...increasingly in schools across Massachusetts and the United States, little children are being asked to perform academic tasks, including test taking, that early childhood researchers agree are developmentally inappropriate, even potentially damaging. If children don’t meet certain requirements, they are deemed 'not proficient.' Frequently, children are screened for 'kindergarten readiness' even before school begins, and some are labeled inadequate before they walk through the door.
This is a troubling trend to an experienced educator like Gerzon, who knows how much a child can soak up in the right environment. After years of study and practice, she’ll tell you that 5-year-olds don’t learn by listening to a rote lesson, their bottoms on their chairs. They learn through experience. They learn through play. Yet there is a growing disconnect between what the research says is best for children -- a classroom free of pressure -- and what’s actually going on in schools.
...the bucolic world of wonder, a place for cookies and afternoon naps.That world is long gone."
Read more here, Pressure Cooker Kindergarten. HT to HSBA.
2 comments:
Oh dear...our oldest goes to kindergarten in the Fall- we had planned on starting homeschool in 1st grade, since kindergarten is so much fun, and not academic...I think I need to do a little more research!
Ours is like this here in Virginia. I think the Montessori private schools might be less like a pressure cooker.
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