Take your kids out of preschool

A new study in The Seattle Times backs another study from last year that essentially said elementary school kids are being suspended or disciplined at exceptionally high rates. In that case, black students bore the brunt of the majority of the punishments.

And now reports say preschool kids are being severely disciplined. In fact, they’re getting expelled at record numbers in some states, according to a Yale study by professor Walter Gilliam.

He looked at the numbers nationwide and ranked Washington at Number 16 for expelling students. In other words, we’re the 16th worst state.

And I look at these numbers and I think this is good enough reason to stop putting kids in preschool.

We expel nearly nine students per every 1,000 kid enrolled in early learning centers across the state. And consistent with last week’s study, black boys receive the majority of the expulsions.

The reason the expulsion rates are so high nationwide is that teachers aren’t exactly sure how to deal with a preschooler who is acting up, or who is violent and hitting other kids, or who is going crazy.

When these teachers have access to child mental health consultants, they’re better able to deal with the kids without resorting to expulsions, but only 23 percent of preschool teachers said they have regular access to that resource.

Kids are sometimes expelled because it would appear some people shouldn’t actually be in charge of teaching preschool kids.

State Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-Lake Forrest Park) told The Seattle Times, “I talked to a staffer here who said her child was expelled because she wouldn’t take a nap!”

So I look at the data and I see kids getting expelled, &#8212 which sends the worst possible message to kids &#8212 and I say we shouldn’t send kids to preschool.

I’m told we should because it sets them up better in life moving forward and that they’ll be better students.

I actually don’t disagree with that, but I looked at the studies again and I noticed that the benefits aren’t all that important anymore, given the direction we seem to be going.

We know that kids who go to preschool end up being better test takers. Later in life, they get higher scores. A study by the Foundation for Child Development reported that in a very expansive study they published a couple years ago. Research by the Society for Research in Child Development shows the exact same thing. In fact, they work in collaboration with the Foundation for Child Development.

That’s the single biggest advantage you get that you can’t get in any other setting. But that test bump advantage actually stops during the elementary school grades, according to the research. And eventually the kids catch up. So they have early success, but then everyone else catches up, on average.

You could look at that data and say that’s proof more kids should go to preschool because early academic success is a great thing to achieve.

But kids aren’t taking tests anymore.

There is a movement, fueled by education activists, to stop taking tests. It’s a movement being blindly followed by kids because what kid wants to take a test?

Thousands of students are walking out of tests nationwide; it’s partly a social justice issue, if you talk to Garfield High School teacher Jesse Hagopian.

“Our English language learners will no longer have to be humiliated by a test that is linguistically and culturally inappropriate for them,” Hagopian said. “Our special-ed students will no longer have to take a test where their IEPs (Individual Education Plans) are not respected.”

You have students saying no to these tests because they’re delicate little snowflakes who can’t take the pressure.

“I do get stressed,” one student told KING 5. “And I see that I don’t have enough time and I’m like ‘Oh My God, I don’t have enough time,’ and I start crying. I get so nervous and I start freaking out. It’s very stressful for us.”

And we’re not just talking about standardized testing.

So if we have this movement to step away from tests and the single biggest advantage a kid gets from preschool is better test taking, then there’s no real reason to send them to preschool versus a daycare center that lets them run around and be brats.

I don’t want these kids expelled, so it seems the best option is to not put them in an environment where that happens.

Now, there are clearly other advantages to preschools and early learning centers, like socializing. Take them to a park.