Universal California preschool? (Insider Report).

At a congress of Communist Party educators in 1918, schoolteachers in the newly formed Soviet Union were instructed: "We must remove the children from the crude influence of their families. We must take them over and, to speak frankly, nationalize them. From the first days of their lives they will be under the healthy influence of Communist children's nurseries and schools. There they will grow up to be real Communists."

The vision of removing children from "the crude influence of their families" and raising them as wards of the state can be seen in proposals for mandatory pre-school instruction. The San Jose Mercury News reported on October 11th that "the David and Lucile Packard Foundation is exploring ways to help create a free universal preschool system in California that would put the state at the forefront of national efforts to teach all 3- and 4-year-olds the skills they need to succeed in school.... Several states are exploring or in the process of building universal preschool systems, but Georgia is the only one so far to offer free schooling to all 4-year-olds."

Packard, a philanthropy endowed by the Hewlett-Packard computer corporation, was identified in the article as "one of the nation's largest private foundations and already renowned for its support of children's programs...." The foundation's mission is better described as eugenicist, specifically focusing on birth prevention among non-white populations. "Often, Packard underwrites initiatives that other donors won't touch," noted the March 6, 1998 Wall Street Journal. "While Mr. Packard was alive, the foundation gave money to a project in Colombia to treat septic shock in women who had abortions. Last year, the foundation spent nearly $240,000 to support abortion training in Ethiopia and Uganda. An additional $100,000 went for distribution of oral contraceptives in Vietnam."

In November 1998, the Packard Foundation announced $333 million in grants to sundry anti-natalist and pro-abortion groups, including the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL); Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH); and Planned Parenthood. In 1999, Packard announced a $75 million grant to the UN's Fund for Population Activities. According to a Packard Foundation press release, "Over the next five years, the Program will provide over a third of a billion dollars to such programs, making it the largest private donor in the population field."

Packard also supports various state "child abuse prevention" programs involving home visits by government officials. The foundation's collectivist vision is one in which those children permitted to be born are treated as state property.