Is it really necessary to educate preschoolers to read and write? Although it may be contentious, I believe the answer is "no," and many experts agree. Continue reading to find out why.
Is it Really Necessary to Teach Preschoolers to Read and Write?
Let me start by saying that I believe preschool can be a fantastic experience for children. It allows them to interact with others and meet new people. Because those folks are often from diverse backgrounds, our children are exposed to different cultures and learn about diversity. And, certainly, it can be a fantastic educational experience when done well.
But here's the thing: I don't think it's being done correctly anymore. I believe we are attempting to teach very young children much too much, far too quickly, and frequently at the expense of their mental health. Please listen to me out before you stretch your typing fingers and jump into a 500-word remark about how wrong you think I am. Feel free to express your dissatisfaction if you still have reservations.
Today's preschools educate children far too much, far too quickly.
When we were kids, preschool was nothing like it is now. It's difficult to recall everything we studied. After all, we were only three at the time. Still, I'm sure you'll recall how much fun you had if you concentrate on the overall sentiments you experienced throughout that period of your life.
We made new acquaintances, had a good time playing games, and learned a few things along the way.
Preschool was more than anything else about preparing us for the transition to "big kid school," and it taught us how to be a part of a group, which was very helpful for only children. Essentially, it provided us with the critical social skills we required to excel in elementary school. Of course, that's assuming we even go. It wasn't until the late 1990s and early 2000s that preschool became popular. It's not an issue if we don't go! To aid the adjustment, we had half-day kindergarten (including with nap time).
We didn't sit in a hard chair all day learning how to read War and Peace, compose the next great American novel, or solve tricky calculus problems. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little, but at this rate, it won't be an exaggeration for much longer.
Preschools today appear to spend an increasing amount of time focusing on a tight academic curriculum and less time allowing children to be children. Everything has its time and place, including tight study schedules. Preschool, in my perspective, is neither that time nor that location.
Preschool isn't the time or place for rigor in the classroom.
These days, children have too few opportunities to simply be children. We want children to sit still in their seats for hours on end, without talking, fidgeting, or even getting up to stretch by the age of five. They might get to go outside for 10 minutes for recess if they're lucky. Of fact, as more and more schools eliminate this requirement, kids may not receive it at all.
Preschool isn't the time or place for rigor in the classroom.
These days, children have too few opportunities to simply be children. We want children to sit calmly in their seats for hours at a time by the age of five, without chatting, fidgeting, or even getting up to stretch.
Art, music, and even exercise class are pushed into the "specials" category, where they are only taught on alternate weeks.
Forget about middle and high school. Homework can easily turn into a second full-time job (regular school is already the first). So, where do we go from here? When do our children become children?
Preschool and infancy. That is all there is to it. They're down to their last few options. The only years of their lives were when they were "free to be themselves." Now we want to deprive them of that as well? To me, that appears to be a prescription for mental health disasters. It turns out that at least a few specialists are in agreement.
What do experts think about preschoolers being taught too much, too quickly?
Experts, it turns out, have a lot to say about educating preschoolers too much, too quickly. Let's have a look at a few highlights from some of the most well-known names in the field of child psychology and development.
Preschoolers lack the cognitive ability to comprehend sophisticated academics.
Preschoolers may not have the cognitive aptitude to grasp some of the sophisticated concepts we're trying to teach them, according to an article in the Education Next Journal by David Elkind (a professor of child development at Tufts University). Take, for example, math.
"Children may develop the concept of a "unit," the basis for understanding the idea of interval numbers, only when they have mastered what Piaget calls "concrete operations," according to Elkind.
"If we want all of our students to be the best they can be, we must acknowledge that education is about them, not about us," he concludes. Isn't that exactly what everything boils down to? Too frequently, we have big ideas about what is in our children's best interests without considering the very creatures we are attempting to help—our children themselves.
Early academic training has the potential to produce long-term harm.
Dr. Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn, discusses how early academics can potentially affect our children in the long run on Psychology Today. He begins by stating that a large proportion of preschool teachers are utterly opposed to the new preschool trend.
"They can see firsthand the unhappiness produced," adds Dr. Gray, "and they suspect that the children would be learning far more useful lessons via play, exploration, and socialization, as they did in traditional nursery schools and kindergartens." Research investigations have backed up their suspicions."
He cites a number of studies to support his claim, but one, in particular, caught my attention. Children were followed from preschool through early adulthood in a long-term "well-controlled" study. While early academic results appeared to support the premise of teaching preschool children complex academic skills, things changed dramatically 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" than those in the other two groups," adds Gray. " What's more shocking is that by the age of 23, a greater percentage of those adolescents had felony arrest history.
That isn't to say that teaching your preschooler to read and write will make him a lifelong criminal. However, it does suggest that instilling a lot of knowledge in children at a young age may not be all it's cracked up to be. Play is a better way for children to learn.
A troubling tendency is all work and no play.
Parents and instructors that "value traditional classroom-style learning over free, unstructured playtime in preschool and kindergarten may actually be delaying rather than promoting a child's development," according to a 2009 research article from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Playtime is anF "essential channel" for learning, according to Anne Haas Dyson, one of the experts featured in the report. “Children learn the same way we all do: via participation and construction,” adds Dyson. "They need to make meaning of the world, and play, or any other symbolic activity, helps them achieve so."
"Attempts by parents and educators to develop gifted children by bombarding them with knowledge are well-intentioned but ultimately detrimental," she adds.
"Create gifted children," she urged, and if we're being honest with ourselves, she nailed the nail on the head. Today's parents appear to be in a competition with their children more than ever before.
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