And the Survey Says…

Recently I had an opportunity to spend a little quality time with my grandson. I watched him as he laughed and played and climbed on top of furniture and pushed and pulled every button on every electronic gadget in the house. Wow! What a little learner I thought. At 20 months he has become more aware of the things in his environment and that things will work for you. He also understood that you have to push some buttons to make the things work. He is not in a private daycare, as a matter of fact I encouraged his mother to not place him in daycare until he is at least three years old. In his home there is lots of play, lots of talking and lots of love. He is encouraged to develop and I would imagine often imitates the actions of his older aunts and uncles with whom he lives.
In this age of intellect and technology the rush to be prepared to compete on a global level has gotten way out of control, in my opinion. One would think that the sooner you get your child involved in a learning environment the better. Hmmmmm! I have a few thoughts about that too.
It is easy to find parents and teachers who agree that starting a child in daycare at a later age is a better proposition. However growth and learning, according to school reforms, suggests that children entering kindergarten should have had the benefit of a structured early childcare experience. By the time a child enters kindergarten he has been stripped of the wonders of learning; learning through experiencing his environment, learning through play, beginning fine and gross motor skills, and developing his communication skills. How many times have we as teachers said, "that's too much talking, hush, shhhhhh, get your work done, stay in your seat" (guilty). We find that curriculum is structured to enhance learning; but at what cost to the child?
We take the rights of children away by imposing on them every new theory, every new curriculum and every new technological gadget. Always playing catch-up and never mastering what really works for children our educational systems are blundering. Have we progressed past the point where the teacher is the authority in the classroom and understands best, what works for her particular group of students? We train teachers, don’t we? I've noticed an early trend to begin rotating children to other teachers on the grade level in order to have "like" groups working together. Now here is the problem I've seen with this. At an early age the child really does not understand that he is supposed to know more than what he knows. He in fact, is penalized for not knowing enough. While the teacher stands on the sidelines shaking her head mumbling, "I could do a better job with this group if you let me", students are shuffled off to the next waiting teacher.
By strategically planning, schools are given the "blue print for education" how this is accomplished is seen in a number of ways. One chooses to believe that the plans can be altered to fit the specific needs of the student when current plans don't work. Hmmmm. Do we see educators as the catalysts for educational growth and change? Classroom teachers should be involved in the design of curriculum and practice. The travesty in some reform is that it dictates to communities of learners how and when they will learn. Changes that accumulate one on top of another should be dissected and examined for relevancy. Each government builds on layers of modification without submitting to the previous reforms. Rapid succession of instructional reforms brings abut new laws, regulations and additional reforms. What is reform? Reform is improvement, reorganization, restructuring, modification, transformation, change. Reform is only necessary when a society evolves to the next plateau, i.e. farming to industry to intellect.
The development of young children should not be sacrificed for the sake of competition. We certainly don't want to "dumb it down" but the original purpose of kindergarten may not be relevant in some communities; transitioning immigrant children into a western society. In the 1870s William T. Harris, Supt. of St. Louis Public Schools, harshly stated that kindergarten was "the salvation of the children of the slums". Today kindergarten is available to all classes of children. The nurture, inclusion and transition from one culture to another should remain for immigrant students and the socialization of the kindergartener should not be stripped away. Pre-Kindergarten has become the new Kindergarten and Kindergarten now addresses the curriculum of the first grade. A return to some of the practices of readiness might yield better learners if they are encouraged through their play to cooperate, share , listen, explore, invent and communicate with the world.
Although we promote readiness at early ages, children will only go so far before shutting completely down. Look at the statistics in other aggressive countries!