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	Business Pens September 12, 2008 08:51 PM PDT So we're pretty excited about kindergarten in our house. Even my son. We've played at its playground, showed Grandma the 'grounds,' and swung by the nearby coffee shop so we parents can picture fall mornings. So we're ready, right? Uh, not so fast. What time does school actually start? End? Any forms to fill out? And the vaccine thing - when is that info due, and can you get an exemption already, if you just can't hang? And the bus! Do kindergartners take the bus? Do I have to make lunch or is that just an option? The more I ponder this the less prepared I feel! Turns out there's more prep than finding some pants that aren't floods to start off on the right foot. PPS's kindergarten web site has most of what you need to know all in one place, and if you can't get the skinny there, schools are open, staff are there, so ring 'em up and ask. Also, one key thing we were glad to know for planning is that kindergartners often start school a week after the 'big kids,' so get out yer calendar and figure out who's gonna be hanging out with whom the week prior. We planned the family trip around that child care-less week. One final getaway before the school calendar rules our lives. And don't forget to check out the uM schools forum to meet other parents at your school, get your questions answered, or share your opinions.


	Sophie July 22, 2009 04:11 PM PDT The parent’s role in education has always been a controversial topic. The subjects that should be taught by schools have also caused much discussion in this country and the current HIV curriculum that is being taught in school is in the center of both of these debates. I believe that school should be a place where information, different perspectives and multiculturalism should flow freely. The curriculum should teach healthy practices to keep students safe. Education is the opposite of ignorance and in order for a child to grow up to be a successful human beings they need the tools to do so. Parents should free teachers and public institutions to offer children a well rounded and well balanced curriculum. I believe that if parents want total control over their child’s curriculum then their only option is to home-school. School is a place where, in a utopian society, all information would be available. It is a parent’s responsibility to offer children the tools to dissect and process the information using the moral values that their family subscribes to but not to halt or stifle the education. As far as the HIV curriculum in the school goes…it is very valid and appropriate. I do believe that parents should have a say in their child’s education but a line has to be drawn or we can end up burning books and teaching creationism. It is a public school’s responsibility to educate its population on current and suitable information. A child should have all of the information necessary to make intelligent and informed decisions when they get older. Withholding knowledge can only lead to bad uninformed decisions and narrow points of view. Healthy students are safe students. I taught the first grade curriculum for HIV this year and was surprised by how well thought out it was. It just introduced the children to healthy habits in respect to safety. It also introduced students to HIV as an immunity system inhibitor. Schools have always supported and reinforced safety education like “Don’t talk to stranger!” and “Look both ways when you cross the road”. There are no differences between these cautions and “Don’t touch your friend’s blood?” If parents have their children’s best interests in mind, they will continue the conversation started in school. When we limit children’s information, we limit their possibilities. Horace Mann, W.E.B Dubois, Elizabeth Cady Straton and many others realized that the key to freedom is education. Limiting what people learn has been used as a means to keep people ignorant (Tozer, Senese, & Violas, 2009). In my experience, teaching in a GED program I found that most of the students that were in and out of trouble had a very limited scope of knowledge. This may not have been because the parents restricted the information but the less they knew the poorer their choices were. Schools should have children’s best interest at heart. If this is not the case then parents should do whatever they deem necessary, but if it is a matter of a school educating their children on something that they don’t believe in or think is slightly inappropriate, they should really think about whether it is feasible for the teacher to accommodate and change the curriculum to satisfy every parent’s religious and moral ideas.


	Ina July 27, 2009 12:21 AM PDT I believe NYC kindergartners are ready to learn a simple explanation about HIV. My five years old have already started understanding what is real and what’s not when I read or tell kids stories. I have noticed fear on her for things that she does not know and I feel compelled to talk about in order to release that fear. Everyday after she comes from school, while helping with her homework, I also ask what she did and learn that day in school. One day she told me they started learning about health in her class. I saw nothing inappropriate when latter that week I found out from her that they were learning about HIV and her class while role- playing a visit to the doctor’s office. Being curios, I checked the New Your State Curriculum for Kindergartners especially New Your State Learning Standard 1, 2. I found that instruction very appropriate for that age with simple words, not mentioning age inappropriate words, but rather learning by doing. Such a great way to introduce those children with something that they do not know about or never experienced before. First, kindergartners learn about health: What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to be sick? How do they stay healthy? Then they learn how people get sick preparing the stage to introduce what HIV is. My child’s teacher was following the curriculum and teaching how to make smart choices about her health. Here it comes in my mind how important is to have the right curriculum that would avoid parent- school or school-social problems contradictions. Teaching to make smart choices and good habits, teaching about something that is a worldwide issue such as HIV, teaching skills appropriate for 21 century are something that I believe most of the parents look forward to see in their children’s school. Mark Van Doren an educational thinker did make an important statement when writing that “A democracy that is interested in its future will give each of its members as much liberal education as he can take” (Tozer, Senese, & Violas, 2009 pg. 225). And learning about HIV is something that a kindergarten can take it. Now that school budgets are dipping and class sizes are growing (July 26, 2009 -education article “School Budge Dip…Class Sizes Grow” in MSNBC) I definitely agree that having a good teacher is far more important than changing the curriculum only to satisfy some parents moral and religious believes. The situation becomes more critical when reading the article “Obama to schools: Change or miss out on cash” by washingtonpost.com citing, “Obama says the money will be distributed to states that can demonstrate results backed by data that show student scores and teacher performance are improving”. In conclusion, I don’t suggest unpleased parents to look for a private school or home schooling when unable to change what their kids will learn in school but rather urge them to participate in free workshops organized by local communities or, observe their kids in their classroom settings in order to change their thinking from what they can change into school to what they can help in this situation.

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