09/08/2009

Pressure-cooker Kindergarten

Heinrich Barth from Community Playthings shared a timely article from the Boston Globe, "Pressure-cooker Kindergarten," that proclaimed, "A new emphasis on testing and test preparation — brought on by politicians, not early education experts — is hurting the youngest students."  Here in part is what the Globe observed...

"This is kindergarten, the happy land of building blocks and singalongs.  But increasingly in schools across Massachusetts and the United States, little children are being asked to perform academic tasks, including test taking, that early childhood researchers agree are developmentally inappropriate, even potentially damaging.  If children don’t meet certain requirements, they are deemed 'not proficient.'  Frequently, children are screened for 'kindergarten readiness' even before school begins, and some are labeled inadequate before they walk through the door.

"This is a troubling trend to an experienced educator like Christine Gerzon, who knows how much a child can soak up in the right environment.  After years of study and practice, she’ll tell you that 5-year-olds don’t learn by listening to a rote lesson, their bottoms on their chairs.  They learn through experience.  They learn through play.  Yet there is a growing disconnect between what the research says is best for children — a classroom free of pressure — and what’s actually going on in schools.

"Take the example of a girl who was barely 5 when she entered Gerzon’s classroom.  She didn’t know her ABCs, but one day in class she made up a song and taught it to the other children.  But because of new requirements, 'I had to send a letter to her parents saying that [she] is not proficient,' says Gerzon.  'You tell me that [she] is not proficient in language skills!'  The Concord resident, who usually exudes a gentle presence, bristles.  'It’s destructive, even abusive.  That’s a pretty strong word, but what do you call it when you take a group of children and you force them to do something that they are not developmentally ready to do?  What do you call that?  It’s abusive.'"

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