Are We Teaching Preschool Kids Too Much, Too Fast?

Should we be teaching preschoolers to read and write? Although it may be an unpopular opinion, I believe the answer is "no," and many experts agree. Continue reading to find out why.

Let me state right away that I believe preschool can be a wonderful experience for children. It allows them to socialize and meet new people. Because those people frequently come from diverse backgrounds, our children are exposed to new cultures and learn about diversity. And, yes, it is a fantastic educational experience...when done correctly.

Here's the thing: I don't necessarily believe it is being "done right" any longer. I believe we are trying to teach very young children too much, too quickly, and often at the expense of their mental health. Please hear me out before you flex your typing fingers and launch into a 500-word rant about how wrong you think I am. If you still disagree, feel free to express your thoughts.

Today's preschools teach children far too much, far too quickly.

Preschool was very different when we were kids than it is now. It's difficult to recall exactly what we learned. After all, we were only three. Still, I'm sure if you focus on the overall feeling you had at the time, you'll remember how much fun you had. We met new people, played exciting games, and, yes, we even learned a few things along the way.

Preschool was primarily concerned with preparing us for the transition to "big kid school." It taught us all about being a part of a team, which was especially helpful for only children. Essentially, it provided us with the necessary social skills to succeed in elementary school. Of course, that's assuming we go at all. Preschool did not gain popularity until the late 1990s and early 2000s. No worries if we don't go! To ease the transition, we had half-day kindergarten (complete with nap time).

We didn't spend the entire day sitting in a hard chair learning how to read War and Peace, write the next great American novel, and solve complex calculus problems. Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly, but at this rate, it might not be an exaggeration for long.

Today's preschools appear to spend an increasing amount of time focusing on a strict academic curriculum and less time allowing children to be children. Everything has a time and a place, including strict learning regimens. Preschool, in my opinion, is neither that time nor that place.

Preschool is not the time or place for rigorous academics.

Nowadays, children have very few opportunities to simply be children. By the age of five, we expect them to sit still in their seats for hours on end, without talking, fidgeting, or even getting up to stretch. They might get to go outside for 10 minutes for recess if they're really lucky. Of course, as more and more schools do away with it entirely, they may not even get that.

By the age of eight, our schools begin administering standardized tests. Every lesson plan focuses on cramming as much math, language, and science information into them as possible during the first semester so that they can make their school look good by getting a high score.

Art, music, and even gym class are pushed into the "specials" category, where they are only taught on alternate weeks.

Forget about middle and high school. Homework almost becomes a second full-time job (regular school is already the first). So, where does that leave us? When do our children get to be kids?

Preschool and infancy That's all. That's all they've got. The only years of their lives when they were truly free to be themselves. Now we want to take it away from them as well? To me, that seems like a recipe for mental health disaster. As it turns out, at least a few experts are in agreement.

What do experts think about teaching preschool children too much, too quickly?

Experts, it turns out, have a lot to say about teaching preschool children too much, too fast. Let's take a look at some of the most important names in child psychology and development.

Preschoolers lack the cognitive ability to comprehend complex academic concepts.

Preschoolers may not even have the cognitive ability to grasp some of the complex concepts we're attempting to teach them, according to David Elkind (a professor of child development at Tufts University) in an article published in the Education Next Journal. Consider the subject of mathematics.

“It is only at the age of six or seven, when they have attained what Piaget calls “concrete operations,” says Elkind, that children can construct the concept of a “unit,” the foundation for understanding the concept of interval numbers.

“If we want all of our children to be the best that they can be, we must recognize that education is about them, not us,” he concludes. Isn't that what it all boils down to? Too often, we have grandiose ideas about what is best for our children without considering the very beings we are attempting to help- our children themselves.

Early academic training may have long-term consequences.

Dr. Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn, discusses how early academics can actually cause long-term harm to our children on Psychology Today. He begins by mentioning a large number of preschool teachers who are completely opposed to this new preschool trend.

“They can see firsthand the unhappiness generated, and they suspect that the children would be learning far more useful lessons through playing, exploring, and socializing, as they did in traditional nursery schools and kindergartens,” writes Dr. Gray. Research studies have validated their suspicions.”

He discusses a number of studies to back up that claim, but one, in particular, stood out to me. From preschool to early adulthood, children were followed in a long-term “well-controlled” study. While early academic gains appeared to support the idea of teaching preschool children complex academic skills, things took a very different turn as they approached adolescence.

“By the age of 15, those in the Direct Instruction group had committed more than twice as many “acts of misconduct” as those in the other two groups, according to Gray. “ Even more startling, by the age of 23, a larger proportion of those children had felony arrest records.

That is not to say that teaching your preschooler to read and write will turn him into a lifelong criminal. However, it does demonstrate that teaching children so much at such a young age may not be all that it is cracked up to be.