Full-Day K: Less Playtime

I read “Parents, Schools Are Learning to Like Full-Day Kindergarten” (Dec. 29) with interest. The schools admit they will generate more revenue with this arrangement, parents admit they will be able to work more hours ... what about the best interests of the children? Academics aside for a minute, children derive irreplaceable memories and confidence from spending time with their parents when not in school.

I became a mother because I wanted to raise my children, and that includes spending as much time with them as I can before they enter school. I don’t know of any adults who say they wish their parents had worked more and spent less time with them growing up.

Angelina Sotsky

Manhattan Beach

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A teacher describes her full-day kindergartners as “exhausted” or “hyper” at the end of the day. Perhaps six hours of ABCs is too much for the typical 4- or 5-year-old. When structured math and physical education replace children’s natural explorations and dawdling, what do they -- and we -- lose?

My experience observing public school classrooms tells me that compliance with classroom routines, with ways of solving problems, even with prescribed interpretations of stories, is prized above all. It doesn’t surprise me that most children are capable of falling into line, but it saddens me that we want them to at such a tender age.

Children have the rest of their lives to follow arbitrary rules. Why do we so easily surrender their childhoods to ditto sheets and hand-raising? Is it merely the economic interests of parents and schools? If so, we shouldn’t forget to factor in the hidden costs of such an arrangement: Imagination, physical freedom and independent problem-solving are not cultivated in public schools. When we develop citizens without these essential habits, we are all the poorer.

Lisa Harris

Developmental

Psychologist

Sierra Madre

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Illinois has offered full-day kindergarten classes since the late ‘80s. Since that time, the schools there have also had computers in every classroom.

As an educator who moved to California in 1996, I was shocked to see the condition of California schools, especially regarding policies and funding. There is obviously an argument for property-tax-supported schools. When are Californians going to see the light?

Sheila Krotz

San Diego