In the London Observer, a column was written in October, advocating sending children off to school at the age of four, or younger; even though a new report in Britain, by the Cambridge Review came out stating that toddlers’ brains aren’t cognitively developed enough for it. The columnist, Barbara Ellen, who is a the mother discusses how children need to “go to school and do your job – so that everyone else can do theirs.”
Even though I know that Ms. Ellen’s column is personal commentary, I was saddened to read it just the same. As a child whose parents worked, and went to day care, and now as an educator – I can with complete confidence that too much pressure is put on the ‘power’ of pre-school.
I agree with the findings of The Cambridge Review, children just aren’t ready for pre-school and the demands now put on it. Yes, it is important for kids to be socialized and to gain new experiences – but it should be more of an exploratory styled learning; not mandated schooling.
Also, the idea of going to school should not be viewed as a job; rather as a learning experience. This concept, of school being a job is another reason I’m not a big advocate of pre-school. Earlier and earlier we are forcing kids to put down the blocks and start earning grades; to prove their intelligence as well as their ability to sit still at younger ages. There are two things wrong with that ideal. One, school was always meant as a place to learn; go through trial and error, to come out smarter, brighter, and more capable for the future. This is not the way school is any longer. But, two, by placing our children in formal educational environments at younger ages, we are taking away the only play structure they have left. Each kindergarten teacher I know always wishes that the kids who didn’t go to preschool did. When I ask them why, they respond with, ‘it would make them pay attention better in kindergarten.’
Children are able to do what they can do by the time they are able and ready to do it. Although that sounds very vague – it is, for a reason. Each person grows differently, and are ready to meet new skills and obstacles are various times in their lives. By pressuring youngsters to do tasks that their brains and bodies aren’t ready for, is to set them up for failure. Then this failure metastasizes itself into parental worry and concern over their child’s academic progress. Which then becomes the point when parents call my tutoring company to request services for their toddler.
No joke. I’ve had people call that’ve wanted to teach their pre-schooler how to read, count, cut paper better, write letters better, and even speak more clearly. One mother was on the verge of crying, while at the same time, telling me that she knows she’s overreacting but just wants her son to get into the right college (the child in question is three). I respond to each parent by telling them that the best way to help their children is to let them play, explore, and learn on their own without the pressure of perfection.
Obviously, I understand that day care and preschool are, as Ms. Ellen puts it “free daycare for families…” and, that for a large part of society having a full-time stay at home family member isn’t an option. That makes sense. But, what I am suggesting is that less value is placed on the necessity of giving children a formal education at such young ages; and more value is focused on the joys that should be part of each childhood.
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/101972/United_Kingdom_The_case_for_starting_school_at_age_4
United Kingdom: The case for starting school at age 4
Delaying school past age 4 is certainly not best for the family as a whole, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer.
BEST COLUMNS – EUROPE
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2009
Barbara Ellen The Observer
The authors of a major new report on British education say our children start school several years too early and should stay home until age 6. “Are they insane?” asked Barbara Ellen. The average British kid now goes off to nursery school at age 4, and “most of us would be horrified if our children were to start school later.” Most mothers work, after all, and many of us are single moms; preschool is a safe and positive form of free day care. The report, from the Cambridge Primary Review, argues that very young children are not socially or developmentally ready to be plunked into formal education. That may be so, and perhaps it is best for some kids to delay school—but it’s certainly not best for the family as a whole. Toddlers are notoriously difficult to live with, and given that both parents are already stressed out at work, by the time a kid is 4, the parents are ready to snap. That’s why “school holidays are so stressful” and can only be survived with the help of that blessed “electronic nanny” known as the television. We love our kids, of course. But at the same time, we are relieved beyond measure when we can finally say to them: “Listen, kid, go to school and do your job—so that everyone else can do theirs.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/18/barbara-ellen-starting-school
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/oct/16/cambridge-primary-review-vernon-coaker
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