Yesterday, the Globe spoke with a woman--let's call her Belinda Snotskill, married to Thurston Snotskill the Fourth--who is upset at the prospect of the state funding all-day kindergarten.
What could possibly be wrong with all-day kindergarten, which would help parents balance work and home and help kids get a jump start on learning? It appears that the unwashed herd has forgotten something, Mrs. Snotskill's little darling. Let's call her Sloan Snotskill.
Mrs. Snotskill can take Sloan out early, but she's not satisfied with being an exception. Snotskills must be the rule. So what if Mrs. Snotskill has the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom? It's the poor people's fault that they weren't born to rich parents.
The little story related above could be brutal satire--but it appears to be true. Sarah Schweitzer did an article on these individuals for the Globe. According to Schweitzer, there are many Snotskills who aren't fans of all-day kindergarten: "They say that those districts [supporting all-day kindergarten] are meddling in the fundamentals of parenting, such as how much structure to build into young children's lives and how much time to leave unfettered." They forget that some parents actually have to put food on their tables. They might like to have a little more time to leave "unfettered" themselves.
Whenever Schweitzer does a Globe piece, such as the one about fearful yuppies at South Bay Center, Bostonist devours it. We hope that, when she writes of posh princes and princesses who quaver at the prospect of standing near a dirty nasty poor person, she is pulling a Tom Wolfe and roasting these people on a spit. But we can't be sure.
Image from Amazon.
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