Academics too early?...

[JakeW]

It seems like we're shoving too much education down our young ones throats these days, and the requirements for registering even for preschool are absolutely ridiculous. Like for my son, I'm per-registering him now since by Aug of 2014 he will be four years old, and because it is one long waiting list. So there is this pile of paperwork sitting on my work desk.

Believe it or not, they told me he has to take a test upon being accepted. Not sure what kind of test they give to a four year old! But I was told it is academically based. This is not a "head start program" either. I also don't want him to go to just any public filthy preschool. Just something in the middle.

Demands are too high I think! It's not even first grade, or kindergarten. It's preschool, a time for play and developing social skills. But it seems that every year they keep making up all these little rules and regulations for just about everything, it becomes overwhelming.

There's even this product out called "Baby Einstein" that teaches 6 month olds how to read. It's by the evil Disney corp. so I'm not surprised they just want your money.

All of this misc. educational stuff at a very early age can cause burnout down the road imo. Then when it really matters, as they get older they don't teach the kids anything.

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[cybele]

Everything is educational, whether it is guided or not.

My youngest was in kindergarten last year (which is what we call what you guys call pre-school, very confusing) but he did a little 'test' which was just to see where his abilities were at. It was more to prevent the kids who were more developed from becoming bored and to not jump too far ahead for those who weren't. It was a good thing. Yes he did a lot of playing, but they also did more structured activities too, if they just played all day every day they would get bored, kids need a bit of structure to develop interests.

As for Baby Einstein, I think 'evil' is an interesting phrase to use. We have some of the music CDs, which are classical composers and my kids really enjoyed them, they were a wonderful change from hearing the wheels on the bus over and over and over.



I don't think it's an actual demand, rather, acknowledging that children are constantly learning, in my experience, they're not doing anything hugely different from what they were doing say, 15 years ago when my oldest was little, rather acknowledging what is happening, or have a greater understanding of it.

 

[Xero]

I suppose society does try to get them learning earlier these days, yeah. Personally I don't see a problem with helping them learn, or introducing them to all kinds of educational things, as long as you aren't pushing it or making it stressful. It should be fun.

The test for preschool makes me laugh though lol. My oldest son started preschool right when he turned 4 (could have started at 3 but I didn't think he was ready at the time), and pretty much the only requirement was that he was potty trained haha. It was a fairly expensive private school too, with only a limited amount of spots that we were lucky to get into. I guess they just recognize that four year olds are, um, four.

 

[jollysmith123]

In the present circumstances, every parent is concern about children education to have a good start in school. The infant’s and young child’s first curriculum is very important and it can only be learned by direct interaction with things. The giants of early-childhood development demonstrates that the Until the child at the age of five or six do not attain this form of reasoning, it makes little sense to introduce formal instruction in reading and math until then.

 

[IADad]

I think you can't really judge the"test" until you find out the content and how it will be used. It could be that they are trying to assess areas of interest, or areas that he shows advance capabilities, our areas to focus on. I agree that we don't want high staked testing st this she, but it could be that they just want to tailor some of the learning activities to better suit him. I think Howe they approach learning at this age is important, do they simply expose the child to new information? Do they try to tech a set curriculum? Do they encourage exploration and discovery? I wouldn't be to harsh about the test until you know more about it. I do agree that academic assessment is to rigid and the focus on performance against standards comes to early (in elementary too.) This is a time to encourage exploration. I spend a lot of time with my 6yo, wondering tl together, talking about "what do you think about this" our"why do you think that." I try to stay away from math exercises and spelling tests right now. I loved it when he comes up with theories and expands upon them, when he either reconsiders or defends his position when challenged. It's fun for him, it's fun for me and I can almost smell his brain growing....;-)

As for baby Einstein, I dunno, seems like it's trying to pre package ash ready"system"so parents don't actually have to be involved and that's scary and sad.

 

[JakeW]

You're absolutely correct in that I am jumping to conclusion without actually looking at what the test will be like..it was just odd visualizing school exam and four year old in the same sentence. My biggest worry was if he fails the test, does he not get in? Earlier, I misinterpreted what they had told me. "He has to take this test before we can even begin the enrolling processes" That sounded like oh crap if he fails, he's not getting in. But talking to one of the school administrators, that is not the case. There is no real "grade" or way to "fail" They just want to see where he is at academically, and they assured me it would not affect his acceptance nor would it change his ranking on the waiting list. And that it is a first come, first serve basis school.

heh, guess I should feel thankful that they're offering a semi-high end preschool free of charge. it was just one of those odd/unique things I've never witnessed.

 

[akmom]

Well, there is at least one educational philosophy out there that agrees with you. The Waldorf method doesn't start any academics until age 7, because they believe that forcing the brain to learn things too early actually triggers learning problems in the long run. It's an interesting philosophy. Kind of like the Montessori method, there is an emphasis on balance. There certainly are a lot of people asking the same question.

 

[IADad]

Yeah, we were sold a pre school as being Waldorf. Ended up just being a buzz word they used to compete with Montessori. Not a bad place, just not as special as they were in their own minds.

But you can adopt a discovery foundation without completely abandoning traditional academics. I think a little common sense goes a long way.

 

[randomperson]

Personally I don't believe kids should be put under the stress of competition at such an early age. The unfortunate part of it is that eventually parents would be forced to play along as if they don't go along with society, their children will not advance in life.

Teaching children about work at an early age is always a priority and giving them a sense of limitations and the existence of the rewards of a job-well-done is vital to any child, however, I don't believe that they should be put in an environment where they are expected to compete with their friends or fellow-students. Why should there be standards in kindergarden or first-grade for that matter? It not only shatters the trust children have between each other. And eventually the priority of school will overtake the priority of socialising.

School is sort of a double-edged sword, on one end, it can help you make friends, on the other, it can destroy your abilities to make friends. One thing that always bothers me about it is how they start portraying other students as perfect and the rest as 'not'. The teachers maybe able to understand that there isn't anything known as black or white, but children aren't capable of doing that. Teaching children humility for me is a much bigger priority than anything preschool can offer.

There's absolutely nothing that should prevent gaining bloodless knowledge, but competition certainly isn't the way to go for young children. It'll just put them off the idea of learning forever. They need to want to do it for themselves. Not to worry about what the teachers or parents think of them if they're not as good as that kid or if they're not always on top.

As Marge Simpson once put it;

"Your job isn't to worry about me, it's to give me stuff to worry about"

 

[TabascoNatalie]

The thing if that today's children have to absorb much bigger quantity of information than previous generations.
Also, children in the West have it way easier than other parts of the world.

 

[nwcrazy]

...One thing that always bothers me about it is how they start portraying other students as perfect and the rest as 'not'...

There's absolutely nothing that should prevent gaining bloodless knowledge, but competition certainly isn't the way to go for young children. It'll just put them off the idea of learning forever. They need to want to do it for themselves. Not to worry about what the teachers or parents think of them if they're not as good as that kid or if they're not always on top.

I completely concur.

While I was driving in the car with my D, she turned to me and said the teacher told the class that a particular student was the best in the class. It surprised me because they were all just first graders. My first thought was that this puts down those who aren't. Little kids don't have the brain development to put a lot things in context, so they take things literally.

 

[AlwaysConcerned]

Wow. People really are very helpful around here!
Well in my opinion, I don't think it's a problem is your child enjoys the test. I'm pretty sure that your school will make sure it's not tooo stressful for a 4 year old.. So relax!

Thanks!

 

[Poline]

I think this routine of registration and tests are only at public preschools. Private preschools are more loyal.