loves to make corrections has pointed out to me that his high school courses are actually free because he takes them through an online public high school. I don't think it changes the central point by that much.