The provincial government here in Ontario – like governments everywhere these days – is posting a huge deficit. However, they’re still going ahead with previously announced plans for all-day junior and senior kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds. “This initiative will further increase the competitive advantage already found in our highly skilled and educated workforce,” the treasurer said. If he means that working parents can help the country be more competitive because they know their kids are safe all day, he might have a point. But do we really want to sacrifice our babies on the altar of competitive advantage? And if he means that teaching four-year-olds to sit in school all day will turn them into obedient employees who won’t mind sitting at their desks all day when they grow up, he’s right but wrong. Competitive advantage (presuming that is what will still be needed) will come, in 20 years, from workers who can think creatively and are passionate and entrepreneurial, not from well trained automatons who like to sit. Check out this bit of wisdom from The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman about how we need to change our thinking about education. It’s just too bad that notions like competitiveness and retention of the ability to buy a bunch of useless stuff are still motivating people’s thinking. It’s one step forward and a few back on the slippery slope to sustainability.