Rory is movin' on up!

A recent opinion column in the San Jose Mercury News speaks to preschool being the key to boosting high school graduation rates - apparently 1 in 5 California high school students doesn't make it to the finish line. According to the author:

... high-quality early childhood programs can increase high school graduation rates significantly. They can also raise performance on academic achievement tests and reduce special education and grade repetition.

I want to trust this is true but as an education layperson don't quite understand specifically how this is so; developing those social, pre-literacy and pre-math skills must really in truly form the foundation of the rest of one's academic life. Gee, all along I've harbored guilt about parking the kids in daycare because I want to continue to work/have a career (and of course, there's also the fact that we don't have the financial luxury of me being able to choose to work or not).

About 2 months ago, a notice was put in the parent boxes in Rory's class about the preschool graduation ceremony, held just a scant few weeks ago. Well, this was news to me. Should it have occurred to me that there would be such a thing, I don't know (why don't children come with an operations manual for crying out loud!).

I'm still not sure how I feel about a formal graduation ceremony for 4/5 year-olds. The kids already have enough to think about with everyone talking up kindergarten and "big boy" school, making new friends, changes in routine (i.e., getting up earlier in our house) and attending a new school. I just don't think it merits a rite of passage complete with cap and gown - I was astonished to discover there is a whole cottage industry for this - it's one of those rites that seems more for the parents/families than for the kids.

That being said, our preschool did a great job in responding to parents' concerns about keeping the event low-key. No caps and gowns. No pomp and circumstance. Just sing some songs, one lummi stick performance, and hand out cute little certificates.

So, what did Rory do?

Well, as you can see from the pictures - evidence, ahem, that we his parents did our utmost to document this rite of passage despite any misgivings about such an event - he was totally embarrassed the entire time. I think this stems from the fact that after they all came out in single-file, he missed his chair when they sat down. From that point on, he had his tongue in cheek, looked down, and hardly sang. He got a little more into it for the lummi sticks, but it was not with the same fervor as during the winter holiday performance. Ah, well.