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Kindergarten Too Late?
July 20, 2015
Sometimes, the most brilliant and intelligent minds do not shine on standardized tests because they do not have standardized minds.
-Diane Silvers Ravitch, educational policy analyst and research professor
-Diane Silvers Ravitch, educational policy analyst and research professor
Our friends at the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood pointed us to an article in The Straits Times of Singapore focusing on a speech in Chicago by Nobel Laureate James Heckman. Highlights of his remarks:
- "Governments should do more for children aged 0 to 5 years old, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and not wait till they get to kindergarten or primary school. "They ignore a powerful body of research in the economics of human development."... "For early childhood programmes targeted at disadvantaged children, there is no trade-off between equity and efficiency as there is for most other social programmes. Every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood programmes for disadvantaged children produces a 7 to 10 percent annual return on investment through increased productivity and lower social costs."
- "Without doubt, the family is the greatest contributor to the success of children and to upward social and economic mobility. The way parents interact with their children, the amount of time they spend with them, and the resources they have to provide intellectual and social stimulation greatly affect their children's potential for leading flourishing lives."
- "America has educated itself into ignorance with its single-minded focus on solely boosting cognitive skills. We see this in the endless debates over K1-12 education and the succession of initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and STEM that place little or no value on building and measuring non-cognitive skills, social skills that are just as important and, in many cases, more important than cognition. It is empirically documented and now rigorously established as common sense that people need multiple skills to successfully navigate all of life's challenges. There is a strong body of research that documents how important social and emotional skills are for life success."
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Comments (5)
Displaying All 5 CommentsAor International
Dallas, TX, United States
3yrs of age is an appropriate time to introduce the child with parent into a developmentally appropriate setting. Staggered visits of short to longer visits with a parent can work well. I witnessed this in a British Infant School in London. It worked so well. This was the same school that the child would continue in, but there were quiet separate rooms where the introductions could be started with the the young ones-just a beautiful loving way to do it.
Dorchester, MA, United States
Child care advocates have been singing this for a long time, government officials seem not to heed it. Yes, children need to be socially ready before kindergarten, especially since this has a lot to do with them being socially ready and accepted.
Tampa, FL, United States
I aggree. But until we touch the families(work with them, train them) no curriculum won't be successful. too many young parents and most of the times single parents.
Spirit Child Yoga and ECE
Aurora, ON, Canada
We in ECE and family support have been singing this tune for decades. Governments will more likely listen to a Nobel Laureate (male) economist, than to we who they sometimes perceive as a self-interst group. We need to broadcast Heckman's message widely.
Pennsylvania, United States
Social-emotional skills---100% agree!! Preschool is a time for the children to learn their way in this social world and the myriad of emotions the world draws from them. They need teachers that understand this and most importantly, they need families that love and support them. Parents are their first (and forever) teachers---the family is the greatest contributor.
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