http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/newsroom
What is being done at the early childhood level in our public schools is a disgrace. In order to get children ready to read, we have taken a step backward and forgotten all the tenets of a good early childhood program. Academics seem to be the total focus in our kindergarten classrooms (and now pushed down even further to our four-year-olds). Our government officals and administrators have forgotten their duty to address the needs of the “whole child.” Our young children need to develop cognitively, but also socially, physically and emotionally. To miss any piece of this is developmentally inappropriate and harmful. Friedrich Froebel, the father of kindergarten, would weep at what has happened to his “garden of children.” In our country, today’s four and five year olds and their teachers are held prisoner by politicians and school administrators who think play is a waste of time and recess interferes with time better put to use for academic pursuits. Nonsense!
Play, the very essence of childhood, has become a dirty word in our schools. In an era where childhood obesity has become a problem, recess has been eliminated.
So much is being written about the dangers of too much, too soon. But, alas, our government won't listen. How sad for our young children.
This sounds like something they would have done in the former Soviet Union. Ironically, the Swedes think we Americans are crazy when it comes to public schools. Over there, children are not plucked from their families until age 7.
ReplyDeleteOur educators should look at the European countries for direction, especially those that don't start formal reading instruction until 7. Those countries have a 99 to 100% literacy rate.
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