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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Pre-K Education

          Mayor Bill de Blasio, the newly elected mayor of New York has hit the floor running, introducing a new and ambitious pre kindergarten plan which will “extend free, full-day, ‘high quality’ pre-K across the city in two years, eventually to reach more than 73,000 four year olds” with a separate after-school initiative for middle-schoolers. He proposes to pay for it by a “small, five-year income tax increase on those earning $500,000 a year or more”. Hooray for Mayor de Blasio! We should adopt a plan like (or better than) his throughout the nation immediately, if not sooner. Over the years of the future, it will surely pay for itself.

          We have a problem in this country, folks–a serious problem, an extremely serious problem. The world certainly isn’t going to come to an end, but life as we know it (and our government) cannot continue on its present path. I predict a crash is coming–a real crash, if we don’t change. You know that we can’t continue with half the country (Obviously, I’m talking in generality) supporting the other half. On the other hand, you also know we cannot abide being governed by a dictator or oligarchy reducing us to serfdom or slavery.

          I have said before, we have approximately forty-seven percent of our people living in poverty and receiving some type of welfare or support, including twenty million unemployed or under employed; and, as I have also said previously, we have another twenty million people in our prisons. That comes close to half, doesn’t it? Our inner-city ghettos are full; and, in a manner of speaking, effectively isolated from our suburbs, jobs, and opportunities. You may argue with that. With a full stomach and a pay-check, it is easy to do; but I believe what I have just said to be substantially true. I, also, believe that those in our “underclass”, based on current events, are growing in numbers and will soon outnumber the rest of us.

          We have been told the poor will always be with us, and I believe that; but, I also believe we should do our utmost to eliminate poverty to the fullest extent possible. To this end, we must eliminate the underclass in our country to an absolute minimum. We must instill values in our youth, eliminate gangs, eliminate crime and drugs, and eliminate dependence. Our people must be educated and develop job skills in order to be productive and, therefore, self sufficient and responsible citizens.  That’s what I propose; and education is the most essential component of any possible course of action we can take to achieve that end.

It is in the early years of life, our early childhood, when we learn the fastest and the most–when we form our attitudes and views of the world around us. Pre kindergarten is an excellent starting point to take advantage of this. It is imperative. I say again, kudos to Mayor de Blasio.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@comcast.net

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