What Now?: June

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Parenting 101? The Mayor’s Big-City Goals; and What a Mansion Wants to Be

By Melinda Eppler

Pre-School Doesn’t Make Cents
It is true and logical, that young minds develop better in a structured learn/play pre-kindergarten setting. Sadly, that development is slowed down, if not diminished entirely, when it isn’t nurtured and validated at home. Giving equal learning opportunities to 4-year-olds statewide, (Bob Reiner’s Pre-K for All Act appearing on the November 2006 ballot) will cost an estimated $2 billion a year. It’s going to take a lot of spin to justify that kind of investment.
    A study conducted in Kansas City compared the language skills of 0- to 3-year-olds from poor (welfare), working class and professional (middle class) families. In professional families, 11- to 18-month-old children hear twice as much language as welfare children of the same age. Most astounding conclusion in this study: Middle-class 3-year-olds have larger working vocabularies than the welfare mothers. 
    With little data supporting that the existing California pre-school program makes a difference long-term, doesn’t it make more sense to direct any new investments toward the other end of the family chain? As a 32-year-old owner of a private day-care center recently said, “There is no equality in parenting. Long-term, it makes little difference what happens at the half-day pre-school.”

How About ‘City Center’ For a Name?
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