Wow. I just read this story from the Chicago Tribune. It left me sort of speechless, and also very grateful that we're not putting ourselves or our daughter under the sort of pressure that would make a family vie for admissions in competitive kindergarten programs that cost 18,000 dollars per year. 18,000!
The idea of parents actually crafting resumes for their 4 and 5 year olds (talking up their terrific cognitive and fine motor skills) would be laughable if it wasn't so sobering. What kind of culture are we creating (have we created) that puts this kind of "learning pressure" on parents and families? Let them be children! Please!
Early learning should be a joy! And I'm sure many of the teachers in the prestigious schools talked about in that article know that, and make it so. But how sad that we can't find simpler, better ways of offering real teaching and learning options to parents and families, ones that are affordable and readily available to all. I honestly cannot see why early learning has to cost so much. Good public libraries, apples, colored pencils...those have been some of the main things we've used this year. Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly, but only slightly. We've been blessed with other things as well, such as internet access and some good books and curriculum. But it has not cost us an arm and a leg. And it's been a great kindergarten year.
And I empathize deeply, I truly do, with parents wanting to do what's best for their children, even when they don't always know what that is. I know homeschooling isn't for everyone, and for some folks really does not seem like an option even if they want to do it. I do not for a moment take for granted the blessing of our homeschooling efforts. They've cost us: not huge amounts of money, but huge amounts of effort to make this work as a family. It's not easy for us either, given our vocations, location, and financial struggles, to make homeschooling a priority. We've managed so far by the grace of God, who has provided the work we've needed and the flexibility in work schedules, and we're going to keep trusting that He will continue to see us through in those areas.
And in the meantime, I'm just going to be grateful for the joy of teaching and learning together, and the relief that I don't feel the pressure to craft a resume for my five year old.
4 comments:
I totally agree with you! With doing first grade in the public schools, my colleagues and I have talked about how it seems the kids are expected (by "the test", or "the curriculum") to do more and more and more. We feel the pressure as teachers.
We have had a few snow days recently, so had to adjust my class schedule, and take some time "off" from the regular reading stories to do some activities with Jan Brett's "The Mitten". The time has been so nice and fun and full of REAL learning without so much pressure to learn nouns and verbs and crazy things that aren't really age appropriate. They are just SIX years old, for pete's sake!
Edna, I really appreciate your perspective! I would imagine the pressure on teachers these days to have their kids perform to higher and higher "standards" must be enormous. And it just boggles my mind how stressed some of those parents quoted in the article sounded. You know that kind of stress has to trickle down to their kids, even if the kids only absorb it unconsciously.
We can get so hung up on our kids "succeeding" that we sometimes forget that learning is supposed to be enjoyable. And when it is enjoyable, kids usually DO succeed, even if not at the "rate" some people think they should. As a homeschooling parent/teacher, I don't have as many outside standards to make me feel pressured (or at least not yet...more of those will come) but I sometimes have to calm myself down from stepping into self-imposed pressures of how I think my daughter "should be doing" or whether or not she is "keeping up" with peers in traditional schools. I do know she is learning, and also loving learning, and that feels like such a wonderful thing.
I am so grateful to know that there are teachers like you and your colleagues who are helping your public school students to engage in creative, real learning! And at the same time thoughtfully considering what's working/not working in the system.
Oh, and we love Jan Brett. How wonderful that the snow has given you a chance to spend more time with her books...your students are blessed! We've been reading *The Snow Bears* lately. Brett's website is filled with such great resources too.
It's really hard to imagine paying that much for kindergarten - more for one year than what four years of college cost for me - and hard to see how it's worth it, when a rewarding educational experience doesn't have to cost very much at all. And it just seems unfair to put so much pressure on these young children.
"But they're the movers and shakers of tomorrow," said Dad, who in truth finds the notion of resumes for five-year-olds pretty preposterous. I can't help but wonder how many of them will be totally burnt-out by the time they're 18...
I hear you, Erin. And I hear your Dad too :-) though I choose to respectfully disagree a tiny bit (if he doesn't mind too much...grin). Kids aren't just the "movers and shakers" of tomorrow, they're real people NOW (and of course, I know he knows that too!). Do we want people of depth who love to learn? Or pressured, stressed out people who think success and competition are the stuff of life? Those seem like important questions...
And yea, I'm still shaking my head over the notion of spending that much for a kindergarten education. I do think good teachers should be paid well (much better than most of them are paid) but I don't see why materials need to cost so much. As in so much else, schooling in our society often seems so fairly unbalanced...poor schools that have almost none of the resources they need and rich schools that have all kinds of things that they probably don't really need at all. How to make that more equitable and sane, without gumming up the works with all sorts of "standards" that may or may not be measuring things of importance, I'm not sure...
Sigh. This is a hobby horse of mine, clearly. I'd better say "WHOA!" before the comment gets any longer!
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