A Hoosier curmudgeon sees a Republican governor who likes to spend money, and she is not happy about it:
Indiana's Republican governor wants to increase spending again. He said his biggest priority is to fund full-day kindergarten. Of course this was a priority when Democrats were in charge too. When you're the party in control, proposing spending in a feel-good area seems to be standard political procedure.
But why, after all these years, do we think half-day kindergarten is not working?
Well, first of all, we don't really know that it's not working, or that full-day kindergarten works any better. Existing data, and there is very little, shows that any short term gains dissipate over time and eventually you can't tell whether a child was in a half-day or full-day program. If this is the case, then what's the point of spending more money on it?
I feel kind of deprived. I didn't even have half-day kindergarten. I was not able to go to school, believe it or not, until the advanced age of 6, thrown into first grade with absolutely no preparation, my best learning months already behind me. Probably why I like loafers or shoes with velcro strips. While my peers were in kindergarten learning how to tie shoelaces, I was goofing off at home with nothing to keep me company except all those books my mother read to me.
