The Honorable Jerry Hill

Assembly Member
1528 S. El Camino Real
Suite 302
San Mateo, CA 94402

Dear Mr. Hill:

On April 12 this year, State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) proposed that the kindergarten
entry age be changed to five-years old by September 1st instead of by December 1st. I believe
this is a great idea, in fact, I believe the kindergarten entry age for our district should be even
higher: at seven years of age; for, in Finland – a country that has one of the best education
systems in the world – compulsory education begins at age seven. My name is Amanda Labrado,
and I am a Senior attending Middle College High School at the College of San Mateo. I began
kindergarten when I was 5 years old. I was stubborn and inattentive, which often got me into
trouble with my teachers. I have a cousin who just entered kindergarten in the fall, has these
same characteristics, for whenever I try to teach her something, such as knitting, or a card game,
she wishes to do something her own way, or she can’t seem to focus on it for more than about 10
minutes. I myself grew up to be a “smart” and “well-rounded” person according to my teachers
and my friend’s parents; however, I can’t seem to get the idea out of my head that some children
may just be too young for school, such as I may have been or my cousin may be. Children may
be able to get more out of their education, and learn the concepts quicker and more efficiently if
they began school later, such as the children of Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia. Finland
starts its pupils at the age of seven, and then allows them an 11 week summer holiday, meaning
that they spend the fewest number of hours in a classroom in the world, and they still come out
on top of it. An argument for starting school at a later age would be that it is beneficial to low
income families, since their children are the most likely to be held back a grade if they were to
begin at age five or six. Of course, if this were to be done, then the money the government would
save from eliminating almost two years of school would go to government funded day care
centers for 5 and 6 year olds. Also, for the children of immigrants, pre-schools could be opened
that could immerse them in English, so that they would not be the most likely to fall behind in
class. Also, all teachers in Finnish schools are required to earn their master’s degree, which
allows them to be of better help to their pupils, and to provide higher quality education, but I
digress. Someday, I would like to see the kindergarten entry age raised to 7, be it in only our
district, or in California. It would be great if you proposed some type of legislation that required
children to start school at 7, or even if you researched it a little more as to come to your own
conclusions, which could maybe be published in some type of media as to inform the public of
this option. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Amanda M. Labrado
761 Easton Ave.
San Bruno, Ca 94066
05/07/2010