Teacher Decries Direction of Education

"There comes a moment when you have to stop revving up the car and shove it into gear." - David Mahoney

TEACHER DECRIES DIRECTION OF EDUCATION

The New York Times (May 28, 2003) reported on a special kindergarten teacher in Florida who has left in protest over current shift toward academics and testing.  The Times observed:

"Being in Ms. MacLeish's kindergarten class, writes Michael Winerip, is like living in a Broadway musical where people walking down the street routinely burst into song. If someone wears new shoes, they sing the New Shoe song. 'Would you rather read this or sing it?' Ms. MacLeish asked, pointing to the board, and -- with Ms. MacLeish leading on the autoharp --the children burst out singing 'K Is for Kindergarten Hip Hip Hooray'...You are the b-e-s-t -- kiss your brains for being so smart,' said Ms. MacLeish, whose great gift is creating so much fun that children forget they are learning. At one point, Ashley Ann looked up and complained, 'It's going by way too fast.' Indeed, Ms. MacLeish, of Lake Silver Elementary, has such magic that in 1998 she was named Orange County teacher of the year.

"And so it is easy to imagine all the broken hearts this spring when Ms. MacLeish, 53, sent a letter home saying this would be her last year teaching kindergarten. It was no ordinary goodbye letter. Ms. MacLeish was m-a-d. She fears that the kindergarten world she knows and has raised to a fine art is being destroyed. 'A single high-stakes test score is now measuring Florida's children, leaving little time to devote to their character or potential or talents or depth of knowledge,' she wrote. 'Kindergarten teachers throughout the state have replaced valued learning centers (home center, art center, blocks, dramatic play) with paper and pencil tasks, dittos, coloring sheets, scripted lessons, workbook pages.' The breaking point for Ms. MacLeish was an article in the paper praising a kindergarten teacher who had eliminated her play centers and was doing reading drills, all part of a push to help her school get a higher grade on the annual state report card."

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