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There is No Kindergarten
October 22, 2008
We know we cannot plant seeds with closed fists. To sow, we must open our hands.
-Adolfo Perez Esquivel
-Adolfo Perez Esquivel
"There is nothing wrong with Katy except that she is a kindergartner deprived of kindergarten. Ten years ago she would have been in the dress-up corner in front of the mirror, draping feather boas across her thin shoulders. But on this particular day, she's a first grader with an IEP and goals that are unattainable for someone at her stage of development. She will go to special classes three times a week to make up for her 'deficits.' She will continue to smile boldly, but soon she will start to wonder what is wrong with her. She will leave our classroom three times a week and trudge, not dance, down to room 15. She will start to feel the weight of those goals. The benchmarks will pinch just a bit.
".... In the past five years, as expectations have continued to expand at each grade level, teachers have scrambled to help students feel successful. A good proportion of my class is not at grade level. They are taking multiple-choice tests and filling in bubbles with the anxiety of their older siblings. We throw around terms like 'algebra' and 'response to literature' to six-year-olds who are barely decoding words. We push and cajole and, yes, sometimes secretly curse the child with her head in the clouds. We are accountable. We are observed. Our jobs may depend on the ability of our students to understand the subtle distinction between strategies like 'predict' and 'infer.'
"There is no kindergarten. It has gone the way of the little red wagon and mud pies. The time when children learned how to go to school, how to use a tricycle, or wait their turn on the swing is gone. These were important skills — vital to success in the grades to come. We do not have time to teach them now. We have worksheets that need completing. We have take-home books to copy and homework packets to staple. We have accountability."
Exchange has packaged seven of its most popular curriculum resources into a single “Curriculum Tool Kit” and is offering the entire set at a 33% discount — separately these resources would cost $166, but we are offering the entire Tool Kit for only $112. Resources in the kit include:
- Beginnings Workshops Book #4 - Curriculum: Brain Research, Math, Science
- Beginnings Workshops Book #5 - Curriculum: Art, Music, Movement, Drama
- Hearing Everyone’s Voice: Educating Young Children for Peace and Democratic Community
- Connecting: Friendship in the Lives of Young Children
- The Wonder of It: Exploring How the World Works
- More Than Numbers: Mathematical Thinking in the Early Years
- Out of the Box Training Kit (printed version): Recognizing the Essentials of Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum
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Comments (28)
Displaying 5 of 28 Comments [ View all ]Grow to Know
Springfield, MO, United States
I agree with this article. I remember when I played in Kindergarten and dressed up. My biggest worry was white or chocolate milk that day. I seem to remember Teachers being more happy to be with the kids at that age. Now it's work work work. Sitting at group tables a desk and having to KNOW how to READ not LEARN HOW!! YOU may not move onto the next grade if you don't. Or they will pass you through and put you into special reading groups and they child has IEP's. I think it's pretty sad how times have changed for little ones. Kathy
Integration Services
On, Canada
Great to hear someone recongize the value of play for children. I visit childcare programs all over the city I serve as an Ingeration Consultant and see child care programs who serve 2-5 year olds and make children sit for long periods of time at circles that are suited for 7 year olds, and get upset when the children cannot sit for 20 minutes and attend. What three year old can sit for 20 minutes and listen actively to a book written for a seven year old? Work sheets and expectations that are not age appropriate are seen at many programs and schools. I don't understand. These people when to the same schools as I did to become an Educator. I do not see any value in having children sit at a table and do work sheets. What I do see are little children who are frustrated and confused. This is so hard on children's self esteem, and parents scrambling to have thier child 'keep up'. (my sister-in-law told me her daughter had to know her ABC's before giong to junior kndergarten!!!) I wish every educator out there could read this. I know I'll pass it on!!
D:>)
United States
As the director of a very developmental Nursery School that fights for
children's childhoods, I totally agree with the teacher on Edutopia.
We need to keep letting legislators and educators know that
development has not sped up to keep pace with what we are asking
children to do at earlier and earlier ages. Now Pre-K has come under
attack and in order to get funding, must look like Kindergarten with
standards that are only measurable by testing and teaching. Pretty
soon the dress-ups will be gone from those classrooms too....just
watch and wait.... OR WE CAN TAKE A STAND AND SEND TODAY'S EXCHANGE
EMAIL TO ALL THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS WE KNOW... ALSO
THE SUPERINTENDENTS, POLICY MAKERS, AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES!
Fun Times sports
United States
I feel that preschool if meant to teach children some of those things. We teach them to stand in line and how to be nice to their friends. We show them that school is fun. I do feel that sometimes kindergarten is to stressful but it is as fun as the teachers make it. My child loves school. She is learning to read letters and how to write. She comes home and tells us what she learned and is so proud of her self. Of course she gets in trouble for talking and not standing in line but she still loves it.
West Palm Beach, FL, United States
You couldn't be more correct! I remember going to school as a first grader! I had no Kindergarten and I turned out just fine! My Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Students will be tested at the beginning of Kindergarten on their knowledge of the alphabet and its sounds! I learned how to read in the second term of first grade! I learned my letters in the first term of first grade and I am an educator with no problems! I think the government needs to get out of the classroom and tend to their own problems! Jeb Bush started this accountability issue and got his buddies to devise tests for Florida and they were paid pretty handily! What have we as educators received? We got a big fat goose egg! We need to TAKE BACK THE CLASSROOM! Real learning needs to come back into play! Our children are not allowed to be children any more. Help us to lead a campaign to take back the classroom, Oliver!
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