We don't need no education....

So my wife is a pre-school teacher and I'm finding that in today's culture pre-schools are horribly understaffed. There are far too many children in every class and far too few teachers, especially in independent pre-schools that are inexpensive and in the inner-city.

It's a double edged sword: Trying to keep the prices down for parents (mostly mothers) who have to work and can't afford sitters for their little one and then nickel and diming the staff by short-handing the staff and making them do more with less. It gets to be overwheming for teachers.

When I was young I didn't attend school until Kindergarten. My older sister had me reading at the age of 3 or 4 and spent a lot of time teaching me letters, numbers, and other comprehension tasks. I owe her big time. It's the individual attention--called mentoring--that little children really need--time spent with an older mentor--parents preferably, but not neccessarily. In schools today, teachers spend more time putting out behavior problems that rambunctious 3 year olds have started rather than giving them that much needed individual attention. Why? Simply put, children under the age of 5 are not meant to be in school for any extended period of time. They have no attention span at that juncture and get cranky and foul mannered if left in school too long.

It's time for parents to start parenting and for businesses to start paying for extended maternity leave (3-4 years please).