#FiatRuinsEverything
In the last few years, California has added a new grade to public schools called TK, or transitional kindergarten. Each year, they have also been lowering the minimum age for children to attend. Last year, my eldest daughter became eligible for TK, so we took her out of her in-home daycare, located in our neighborhood, and enrolled her in public school. It's amazing! She loves her new friends and school, and we get to save $1500 per month. Win-win!
However, she also loved her old friends, and her previous daycare was a quick bike ride away. Now, we have to drive farther and sit in traffic to drop her off at "free" school. We also have to pay $500 per month for after-school care on campus. It's starting to feel less free now.
Part 2 of the story is about my second, younger daughter. She is 3 years old and attending preschool in our neighborhood, which is within walking distance. Again, we're paying $1500 per month, but next year she'll be eligible for TK, so more "free" school is on the horizon.
Recently, her preschool sent out an email asking parents for help in getting new students. At first, I was skeptical and thought it was just another tactic to get more money from parents. But a point they made completely flipped my thinking on its head: "the State of California began to offer 'free' public education to four- and five-year-olds, thus further impacting private education."
I was blinded by "free" this whole time and didn't realize that the public school system is actually contributing to the degradation of local communities. Here's an example of how it happens: "free" school now encompasses your child's age bracket, so you enroll. As a result, local private daycares and preschools see less attendance each year, which leads to price increases due to lower income and the inability to hire good educators. Parents become frustrated with low quality and high-priced private daycare, so they leave. As a result, they travel farther and pay more for quality care for their children. Eventually, the government notices this and steps in to "help" by reducing the age limit for public education. The vicious cycle repeats.
Knowing what I know now, I think I'll keep my child in preschool for an extra year or two. She has great (local) friends and is learning so much about STEM and God, which is very important to us. In the end I think this comes from decades of #fiat mentality that we don’t even recognize we have. As Americans, and beyond, we need to wake up and start recognizing and taking action to keep our local communities sustainable.
dylan / dylan bathurst
npub1jc…uflp2
2023-09-11 05:28:29
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npub1jcazmj3futk4vcaxy76j38knd4z92vdr7hh3yackyf7c5x4229nqquflp2Published at
2023-09-11 05:28:29Event JSON
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"content": "#FiatRuinsEverything\n\nIn the last few years, California has added a new grade to public schools called TK, or transitional kindergarten. Each year, they have also been lowering the minimum age for children to attend. Last year, my eldest daughter became eligible for TK, so we took her out of her in-home daycare, located in our neighborhood, and enrolled her in public school. It's amazing! She loves her new friends and school, and we get to save $1500 per month. Win-win!\n\nHowever, she also loved her old friends, and her previous daycare was a quick bike ride away. Now, we have to drive farther and sit in traffic to drop her off at \"free\" school. We also have to pay $500 per month for after-school care on campus. It's starting to feel less free now.\n\nPart 2 of the story is about my second, younger daughter. She is 3 years old and attending preschool in our neighborhood, which is within walking distance. Again, we're paying $1500 per month, but next year she'll be eligible for TK, so more \"free\" school is on the horizon.\n\nRecently, her preschool sent out an email asking parents for help in getting new students. At first, I was skeptical and thought it was just another tactic to get more money from parents. But a point they made completely flipped my thinking on its head: \"the State of California began to offer 'free' public education to four- and five-year-olds, thus further impacting private education.\"\n\nI was blinded by \"free\" this whole time and didn't realize that the public school system is actually contributing to the degradation of local communities. Here's an example of how it happens: \"free\" school now encompasses your child's age bracket, so you enroll. As a result, local private daycares and preschools see less attendance each year, which leads to price increases due to lower income and the inability to hire good educators. Parents become frustrated with low quality and high-priced private daycare, so they leave. As a result, they travel farther and pay more for quality care for their children. Eventually, the government notices this and steps in to \"help\" by reducing the age limit for public education. The vicious cycle repeats.\n\nKnowing what I know now, I think I'll keep my child in preschool for an extra year or two. She has great (local) friends and is learning so much about STEM and God, which is very important to us. In the end I think this comes from decades of #fiat mentality that we don’t even recognize we have. As Americans, and beyond, we need to wake up and start recognizing and taking action to keep our local communities sustainable.",
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