Is it not an implicit admission that the education system we have set up does not serve our needs? So, rather than improve the system, we stick them in school earlier? This does not compute.

-- Mal

Preschool helps kids explore their world. It is about singing, dress up, building castles with huge card board blocks, play dough, water tables and story time.

It isn't about ABCs and 123s.

Getting a group of 3 and 4 year olds together and letting them play at different stations (i.e. water table, play dough, dress up) for a few hours is excellent for the kids. Many parents can't provide that sort of an environment.

It is more about getting them ready and eager to learn than about learning. It may seem stupid, but kids that haven't had a chance to do those sort of things may be left behind by Kindergarten.

how to learn when they are most open to new ideas. It also teaches them how to interact with other children, something they may not get in their home life.

This is the exact opposite of No Child Left Behind where they are just taught by rote instead of learning how to use deductive processes. Children are taught the who, what, and where of things but are not taught the more important art of deducing the how and why of things.

In the state I live in, in order for children to enter kindergarten and only stay one year, they must know their alphabet, both upper case and lower case, written and recited, numbers to 100, written to 20 and recited to 100, basic reading, basic addition and subtraction and how to write their own first and last names. They are tested prior to entering. If they do not, they are put in the remedial kindergarten class and will in all probability be held over a year. That means you have to send your child to a private pre-k school for at least 2 years prior to kindergarten so that they learn their alphabet, etc. My daughter came home from her second year of pre-k with homework most days. It only took a few minutes to do, but still, it was homework.

The public schools had no-cost pre-k classes, but they were needs-based and I earned too much money. They also only had 1 class per elementary school so even if you qualified based on economic need, getting a spot was like finding a diamond in a cracker jack box.

Yes, they played in pre-k - my daughter's classrooms both years did indeed have water tables and sand trays and easels. But first and foremost the children had to be taught the basics so they could enter kindergarten.

Almost 60 years ago now, I went to a private pre-k, or as it was known then, nursery school. I started at age 3 and spent 2 years in nursery school and an additional year in kindergarten before my mom transferred me to public school. I had to start my school career earlier than many children back then because my dad got sick and my mom went back to teaching school so that, in case he died or was incapacitated, she could support the family. We played, a lot, during those 3 years, but we also learned things like the alphabet and reading. The did wait until kindergarten to start on reading though.