by “support” you mean an “attagirl!”? oh, no, you mean MY MONEY. the money with which my family put a roof over our kids’ heads, food on table, etc. and with which I fun my own staying home to be there for my kids after school.

-I was diligent and paid hard earned cash for what my family did utilize, but it was a yearly chore to identify a summer’s worth of safe programs

oh, but if the feds do it, no chore at all! Look how you don’t need to research public schools or public housing or doctors! you’d just go wherever they assigned you, right?

–(always looking for the additional component of learning, quality recreation and socialization),

and everyone will want those exact same ingredients you wanted right?

-to coordinate after-school care with the hours of school and bus schedules and to track homework and notes through that intermediary step, and to balance quality, accessibility and affordability in day-care before they were old enough for school.

yup, someone else should have helped you make those parenting decisions! oh wait, this looks strikingly like supposed parent accountability…

“…both quality and availability tends to favor those who have more”

And so it should! Who on earth – except of course the progressives would disagree?

Yes, divorce is far too easy and common – but why would you expect anything different when it’s so easy for a woman to latch on to a man, wait till he makes some money, declare that she must “find herself”, take money she hasn’t earned, and ride off into the sunset – or at least the plastic surgeon’s office?

And the feministae would cheer her on.

What a bunch of welfare queens!

Really? There’s no pre-school or high-quality after-school care available?

Nonsense.

I do think, though, that the best choice is for one of the parents to stay home and look after the children. IIRC, you chose to go it alone – so why are you looking for Mr. Obama to bail you out?

I’m afraid you’re missing the point again.

You presumably had plenty to do; I think what GoogleMaster suggested was that you would have nothing to do “if Mr. Obama’s plan to take over all of this came to pass.”

What makes you think, by the way, that these government ‘droids, anointed though they surely would be by the unions, would do a better job than you of choosing “…early childhood education and quality after-school care” than you?

Surely you think better of yourself than that?

Perhaps it depends on what is meant by parent accountability. Parents don’t need to tutor but parental support for education is crucial. Think of all the uneducated immigrant parents whose children have excelled in school because the parents so strongly supported it. Many learned English from the lessons their children brought home from school. The children saw their parents took learning seriously so they did too.

I know of many homeschooling parents whose children are independently mastering things the parents haven’t. And, like the immigrant parents, many homeschooling parents learn right along with their kids. It works and the kids excel.

From my perspective, the attitude taken by some educators of “leave this to the professionals; don’t try it at home” that has weakened education.

As a working parent who has supported two kids almost to adulthood, I would have welcomed support for early childhood education and quality after-school care. I was diligent and paid hard earned cash for what my family did utilize, but it was a yearly chore to identify a summer’s worth of safe programs (always looking for the additional component of learning, quality recreation and socialization), to coordinate after-school care with the hours of school and bus schedules and to track homework and notes through that intermediary step, and to balance quality, accessibility and affordability in day-care before they were old enough for school.

This did not–as GoogleMaster suggests–mean that I had nothing to do as a parent.

“GoogleMaster–Sounds like you don’t actually have any kids, or else participate only as a genetic donor.”

Huh? What part of Obama’s increased intrusion do you like?

It would be nice to actually hear someone talk about the current dynamics of education: how we’re going to tackle the tougher challenges ahead while government support (primarily local and state funds) is simultaneously being reduced.

We don’t need grand new initiatives – we need to hear someone talk about how we’re going to do the job we’ve already committed to in a changing financial environment.