Kindergarten: It's the new first grade
"With homework, testing and full-day classes, today's kindergarten bears a striking resemblance to first grade. Some experts call that progress, but others worry that 5-year-olds are being pushed too hard, too soon".
.."If you want children to know how to read, you don't work on their social skills" in a play-based kindergarten, said Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C."
I am always disappointed in articles such as these when for balance, a so-called expert is asked to give an opposing view. Sorry, but when it comes to young children we only need the expertise of true child development experts and those who know how the brain functions and is affected by undue stress.
Ask Dr. Bruce Perry from the Child Trauma Academy, Dr. Joe Frost with 30 years of play research experience and Dr. Stuart Brown of the Play Institute for their findings, rather than opinions. They all will wholeheartedly agree that kids need to play in order to develop healthily, and do well academically later on.
Note the following in a research paper on neuropedagogy by ZHANG Dingzhang, titled Trend of Neuro-pedagogy and Brain-based Education. Emphasis mine.
“..brain development is inspired by free creative environment and blocked by pressed, forced or threatened circumstances. Brain-based education is the education to understand, use, protect and develop brain based on the scientific research on brain, so as to promote each learner to optimize and develop his brain.”
The current NCLB and Race to the Top reforms leave no room for individualization in public school classroom because of the high-stakes testing preparation. Parents need to inform themselves and then take action on behalf of their own and all children at risk of being cognitively damaged. Read the book "Educational Genocide" by Horace (Rog) Ludido. It is eye-opening!
Parents need to join together with education activists who are trying so hard to turn the tide on these ill conceived reforms without ethical reservations and regard for how children learn best.
If you are an education activist, please join Uniting 4 Kids on Facebook which links to the National Stop Standards group in which authors and experts are uniting to take a collective stand.
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