Compulsory Kindergarten: Could It Be Worst Bill of 2021 Legislative Session? by Woody Jenkins, editor, Central City News

This bill is really about compulsion — about taking away the right of our parents to decide whether they send their children to kindergarten or not.  Right now, the law is that from age 7 to 18 you have to send your children to a “school,” as defined by the state.  

There’s a legitimate, compelling state interest in that, because we have an interest in having an educated population.   However, there’s not that compelling interest at age five, or in the case of this bill, 4 years and 10 months.  

This bill actually compels you to send your babies away to an institution at age 4 years, 10 months, if you read the bill.  So it would bring the compulsory attendance age down from 7 years to 4 years and 10 months.  At that point, you have to turn your child over to an institution.

Forty-one years ago, Dr. Raymond Moore appeared before this committee on my bill to legalize homeschooling in Louisiana.  He was the author of two books — Better Late Than Early and School Can Wait, published by Readers Digest Press.  Those two books compiled all the research data at that time, and the research hasn’t really changed.

The research shows this: Early childhood education has no educational benefit!  In fact, if you take kids who go to kindergarten and kids who do not go to kindergarten, of course, those who go to kindergarten are doing better in the first and second grade.  However, by age 8, there is no difference!

There is no difference by age 8 if a child went to kindergarten or not.  However, what Dr. Moore found in the research was a significant difference in one thing in particular.  And the research is no different today.  There is no educational benefit to early schooling, but there are more behavioral problems  from those who went to kindergarten, compared to those who did not.  Greater behavioral problems!

You know, one of the biggest problems in this legislature is, in my opinion, peer dependency!  We’re always so afraid we might offend a member if we try to amend his bill or oppose his bill.  Where does all this peer dependency come from?

Kids get in trouble when they are 12, 13, 14 with drugs, sex, crime.  We say it comes from peer dependency.  But where does that peer dependency come from?

The research shows it comes from early institutionalization of children — at ages 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a day care center or a public or a private facility, a kindergarten or a preschool.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a Christian school or a Catholic school.  It doesn’t matter what the philosophy of the school is.  It doesn’t matter how qualified the teachers are or how wonderful the facilities are.  It doesn’t matter about the great philosophy of the school.

Why? Because the main influence in these early years in these institutional settings is the other children, and what the children learn at ages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 is that what matters is what the other children think!  What your peers think.

They learn what’s important is what your peers think — not what your parents think but what your peers think.  By age 12, 13, 14, and 15, that becomes a tremendous problem.  Peer dependency is developed in the critical preschool years — 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Now when we saying that all the learning is occurring before age 5 and 6, that’s largely true.  However, that doesn’t mean that a school is the best place to develop education.  In fact, the research shows that in any normal household, the home is the richest place for early childhood education.

In my case, none of my children went to kindergarten.  I didn’t go to kindergarten.  And we’ve done very well.  You must realize there are thousands of parents in this state who don’t believe they should send their children to kindergarten.  

I would say the most irresponsible parents certainly would be getting rid of their kids as soon as they can.  Do you really think it is the irresponsible parents who are keeping their children at home until they start school?  That doesn’t make any sense at all!

I want to say how much respect I have for Sen. Fields.  He is always so kind and good to work with, and I mean that very sincerely.  But you asked him how many students there are in Louisiana who would be affected by this legislation and he does not know!

You asked him, “Are they from poor backgrounds?”  He does not know!  They do not know!

They are making this whole argument that this is going to save these children when they don’t know how many there are or who they are or what their circumstances are.

And they are coming at this from a flawed presumption that kindergarten is going to help these children educationally.  The data shows that by age 8 it does not matter whether you went to kindergarten or not!

But the data also shows that early schooling or institutionalization leads to peer dependency which leads right into 12, 13, and 14 year olds getting into early sex, pornography, sex, drugs, and alcohol.

Keep your babies at home — if you choose!

Right now, we have the right to keep our babies at home until age 7.  This bill would take that right away.

I want to refer you to the Louisiana Children’s Code.  Look at the Preamble.  It sets the policy on the relation between parents and children in our state.  Here is a key part of it:

“The people of Louisiana recognize the family as the most fundamental unit of human society and that preserving families is essential to a free society… Parents should make the decisions regarding where and with whom the child should reside, the educational, moral, ethical, and religious training of the child.”

That’s the responsibility of the parent, and it’s recognized under Louisiana law.

I know there’s a whole group of people who are vested and have a financial interest in early childhood.  I understand that, but you as a legislator are here not to represent them but to represent our ordinary citizens.

This bill would take away the right of parents to make those decisions.

The bill has an exception for homeschooling.  I am all for homeschooling.  I authored the first bill in the nation that legalized home schooling, and we passed that here in 1980.  However, a parent should not have to go through the rigamaro and a ruse of filing with the homeschooling program just to be able to keep their child at home until he starts the first grade.

The bill is unnecessary.  Kindergarten is being offered all over the state.  This bill is not about offering kindergarten.  This bill is about compulsion and taking away paretnal rights.  No bill in the current legislative session makes a greater assault on parent rights than SB 10 by Sen. Cleo Fields.  It should be defeated.