Parents United for Preschoolers (PUP) is composed of parents, early childhood development experts, K-12 educators, policy makers, business leaders, labor, law enforcement, faith-based institutions, seniors, community leaders, child advocates, and others who believe that all young children ages 0-5 deserve:
- Healthy, nurturing, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities.
- Safe, secure, comfortable and enriched learning environments.
- Love, support, and guidance from caring, functional adults who have their best interests at heart.
We at PUP believe that:
Ideally, learning opportunities for young children should be custom-tailored to each child's unique stage of growth, ability, learning style, needs, and interests -- something that is impossible to accomplish in government/public preschools.
Young children learn best (and increase brain function and capacity) through imaginative play and exploration of an enriched environment -- not through structured academics that adhere to one-size-fits-all curriculum standards typically used in government/public schools.
Rigid, structured academics typically employed in government/public preschools can harm healthy brain development as well as cognitive, critical, and creative thinking, while stunting self-directed learning.
Loving parents make the best teachers for young children. While certified or trained teachers and educators may occasionally and thoughtfully be utilized to provide helpful information, resources, and supervision -- they cannot replace a child's parent as his or her best teacher. Educators must respect parents' intimate knowledge of their own child and parental authority to determine the best course of education for that child. Educators must understand that they are assistants to parents in the task of helping a child gain knowledge of the world -- not the other way around.
Safe, secure, and comfortable homes make the best learning environment for young children -- not the artificial environment of classrooms.
Too early separation from parents and institutionalizing young children in government/public preschools can damage them intellectually, psychologically, emotionally, socially and physically -- and that damage to children extends to the society at large.
Because government/public preschools provide an artificial environment, with inappropriate curriculum administered by credentialed/certified teachers, they are harmful to the ideal and healthy development of young children. Not only should parents refuse to enroll their children in these programs, taxpayers should refuse to pay for the programs precisely because they are harmful and do not provide what is best for young children and ultimately the society at large.
If you would like to join in our efforts to oppose government preschool-for-all programs, please email us and tell us how you'd like to help.