Anthony Brown Hates Children

[sxs]

Where is the casino money going? Wasn't that supposed to be for the kids?

<chuckle> Every time gambling is expanding (including the state run lotteries and Keno), it is said to be to help schools. And, of course, it all goes ihnto the General Fund to be spent as the powers that be see fit.

Of course, you already know that and are just speaking rhetorically

 

[HortusQ]

there is a license to drive a car , to get married ,to own a business etc. in Merryland ,but anyone can have a child. I taught in the public schools and a large % of meals are left unopened and thrown out. your tax dollars at work. Billary will fix everything it takes a village to raise there child blah blah blah

 

[LoneRanger]

The free and reduced meal program is massively abused, but I can tell you one thing, a shit ton of kids are going to be going without breakfast if they were to cut the free/reduced breakfast.

Not necessarily due to the parents not being able to afford breakfast for their kids, but due to the fact that they ****ing blow at being parents.

Exactly....I only really cared that my kid had breakfast....don't much care about anyone else's kids...

I dont understand why we keep pushing preK. Originally it was 1-12. Then people decided kids werent prepared for first grade - the land of finger painting, abcs and 123's. So we did kindergarten as a part time thing mainly to teach social interaction through play so school and 30 kids in the same room isnt a shock. Now its full time and we are pushing pre K? Not to knock teachers but do we really need to train kids to go to pre training for school? I think its just become more of a governement sponsored day care now that it takes both parents working (or maybe more common the single parent working) to cover taxes. If that is the case do we really want to give the govt more time to indoctrinate - Let them have them from cradle to grave?

Just ask any teacher what they think about pre-K across the board...if they are like my wife they will gladly tell you...where all all these kids going to go?

The infrastructure simply doesn't exist to support universal pre-K.

They will also tell you that by and large at many schools not only is kindergarten nothing more than taxpayer funded day care so are grades 1-6.

At the school where my wife teaches there are a fair percentage of kids that do not speak a word of English.....what the hell can they possibly learn and how can the teachers be expected to be successful.

At the end of the day it is the kids looking to excel that suffer as teachers are forced to teach to the lowest common denominator....

 

[rob-cubed]

I dont understand why we keep pushing preK.

I work with a client whose mission is to provide early childhood education and intervention with a focus on impoverished kids. The reason:

A child's ability to learn is greatly affected by stimulation (or lack thereof) in the first few years of their lives while the brain is actively developing. Kids from poor families are typically way behind in development by the time they reach kindergarten, and most never catch up. That fostering environment that the parents can't or don't provide, the state is trying to fix.

The ironic thing about this client is they are all die-hard conservatives. Many come from a background in Homeland Security, and they view the cycle of poverty and lack of education as a threat to the nation. This is just one initiative they are involved in to try to break the cycle where it starts.

I don't agree it should be the state's job to fix. But I find the argument interesting, especially coming from guys whose world-view I generally agree with.

 

[Skins_Brew]

I see universal pre k as basically free baby sitting.

My kids are in Pre-K for like three and two days a week (4yo does 3x a week, 3yo does 2x a week, I also pay for this PreK). They only go for 3.5 hours at a time. While yea they are learning colors and counting and stuff, this is all stuff that PARENTS should be teaching your kids anyway. Concepts like big and small, shapes, again, that should be stuff you as a parent are trying to teach your kid.

This "unprepared for kindergarten" BS is the result of shitty parenting.

 

[AntiGun]

Lotteries to fund schools has been by far the most successful bait and switch scheme ever perpetrated in this state. Add gambling revenues to replace the general fund money diverted elsewhere. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Why don't we cut out the middle man and issue lottery meal tickets to the kids with 1 out of 10 winning breakfast. We could do the same for pre-K.

 

[AntiGun]

I work with a client whose mission is to provide early childhood education and intervention with a focus on impoverished kids. The reason:

A child's ability to learn is greatly affected by stimulation (or lack thereof) in the first few years of their lives while the brain is actively developing. Kids from poor families are typically way behind in development by the time they reach kindergarten, and most never catch up. That fostering environment that the parents can't or don't provide, the state is trying to fix.

The ironic thing about this client is they are all die-hard conservatives. Many come from a background in Homeland Security, and they view the cycle of poverty and lack of education as a threat to the nation. This is just one initiative they are involved in to try to break the cycle where it starts.

I don't agree it should be the state's job to fix. But I find the argument interesting, especially coming from guys whose world-view I generally agree with.

I agree with the above because of what's below.

I see universal pre k as basically free baby sitting.

My kids are in Pre-K for like three and two days a week (4yo does 3x a week, 3yo does 2x a week, I also pay for this PreK). They only go for 3.5 hours at a time. While yea they are learning colors and counting and stuff, this is all stuff that PARENTS should be teaching your kids anyway. Concepts like big and small, shapes, again, that should be stuff you as a parent are trying to teach your kid.

This "unprepared for kindergarten" BS is the result of shitty parenting.

The adults are beyond my help but the kids need a little boost. I'm ok with that to reasonable extent. Some people should never be parents but the kids are there and I'd prefer they not grow to be the next part of the cycle.

 

[QuebecoisWolf]

<chuckle> Every time gambling is expanding (including the state run lotteries and Keno), it is said to be to help schools. And, of course, it all goes ihnto the General Fund to be spent as the powers that be see fit.

Of course, you already know that and are just speaking rhetorically

Maryland is very, very good at moving money (it's the actual management of spending that's a problem). Where gambling money - or any revenue for that matter - cannot be added directly into the general fund, they instead defund existing programs and use new revenue to make up the difference. "Lockbox" amendments are a joke. Most are riddled with exceptions and there are ample ways to get around them without ever having to put it to a vote.

 

[Skins_Brew]

The adults are beyond my help but the kids need a little boost. I'm ok with that to reasonable extent. Some people should never be parents but the kids are there and I'd prefer they not grow to be the next part of the cycle.

I am kind of in this camp, too. Either deal with the kids and hope they get on the right track or I can deal with my car being broken into in 15 years.

Pay for shit now, or pay to house the mf'er when they get incarcerated.

It is def a cycle...

 

[LoneRanger]

I see universal pre k as basically free baby sitting.

My kids are in Pre-K for like three and two days a week (4yo does 3x a week, 3yo does 2x a week, I also pay for this PreK). They only go for 3.5 hours at a time. While yea they are learning colors and counting and stuff, this is all stuff that PARENTS should be teaching your kids anyway. Concepts like big and small, shapes, again, that should be stuff you as a parent are trying to teach your kid.

This "unprepared for kindergarten" BS is the result of shitty parenting.

+1...it's a pipe dream to believe that a couple hours a day of pre-K is going to replace 24 hours a day of parenting....

Nor is it fair to put the onus on teachers to become the parents of every unwanted kid.......

 

[MDFF2008]

Get them into the indoctrination factory early.