Public Testimony, GCEL
Governor’s Commission on Early Learning
Radisson Hotel
July 20th, 1999
Legend:
Testimony of
Public Present
Commission
Members or Executive Director
Affiliated with
Government Agency or Commission
Sharon Oldfield: The Commission was established on the premise that science
proved that early childhood brain development is contingent on early childhood
experiences. As a result, the Commission
believes if early childhood experiences are controlled, the child will succeed. That’s were science and good intentions get
muddled. Yes, early childhood
experiences do affect the development of personality; however, there is no
scientific data that suggests that the child will succeed or not succeed as a
result of these experiences. And for
that reason, alone, the state should not guide, force parents to raise their
children in a manner that the state determines necessary. To summarize, I will quote John Bruer, a specialist in cognitive science and philosophy of
science,
this brain research is
pseudo-science and is serving a political agenda, not children and families.
Marcia Mack:
As a
parent, a grandparent, and a former teacher with credentials, and a masters degree in early childhood, I feel qualified to speak
to the issues. When phonics was removed
from the school, I stood silent, and when goals 2000 came, I stood silent as
well. But I will not stand silent this
time. You're giving us the Children’s
Bill of Rights. The preamble lacks proof
that ages, you say, 0-3 are critical to brain development, and a child’s
current and future ability is linked to this brain growth which occurs in the
context of nurturing relationships and experiences. What are your scientific studies proving? That a brain does not build without nurturing
experiences? And how many children were
tested, who did the testing, and who paid for the testing? I’ve worked in first grade
, preschool, kindergarten, and day care.
What children need is not scientific studies, they need their parents,
they need to stay home, they need to wake up in their
own bed they don’t need to be in daycare facilities from 6 in the morning until
6 at night. They do not need to bond
with multiple adult authorities because they’re capable of doing so.
Zukowski: sum up, please.
I find it rude that
I sat here for 3 hours and listened to you and you can't listen to me for more
than a minute.
I think that we’re destroying our children, I think that you don’t know how to provide a
quality environment in a home. And you
should not be setting the standards.
Even in a recently aired video called "It’s Elementary",
children were told their parents don’t always know best and the teachings of a
parent were ridiculed. I’m sorry that
Melinda’s not here, because I would ask her husband to stop giving computers
and money to libraries until they stop … begin filtering the pornography so
that our children are not hurt. In
summary, supporting existing laws, teach parents to say "no", teach
respect for authority, guarantee safety to the unborn, lower taxes — and
children and their parents will experience joy, hope and responsibility. By taking over, you are guaranteeing your job
security and training people to be irresponsible. Stop being enablers.
Zukowski: Before we go on, I just want to say that our choice today
was to either have time to allow everyone to speak who wanted to address the
commission to speak. In order to do
that, we have to limit the time, or we have to limit the number of people who
get to address the commission. We chose
to let everyone to speak, so we must limit the time to speak.
Julanne Burts: I work in the dental profession. I’m here today to voice my opposition to the
work being done by the Governor’s commission on the child care issues and the
Children’s Bill of Rights. I know that
everyone in this room wants what’s best for children, and I know that there are
times when the arm of the government must reach into homes to protect children,
but this commission's proposals will bring the government into every home. They seek to intervene where intervention is
not needed; to enforce the values of bureaucrats on families and use the power
of the government to do it. The
commission proposes the use of our tax dollars to accomplish its goals. For years, the cry on the left has been
"don’t force your morality on me".
Today I join them in that cry — don’t force your morality on our
families. Don’t send your unelected
agents to our door to pass judgment on our parenting or the life lessons we’re
teaching our children. Most of us are
doing fine with our children. Don’t seek
to solve the problems of a small minority of families by imposing the
government solutions on all of us. I’m
sure that the esteemed chairwomen on this committee — Mrs. Locke and Mrs. Gates
— would not tolerate such intrusion into their family life. Please respect our right to diversity of
thought, religion and morality and stay out of our families. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to
speak for freedom and the rights of families and parents.
Marda Kirkwood: Thank you, members of the commission. My name is Marda Kirkland. I represent Citizens United for Responsible
Education. I will give you a copy of my
written comments. I am so offended by
what I have heard here today. Let me
summarize:
How many unwary parents will unwittingly
sell their children’s birthright for a Beanie Baby and a Happy Meal? What’s next — parent licensing? I challenge you,
subject your own children to this socialistic nightmare first. Then come back in ten years and tell us how
it turned out. I, for one, will not
trust my precious children to the self anointed experts. Thank you.
Cris Shardelman: And, apparently, I’m part of that etc. on the public
sector. The commission has given us no
safe guards whatsoever; no definition or anything. The DSHS is
continually reasoning that their failings are caused by lack of funds, and yet
this commission has taken the Federal grants and used that money. The Commission and legislature fail to
remember the overwhelming defeat of the Children’s Initiative by the
citizenry. They said "no" to
social engineering such as this. They’ve
had no validated research, and this is not established yet for the state-wide
laboratory experiment on children and families.
Here, for the record, are some things:
Children are very susceptible to
depression the first years of their life, because they are extremely sensitive
to change. It’s hard on them to adapt to
new people early in life. It leads to
depression later in life … the feelings of inferiority and inhibitions.
Zukowski: Time, Thank you
So much for
research!
Leslie Erak: We have no role for state or government in early
education. It’s the inherent right of
parents to oversee the upbringing and education of their children according to
their beliefs which, under our state and national constitution, shall not be
molested. Knowing that, it’s easy to see
that this commission has no authority.
My name is A.L. Erak,
and I’m just a citizen. Only in a
totalitarian society do you have government raising children. Our Founding Fathers knew about tyranny —
they severely limited government for that very reason. Article #14, Bill of Rights, US constitution,
clearly says no state shall deprive any person of life liberty or
property. Those are unalienable rights
bestowed by our creator. Commission
members, which part of liberty do you not
understand? Do you need copies of our
Washington state or Federal constitutions?
This commission has no authority.
Folks, it’s all over but the shoutin’. Gary and Mona Locke, Melinda Gates, Rob Reiner, and the rest of you — you may want the state to
raise your children, but the citizens of Washington do not. And that you would attempt to promote this
socialist garbage with a 2 million dollar tax payer paid ad campaign is
especially offensive.
Dorothy Jane:
I am a
fiduciary member of the Health and Safety Network. I want to say how proud I am of this
commission and its deliberations. The network is exceedingly interested in what you are doing and hope
they can participate in support of Gary Locke's commission. I want to say, I am proud of you for allowing
all people to speak their minds, and I appreciate the time myself.
Lloyd Gardener: I am from Federal Way.
I’m going to get into the cost of this organization. I guess I would like to be assured … have
some idea about the costs that are being imposed on this. I guess maybe I didn’t follow the legislation
that established an authorization for this operation … what the commission is
supposed to get in the way of funds. I
do think you are organizing in a manner that you’re going to impose on all
kinds of other agencies and get them to help you with your task. That may be appropriate, but I want to know …
I want to know how much money is being spent on this program … so that would
include the story about the consultants who we see who apparently have handled
much of the TV, expensive ads. I think
that we have to have … we also need you to remember that there’s lots of people
… have addressed this problem. It does seem
that you always start over and try to reinvent the wheel. At least I would like to know, and I guess my
question to this group is: do I have to
send some kind of formal reply in order to get a good run down on the costs of
the whole program, where it was authorized in the legislature, how many dollars
it is, and the time line on which it is authorized? So I guess my question is: do I have to … are
you going to provide this kind of information?
I heard a million and a half dollars here, that’s all I know. I don’t know what your consultants are being
paid. Where do I get this information?
Robin Zukowski: I will provide you with that information
after the meeting.
Thank you.
Zukowski: We have Michelle McKee, Rachel Hawkridge, and Bob Ross.
Juli Coen: My name is Juli Coen.
Michelle McKee: I am giving Juli my time.
I’m a concerned
citizen out there. When I first read The
Children’s Bill of Rights, I was horrified.
Here I am, in the United States of America — our land, our families for
generations have fought to keep free and independent, and I’m reading communist
propaganda. I can’t begin to tell you
how much I abhor this entire undertaking.
This is a parent privacy issue.
Two items that I especially take exception to: Number one — The
quote that
parents should fashion a
quality environment by relying on an appropriate mix of personal, family,
community, and government agency support.
Who defines quality
environment? Is the state the epitome of
parenthood? I don’t think so. Why must I be required to use government
agency support? Is Washington State now
in the business of telling parents they’re unfit to make their own family
decisions? The second thing I take
exception to, is the quote
every child has the
right to learn a socially acceptable value system.
Who determines what
is socially acceptable? I’m a Christian,
and those here of other religions will still understand my logic in asking this
one simple question: Was Jesus Christ
socially acceptable in his time? Enough
said.
Rachel Hawkridge: I have two profiles.
The first twelve year old was working to
support his family. One day the boss hit
him beside the head and deafened him. He
was poor, had little formal education, and was physically abused and now
handicapped. Another young man did
extremely poorly at school, barely mastering a few basic skills, and one with
severe behavioral problems. He was said
to be stupid, a moron and uneducable.
These are only two of the many talented and creative people who overcame
early adversity, and inspired … or maybe because of that adversity, these two young
men went on to great success. Many of
our most talented people have overcome a large burden of adversity.
The two men I mentioned are Thomas
Edison and television producer, Steven J. Cannel.
Neither of these men would have fit
into the mold created by this commission or the Children’s Bill of Rights. I understand and commit to your desire to
protect the children of Washington State from adversity and hardship. And since we don’t know if they are made into
strong, capable, and successful people by overcoming their adversity, you want
to find yourselves responsible for squashing the creative spirit, the
innovation, of these kids. The brain
research is inconclusive, and should be more accurately called mind or cognitive
research. We don’t know what shapes
character, and I believe there’s much truth to the old saying "that which
doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger".
Troubles build character.
Protecting the children from all adversity would damage them.
Bob Ross:
Good
morning, almost afternoon. My take on
this whole commission is that it is a travesty, and injustice to
parenthood. It’s not a matter of rights,
but entitlements without parental consent.
Maybe some parents can do more, but the state should not evolve into a
surrogate parent for all children. Are
so many parents so destitute, so ignorant, so selfish
that they will voluntarily, or, at worse, be seduced, through slick advertising
by a government program that only wants to "help" raise your children
from birth through adolescence? The human
race has raised their own for eons. It
is a bond that is inviolate, and once broken, it cannot be repaired.
Jean Hueston: I am from the South KC Community Network. I applaud what you are doing, and what
Dorothy Jan said a few minutes ago. I
want to tell you there are some people here from the South KC Network, the
largest network in the state. We are
really lucky to hire on a person who has 15 years of public health experience,
and she's also been doing family support and center development in Pierce
County. She let us know she wanted to do
some work in the South King County just in time when we were looking for a
community organizer. We feel very lucky
with that. I want to warn you that the
networks, because of Family Policy Council requirements, is already set up with
2 year plans, and very soon will be giving out contracts. So, if you're planning, too, with them, I
hope you let them know soon, so that they can take it into account, so that the
Family Policy Council will also say it's okay to make some revisions in this
direction. Thank you.
Don Brunell: I'd like to
respond to those here today. I am
president of the Association of Washington Business. My wife and I are proud parents of 6 children
and 3 grand children. One of our
daughters graduated from WSU in Early Childhood
development. I have 2 daughters and a
son-in-law who are teachers in the Vancouver School system. We came together … my interest, and I'm sure
the interest of those here, is to try to call attention to parenting and children. We're not trying to impose anything on
anyone. That's not my intention. I don't think there's anyone on this
commission that has that intention. I
notice that there's a lot of concern and hype.
I think the folks that are here and are commenting and helping us go
through this process. It's pretty
important. I know you share the value of
parenting. Unfortunately, as our kids
see it out there in the other world, out there, there's a lot of people that
don't pay attention to children and aren't good parents. Our interest here, and my interest in getting
involved was to try to figure out ways to reach those people. It wasn't to impose any value on you. It's not any communist or socialistic
scheme. The people here are genuinely
interested in trying to make it a better place so kids and parents do connect
much like you and your children do. I
hope you understand that what we're trying to do is not impose something on
anyone. But we're trying to say to
people, "you've got to connect with your kids, you've got to connect to be
good parents. You've got to understand
those little kids are the most precious things we have and they have some
needs, too; and, by golly, connect with them." We are not trying to develop some sinister
plot on the population … genuine concern for kids, and to connect those kids
with their parents. Response to Mr Brunell
Michelle Mckee: I'd like to answer that.
Mona
Locke:
You gave up your time.
She didn't take my
full time.
Joan Crecca: It's not noon yet.
All I want to say
is that I agree with you that something needs to be done. It’s just that the government track record is
not good, and community track records are good.
That’s my only fear — is that the government abuses things. Other than that, we have the same … we agree.
Commission
member:
I think we do.
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