In Today's "What's The Matter With People?" File:

Our homogenous suburb's school board voted to extend kindgergarten in elementary schools from a half-day program to a full day.

Now, I'm not sure that I ultimately feel strongly either way. My kids did the half-day thing and it had it's plusses and minuses, and I'm sure the newly affected kids going all day will have their plusses and minuses.

And I know that in this day and age (especially with a Texas law nicknamed "Robin Hood" in which school districts with high property values share their tax dollars with struggling school districts) that monies are truly an issue. Pinching pennies is necessary and this little deal will somehow get our district $6 million. Nothing wrong with that at all.

And the politicians on the school board did mention that in passing. They said things like, "Yeah, the $6 mil will be nice, but the most important thing is giving our kids a leg-up on the competition." There were phrases like "grasping future concepts" and "more proficient" and "time-on-task issues."

Grasping future concepts? Like learning how to line up and that naps are good for you?
More proficient? At things like breaking the Graham cracker exactly on the line and not spilling your juice?
Time on task issues? Paying attention to a teacher reading a story for 10 minutes?

Hey, I'm not knocking kindergarten, but let's don't glorify the experience. Yes, kids will learn basic reading skills and social skills and acclimate to how it all works. But I'll refer everyone to Robert Fulgham's classic essay "Everything I Need To Know About Life I Learned In Kindergarten" (here's a highlight of it just in case you missed it) and the reality of it.

People wonder why my ilk don't trust politicians? Guys...there are plenty of good reasons for the move. Just say that it's a good thing to save 6 million bucks and we'll do our best to give your children a positive kindergarten experience. But don't expect us to buy mumbo jumbo about getting a leg up at age 5.