I teach kindergarten and I hate what I am doing in my classroom

[tonysam]

These education deformers are ruining kindergarten, which is supposed to be less structured:

Every minute of the day is to be used for academics. One day we were coloring and cutting out some animal faces to attach to headbands so that the next day in math we would solve equations by using the animals as part of the equation (math with a bit of drama) by telling a story. The Assistant Principal asked me why I was wasting academic time to color and cut. "Why don't you do this (cut and color) during some other time?"

I asked when she would like me to do this and she suggested during a reading center but she quickly retracted that suggestion. She then suggested that we do this during snack time.

Snack time! All 15 minutes of it. I could not believe I was actually having this conversation. I am so totally shocked and at the same time saddened by what we are doing to our young children. I am retiring at the end of this next year because I can no longer do this. I love teaching and I am good at what I do, no matter what grade level I might be teaching. I am stifled by all of the programs we must implement, by our collaborate learning communities (where we plan what objectives will be taught on what day). We are told that we can teach the objective any way we want to but then when administrators walk into each of our classrooms they want to know why we are not all doing the same things.

More

I am speechless.

[Jim__]

1. Sad.

Let's hope that when these kids graduate school and look for jobs, the skills most in demand are the ability to take multiple choice tests.

[Goldstein1984]

2. Is art not an academic pursuit?

The pragmatism of making math a little fun aside, is art not an academic pursuit.

I'm sure I remember students majoring in art in college.

My grandchildren are nearly old enough to start school, and my daughter researched the Anchorage, Alaska schools. She was so disappointed that, in spite of being an advocate of public education, she declared, "My children are not going to sacrifice their future for the sake of supporting public schools." She now has our grandchildren on a waiting list for Montessori, and has asked me to help home-school them if they can't get into Montessori soon enough.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Art isn't tested

[ClayZ]

43. When our daughter was in the 3rd grade,

She drew a little flower on the border of a paper she turned in for homework. The teacher sent the paper home with a note he wrote ON HER PAPER... saying, "No Art Work, please."

What a jerk!

[Riley18]

58. That is a shame. I teach 3rd grade and each week the kids have to draw a

picture as part of the spelling homework. My daughter will never forget her 4th grade teacher because she would not allow them to step outside for a minute to see snow. It only came down for a short while here in Florida. Her teacher thought their "work" was more important. Too bad her lack of common sense is all that we remember about her.

[ClayZ]

59. Yay for you!

My husband kept that paper on our bulletin board in our ART studio. Still it hangs there. Our daughter has gone on to first work with special needs kids and now has her own classroom of pre-schoolers.

The children in her classes will remember that she kept the arts lively!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. This is so far removed from Maria Montesori's concept of school being the "Children's House".

Public school curriculum has been far removed from Montesori to begin with. Your story demonstrates that the system is to be used to produce little robots or computers. These children will not have a childhood whether it's in their homes or in their schools.

[tonysam]

5. It isn't my story but this story can be echoed everywhere

throughout the country.

Public education is being ruined on purpose.

[maryf]

37. Yep, yep, yep

Keep the people from thinking, definitely kill any perceptive skills. Rote learning is all they'll need to "compete in a global society" (from my district's mission statement).

[BP2]

4. Originating in Germany, kindergarten literally translates as

"children's garden," not "the first step of a child's academic career."

I'd pay anything just to go back and have that carefree life again.

Life gets harder as we grow older. Let the children be children for gods sake.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. And the true value of kindergarden is to 'socialize' the child -

for the first time in their lives they learn how to interact with others, both peers and adults, without their parents oversight.

Kindergarden is supposed to develop people, not workers.

[baldguy]

6. It's most important to train the children to be good little consumers.

Everything else is secondary.

[Davis_X_Machina]

7. My kid's 'grandmother'....

...she's a great-aunt pinch-hitting...retired at the end of the year they took her piano away. Kindergarten teacher for 32 years.

[rateyes]

As a 7th grade special ed teacher let me say,

I feel your pain. I know exactly what you are talking about. It's as if the state school superintendent is in every classroom every day teaching every lesson through the teachers who have become mere robots.

And, less and less REAL education actually takes place.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Kindergarten is just watered down first grade

It's very sad. Our kindergarteners don't even have snack time. No nap time either. And if they can't read at the end of the year, their teacher is considered a failure.

[jimlup]

11. I'm a teacher at the other end of the K-12 seqence

And I feel your pain. Some people just don't get that brain development is not all "academics" or even that much "academics"

[patrice]

12. Oh, and goddess forbid that they should associate anything fun, like coloring & cutting, with math!!

I won't insult you with a sarcasm emoticon here.

[raging moderate]

13. I am a public-school speech/language pathologist

and I am retiring ASAP because I can no longer do what they SAID they were hiring me to do.

[patrice]

17. I taught AP Psych and Senior English (amongst other things), I'm out of it now too and I feel bad

about that, because I remember what it's like to see a young adult light up with a passion for some aspect of Psychology or Language Arts, but I am too old-fashioned and couldn't function in systems, and with parents, that/who broke up the teaching day for absolutely anything and everything. Students dead tired on their feet from working for cars and prom, pressure to dumb everything down so as to avoid Failing anyone . . . I even had a Jim Henson movie censored once (in Oklahoma); I assume because it had David Bowie in it as "The Goblin King" . . . .

Everyone thinks they know how to teach; all you need is the answer book.

Sad, indeed!

[freesqueeze]

14. It's not just the little ones...

I teach high school and I am always fighting the "learning should be fun" battle. When a kid is asking a question with a big smile on his face...learning is happening.

[FLyellowdog]

15. Coloring, cutting and pasting

have more to do with eye/hand coordination than anything else, and are directly related to developmental issues than to most current curricula. You can't force a butterfly out of it's cocoon until it's ready to fly. Sadly, a lot of administrators don't understand this or most other early childhood research. Hang in there. The kids need you.:hi:

[metapunditedgy]

21. We did a lot of cutting/pasting in early grades when I was a kid.

I always thought it was intentionally part of the curriculum, meant to torture me into developing motor skills. I would happily have skipped it, though.

Of course, in the "modern world," the only physical skill I need is the ability to type on a computer keyboard...

[zazen]

16. I'll be flamed, but we go to charters in Raleigh to get away from this crap

The regimentation of elementary school is bad enough, though some kids thrive on structure while others thrive in the more Montessori approach, so it's not all bad.

However, I yanked my supergifted kid out of the public middle school in 6th grade after three weeks because it was run like a goddamned juvenile detention center. They were trying to turn her into an automaton, and telling her (who's now at 15 tutoring other kids in calculus) that she wasn't ready for Algebra I in 7th grade because the 5th grade curriculum didn't include measurable objectives for it, so she therefore couldn't be recommended for it. The zero tolerance mentality went throughout the entire school, and even their lunches were regimented, where they were told they had "group recreation time" where they were ordered to stand in a circle and throw a ball to each other, all because the schools were so afraid of bullying. We counted 16 cameras in the halls the first time we were there. I said to her Dad, they're trying to prepare them for The Patriot Act. In 6th grade they were treated with less respect than in 1st. And best of all, the principal and teachers kept telling the kids and parents that the kids were being taught "independence." We'd run into her old classmates and they'd tell us how "independent" they were becoming, yet the light had gone out of their eyes.

I got my daughter into a global arts charter school after three weeks, where the kids call their teachers by their first names, and she's been in charters ever since. Funny thing--when the 6th graders were expected to behave like young adults and weren't policed the whole time, most actually rose to the occasion.

I know people here slam charters, and I feel guilty that we've got a slot in one and someone else doesn't, but I would have homeschooled my child before I sent her to that place another day. The mainstream public school systems, and the colleges of education that perpetuate dumbed down gimmicky new "paradigms" to be shoved down the throat of teachers every year, misallocate a lot of scarce resources. It's frustrating, and sad.

End rant.

Thanks TonySam for all you're doing.

[metapunditedgy]

20. I've had this discussion many times with a teacher friend of mine.

The problem is that many children are not capable of the things your daughter is doing. When the better-performing kids are pulled out of the public schools, then things get even worse for the kids that remain. On the other hand, if the better-performing kids are kept with the worse-performing students, they miss out on opportunities that they would have elsewhere. (Of course, they gain some things, too.)

It's a very difficult problem.

[mzmolly]

22. What's sad is that teachers in public schools lose all their creativity

due to being micromanaged. Yet charter schools (also publicly funded) have much leeway. Hopefully charter schools will "teach" those in policy positions that teachers and schools can thrive by thinking outside the box. I think you're doing the right thing for your child zazen.

[tonysam]

23. Actually public school teachers had lots of creativity

until the advent of charters and "accountability."

Charter schools are crap, pure crap, put forward by the Friedmanites who want to destroy public education.

To them education is a privilege for the rich, not a right.

[mzmolly]

25. Charters are not impeding in creativity, the "accountability"

and "teaching to the test measures" are. I disagree with your assertion about Charter Schools. I think they're put forward by parents who are tired of the very thing many public school teachers are. If they'd work together vs. against one another, we may have solutions?

[Maat]

39. Well, I disagree with the idea that charter schools are 'crap.'

They were a lifesaver for us. My child went from average performance to excellent performance. My teenager attends a school chartered through the school district, and which is a part of the district. We homestudy, and we have been doing so for three or four years now. She's doing extremely well. Most of the parents and kids involved with this program are not rich, and avail themselves of the huge library and text warehouse adjacent to the meeting center. My kid's skills are beyond grade level, and she hasn't even been suspended for accidentally bringing a plastic fork or peppermint oil to school! We meet at least monthly with a fully-credentialed public school teacher, who guides us as needed. We use a state-approved curriculum. And, each family gets an allowance of $300 per semester, which I have used for her to attend private art classes. Beloved Daughter just painted "Starry Night," by Van Gogh.

I do thank you for your service.

[tonysam]

40. They are crap. There is no jusitification for them.

They are nothing but private schools siphoning taxpayer money and with no accountability.

[Maat]

41. Well, mine's not going away.

The community's support for it is too strong.

[Hepburn]

44. +1...I could not agree more. n/t

[truedelphi]

29. Thank goddess for parents like you. And for teachers like

The person who began this discussion.

I thought that schools were very regimented back in the mid eighties. At that time, about the only way you could become a principal of a California high school was to be on the rag about the evils of drug abuse 24/7. (Why folks with their many degrees never figured out that labelling something "Evil" often promotes curiousity about it. Better to say "Drugs are what kids do when bored, so let's ahve lots of interesting things fo rthem to do!")

But at least the teachers were still excellent and creative!

PS What you have described about the public school and its sixth graders is very badly scaring me!

[gristy]

31. They call their teachers by their first names?

That doesn't sound right to me. Who's in charge?

[noamnety]

34. My students call me by my first name.

Some don't - a few aren't comfortable with it and use my last name or call me Miss Firstname, and that's fine too, I don't make an issue of it. But I introduce myself by my first name, and many use it.

There are a lot of ways to establish respect in the room. I don't mind if teachers go by their first or last name, I don't know that one is definitely better than the other. But if you have to depend on being called by a more formal name than your students to earn their respect, perhaps there is a larger problem.

[gristy]

35. I should have been more clear in my post

I ask children to address me by my last name for their benefit, and I introduce myself to children using my last name. On any occasion that an adult friend introduces me to their child and he uses my first name, I swear I can see the confusion in the child's eyes. Uncomfortable, as you say.

I see last names as helping set the tone for an appropriate and successful teacher/student relationship.

[noamnety]

36. It's one way, but not the only way.

When I was high school age, I was at a school where we called all the teachers by their first names.

One attitude puts more priority on authority/subordinate relationships, the other puts more priority on partnerships and mutual respect. I can see pros and cons in each approach.

[gaspee]

46. Supergifted?

Here in RI, the average kids are taking algebra I in 7th grade.

My problem with charters is that too many of them are for profit - and that is bad news.

[mzteris]

68. Not true - Charter public schools are NOT "for profit" -

sometimes they are run by "for-profit organizations" but that is not the same thing as a for-profit school. Here are some facts for ya:

Freestanding 3,581 77.5%
(parents, teachers, &/or other local individuals/organizations who have organized, developed, and run - these are non-profit.)

CMO 553 12.0%
(charter management organizations - also non-profit)

EMO 484 10.5%
(executive management organizations - these are the "for-profit" organizations) FYI - EMO's can and do manage traditional/conventional public schools . . . the "anti-charter people conveniently ignore that bit of information in their attempt to discredit charter public schools.)

Only TEN percent are "for-profit" - however - and this is REALLY important to understand:

"Contrary to urban legend, contracting to a for-profit education management company does not make a school for-profit. Here is why: Let’s say that the non-profit charity organization, the Red Cross, outsources its call center to a for-profit answering service. Such contract of services does not make the Red Cross a for-profit corporation. Nor does it make the answering service a stake owner of the Red Cross. All it means is that the answering service, although for profit, is a hired company that does business with the Red Cross, a non-profit organization.

The same goes for public schools that outsource to a management company. A non-profit public school that does business with a company which has a for-profit taxpaying profile does not change the 501 (c) 3 status of the school, nor does it make the for-profit business a share owner in the school’s assets. Which means that ex. a building owned by the school, is not the property of the outsourcing company.

[tonysam]

69. And they have NO business taking algebra at that young an age

Lots and lots of middle school kids are flunking math--BECAUSE what is being taught is inappropriate in terms of child development.

Lots and lots of kids are being labeled "math disabled" when it is lousy, inappropriate curriculum being taught in schools, in my view to make sure many, many kids never graduate from high school.

[mzteris]

70. my son started at 9 yo . . .

higher level math is not only appropriate for gifted children - it's a necessity!

You can't make a "blanket statement" about this. Every child is different and "one-size" does NOT fit all.

IMO - EVERY child deserves an Individualized education program.

[Jamastiene]

18. Effective teachers, who make learning a positive experience for students,

should be allowed to teach as they see fit. Learning can be fun if you allow it to be fun. Learning should be a life long experience, not by force, but by choice. If students are not allowed to enjoy the learning experience from an early age, it can cripple them throughout life and rob them of some really pleasant experiences.

I have met some people who were so turned off to learning that they bragged they had not read a book since they left school. It took time and effort, but I always tried my best to get them to read books on topics they already enjoy. So far, it has worked. They come away with a love for reading that they never had before. No child, or adult, should be robbed of that gift.

I am not a teacher, but I know effective teachers who make students WANT to learn should be allowed to continue as they see fit. I have been blessed with teachers, who have that ability and that freedom to teach. As cheesy as this may sound to some, those teachers are my heroes. They truly changed my life for the better.

[bread_and_roses]

19. It's more than sickening ...

I remember how shocked I was not that long ago to read about schools eliminating recess in the grade schools. What kind of craziness is that? Our children are already obese, already spending way too much time sitting, already under too much pressure too soon.

I am not a teacher and actually have none among my friends - I have to ask, where are our teachers' unions on some of this? I realize that like all unions they are in constant battles to at least not keep losing ground in wages and benefits, but surely the "dumbing down" of teaching via near-total regimentation of curricula that has gone on under our crazy "teach to the test" mentality is seriously detrimental to the status of teachers as professionals?

[tonysam]

24. The unions are in cahoots with the management

Only in education is this kind of back scratching allowed.

[maryf]

38. Especially near the top...

but I'm speechless there too...K&R

[bread_and_roses]

48. If you could give some examples or links that are illustrative of that "cahooting"

I'd be grateful. Again, I'm not familiar with the teachers unions - so would appreciate any links to articles, for instance, that elaborate on your statement.

[tonysam]

49. Try this site

NAPTA

It goes into great detail about how teachers' unions are completely ineffective in defending targeted teachers. Many blogs about education write extensively about how they sell teachers out.

My own personal experience, whereby the union's executive director, a witness at my termination hearing, took a district job working for the very person who spearheaded my termination; in other words, took a bribe, so she couldn't be called in as a witness because of "conflict of interest."

[bread_and_roses]

52. thank you - but I don't find individual complaints very useful

many there, scanning a search for "union." This is not to say that all/any/most such complaints are invalid - the problem is, one side of the story. I am looking more for analysis than anecdote.

[tonysam]

53. Well, the teachers' unions aren't worth SHIT

if they don't represent you. You pay HUNDREDS of dollars a YEAR expecting them to help you when you need it, but instead they cut deals to cover up for negligent or malicious administrators. This is why I say repeatedly principals and administrators have ironclad job security. It's almost impossible to get rid of them.

I am not going to sit here and allow somebody to say it is only "one side" nonsense. Do you think my principal was right in FIRING me in direct violation of the union contract, of state law, of federal FMLA, because an asshole in H.R. wanted me gone to save money? And then when the asshole and the district's general counsel found out I really WAS sick and the principal completely violated state law about progressive discipline, they decided to rig the process in order to defend her negligence by tampering with witnesses, committing perjury, and most likely forging documents. Do you think I am making THAT up? Do you have any clue how "due process" hearings work? Do you understand that in the states where arbitrators preside over hearings, that they are picked by the school board and supposedly the union (which is in bed with them)? That the hearings are held on school property? That the union's lawyers can deny you witnesses, that they can make sure you never present your side? Do you understand teachers almost NEVER win these fake hearings and they have to sue the district's ass anyway?

Do you think I am making it up about the union's executive director taking a fucking BRIBE in the name of a job working for the man who spearheaded my illegal firing? This director was a witness for me, as she had REPRESENTED me in two hearings, and H.R. knew that.

If you want to see how these hearings actually work, watch the 1939 classic, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," and watch the part where Jimmy Stewart is having to go through a hearing. Teacher "due process" hearings really ARE kangaroo courts like in the film; Capra only SLIGHTLY exaggerates the hearing for comic effect. But I was howling with laughter watching the sequence because it was almost exactly what I went through.

Meanwhile, this POS principal is still at the district without so much as a slap on her wrist. Because she forgot to put on her privacy settings for Facebook, I found posts on her "wall" bragging she was spending this winter break in Hawaii having all kinds of fun. Not a fucking care in the world, not any hint of a conscience that she destroyed my career because she didn't know what in the hell she was doing and because a crook who didn't have all the information told her to do it. If she had a conscience, she would have resigned from the district. Meanwhile, I had to hock my mom's ring, an heirloom, to a pawn shop so I would have enough money to pay for auto insurance on a 22-year-old car and to buy food while waiting for my EUI check to be put on my card, probably next Tuesday.

Read the various NYC blogs, research Detroit Public Schools, research D.C. schools, research L.A.'s schools, and you will find the unions aren't worth a crap representing ALL teachers but are selling them down the river.

THAT'S why there is relentless privatization of public schools. The unions aren't stopping it.

[tonysam]

54. Here's the clip from "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

with the kangaroo investigative hearing. It's about midway through the clip:

link

I howl with laughter at this because it is so much like what I went through. I didn't get up and walk out of the hearing, though. I didn't dare, for it would have been taken as a resignation and I would have forfeited unemployment compensation and suing the district.

[bread_and_roses]

55. I had - and have- no intent to dispute your account

and am sorry that I upset you. I don't believe that "the union" - any union - ALWAYS acts with justice toward its own workers - those who make up unions are human, and as prone to individual human frailty as humans in any other sphere. I have wondered myself "where are our unions" as I read about the various assaults on teachers professionalism and credibility from our elected officials, school administrators, and the public. However, as I thought I indicated in my post, I cannot simply read a lot of blog posts and come to a conclusion, or even be any more forward than I am now in understanding "what's going wrong." Blog posts ARE one side of a story. Some are no doubt word for word accurate. Some, no doubt, are not. I have no way to differentiate. Which is why I'd hoped for some sort of analysis, compilation, survey. Again, sorry the request angered and upset you; it was not in any way directed at your personal experience, which I would hardly presume to judge.

[proud2BlibKansan]

62. My union is wonderful

I wouldn't walk into my classroom every day if I didn't know they were there to back me up if I have any problems. Our local president is a former colleague and one of the best teachers I ever worked with. She gets it. She works 60+ hours a week and does an outstanding job.

I know you had a bad experience, tonysam, but slamming all teachers unions is just not fair. FYI, we have 3 different unions here in my state and one of them is pretty worthless.

[tonysam]

63. Until you get a bad administrator who scapegoats you into leaving a school

or one who fires you not knowing what in the hell she was doing because she was pressured will you really understand just how well unions "go to bat" for you.

They don't. They invariably cut deals with districts in order to save administrators' jobs. They want to survive politically first and foremost. You almost NEVER survive a termination hearing and must sue a school district anyway and have your case dragged out for as long as ten years since the taxpayers are footing the bill for school districts. Those dues of $600, $700 or more a year don't do squat for individual teachers, and they sure as hell aren't working for teachers as a group or else privatization would not be going on at breakneck speed.

Political survival is why even the most powerful unions in the big cities are increasingly weak. My case is NOT unique at all; this goes on in unions from closed-shop states to right-to-work states.

Teachers' unions are better than nothing but not much anymore. If they were worth a damn anymore, there would not be relentless privatization of public education. They would have fought tooth and nail against state "standards" and NCLB, but now it is almost too late.

It won't be long and revolving door teachers will be paid daycare wages.

[proud2BlibKansan]

64. My union is not like that, Tony

They have saved far more jobs than they have lost and have never once cut a deal to save an administrator's job. That is laughable.

Like I said, I know you had a bad experience but you are painting with a rather broad brush.

I have been active politically in my union for years. The problem we have is getting the members to wake up and pay attention. A union is only as strong as its weakest link. Too many teachers don't get involved until they need the union.

[truedelphi]

26. Oh but aren't they IMPROVING TEACHING? Well if they are,

Why is it that when I tutor fifteen year olds, they don't know any math tables; simply cannot add or subtract or multiply or divide (Unless offered a calculator.)

Cutting and pasting and drawing shapes and wires important areas of the brain together.

It is a key part of brain entraining needed for learning and thinking and reasoning!

For your "superiors" at this job of yours, I suggest that you buy a copy of "Drawing on the right side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. Let them have it for a week or two to read it. She explains better than anyone else what all this "Cutting and pasting" and drawing too really means in terms of IQ levels and ability to think and to be creative.

The sad thing about our culture is that it is the culture of bureaucracy. To be in a superior and managerial position, you have to have a Master's degree, and often by the time you get that piece of paper much of the creativity has been taken away from you. (Some people retain the creativity - despite the Advanced degree, but that is because they somehow got a decently creative mentor to help them.) And then, since your own brain is not a creative one, you cannot structure programs that allow for other people's brains to be creative.

[YvonneCa]

27. I'm not speechless...I'm angry. This teacher's story...

...is the same as mine, except for the grade level. She needs to be careful. She will find herself out of a job if she doesn't quietly comply.

[tonysam]

28. I believe the writer says she is going to retire.

She probably won't make any waves for that reason.

[YvonneCa]

50. Also like...

...me. :)

[Dinger]

30. Sad, But

You sound like a teacher I wish I'd have had in kindergarten.:)

[LWolf]

32. Ouch.

Does she also admonish you to "motivate" them to learn?

:grr:

[CoffeeCat]

33. My children are in 3rd and 4th grade...

...and I was astounded at what Kindergarten was like. I remember kindergarten. We got to play! I specifically
remember playing dress up and banging on pots and pans. We learned how to socialize, share and use our imaginations.
We even got to take a nap on our rugs that we brought from home.

Now, in kindergarten, if you aren't reading by the third month--there's a big problem. Your kid is a big problem.
All of the kindergarten teachers in our school are totally stressed out--and these are AMAZING, SWEET, teachers who
love children and care so much about their education. Each child must meet strict benchmarks and it's all put on
the teacher's head. If they don't--it's like the world is ending. Children that young are still piles of mush.
Some of them don't blossom until a little later. It's really ridiculous to have such high academic goals when
they are so little--barely out of diapers!!

It is all academics now. My kids had three recesses in kindergarten (1 20 min, 2 15 min)--now there is one short recess for
these kids. Forget nap/rest time...that's gone. It's all structured and all about learning.

Furthermore, state budget cuts have meant that all kindergarten teachers are without associates who help in the classroom.
So, it's one teacher to 27 kids--and parent volunteers if you are lucky.

I don't know much about No Child Left Behind--but I have a feeling that the rigid requirements are the reason for all of this.
Teachers are under so much pressure for kids to meet those benchmarks, so every grade demands more rigorous instruction.

It's stressing out kids. It's stressing out teachers.

Kudos to all of the lovely kindergarten teachers who are putting up with these crazy circumstances!

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. Kindergarten teachers are the best!

I saw a big change between the time my oldest and youngest were in kdg. I had saved the nap mat and was shocked that my youngest didn't need it because they didn't take naps anymore.

I will say that SOME of the changes in kdg are good. We had evolved into a graduated pre-school for our kindergarteners and our expectations were too low. I support all day kindergarten and think some academics are an important component. But we seem to have forgotten these babies are only 5 and might not be developmentally ready for complex academic challenges.

[tonysam]

45. In the private school where I taught

they had an "accelerated" curriculum, which was a big selling point to parents, whereby kindergarten children were taught to read at first-grade level. This encouraged parents with precocious kids to enroll in the school, but of course if the kids were merely normal in "I.Q." and didn't develop as quickly cognitively, they got behind. First grade reading and math were second-grade level, etc., so these kids got further behind. These are the kids who wind up getting special education services in public school when they should not be.

Now public schools are pulling this same shit, and I suspect for the same reasons, i.e., the standardized test scores looking better when the kids first go on testing, which is much later than the kids at this private school. Then the public school kids who don't do as well are tracked into special education and therefore stigmatized as being "stupid." The private school kids were tested in kindergarten at kindergarten, not first-grade, level, but their scores would be in the 90th-plus percentile. Another selling point for parents, though educators would never take the percentile scores seriously.

[adnelson60087]

47. Yep, this is the trendline in modern education

and it is a disaster. I see the same things in my teaching environment and it saddens and sickens me. Before too long, teaching will be so homogenous and bland, kids won't care for any subject. You watch.

[roody]

51. Do you remember when Kindergarten was only half a day?

[femmocrat]

56. This past year, our kindergartens cut art, music, and PE.

How crazy is that! I can hardly wait to see these children in first grade when they don't know how to cut or know their colors.

[tonysam]

57. The mind totally boggles

Little kids can't be little kids anymore. They are treated like robots.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

60. My mother was trained as a kindergarten teacher in the 1940s

Her certification was K-3, but she preferred the little ones.

Her teacher training started with a full year of half days of shadowing real teachers and writing up observations of the children. This was in addition to academic work.

The philosophy at the time was that kindergarten was not only for socialization and training in things like eye-hand coordination but also to give the children the cognitive skills needed for reading, such as recognizing shapes, putting pictures in sequences to make a coherent story, playing with sounds,numbers, music, and dancing, and learning about the real world, through things like field trips to a farm.

As an example of reading readiness, the teacher might show a picture of a dog, a cookie, a tree, and a door and ask the children which words began with the same sound. Or the teacher might show a picture and ask the kids to find all the circles in it. Or the teacher might show a series of pictures to practice the concepts of "more" and "fewer."

It wasn't just kids playing. It was all carefully and subtly structured. But it did not include any reading until the last month, when the children learned the alphabet and how to print their names.

It was considered worse to force a child to read too early than to delay a capable child's reading, and there may be something to that. In Scandinavia and Russia, children are not taught to read till age 7.

The part about taking the piano away is sad. I observed how my mom used the piano in kindergarten class. She not only used it to accompany singing but also had different musical signals. There was one chord that meant "I want your attention" and a tune that meant "Everybody get your mat and lie down for a nap."

[Jefferson23]

61. It appears the public schools want rote methods of learning, not methods

that include collaboration where children can experience and grow to be thinkers. I am glad my children are done with the public school system but I am very concerned for the next generation.

[stopschoolpaddling]

65. It's outrageous but this is just plain sick

My son started Kindergarten in August 09 and came home and begged me not to make him go back because his teacher was scaring him. Getting to the bottom of it, I learned that the teacher was screaming at the children and had brought a 2 foot wooden paddle to "the carpet" to show the class and explain what would happen to children who didn't behave. She then left the paddle on her desk in full view as a reminder.
Outraged, I confronted the principle about both the screaming and the paddle and she told me that she knew all about it and that she endorsed this teachers behavior and had given her the paddle. The principle said, "If she (the teacher) doesn't get control of her classroom we won't get our test scores." Well excuse me if I'm wrong but I think worrying about the test scores of Kindergartens in the second week of school is a little premature. The principle then smugly told me, "I've already paddled one child from that class." In the second week of school!!! I found out after we moved here that they had corporal punishment but I didn't think it would affect us much because my children have never been in trouble and I would never allow it and have the legal documents stating as much for the school to sign.
Needless to say, I promptly removed my children from the school and enrolled them in another but they paddle too and aren't much better than the last. I am a single mother living on a farm in the country and can't afford to move just now but everyday when I send my children off to school, I have to face myself that it is the worst parenting decision I have ever made.
Sick in Arkansas

[immoderate]

66. This is sad. That teacher sounds like a war criminal.

I don't think you are allowed to paddle POWs. :shrug:

Hey, welcome to DU!


--imm

[stopschoolpaddling]

67. Schools

Schools everywhere are working with guidelines that almost ensure the increased hostility and apathy of the human race. Some public schools are obviously better than others, but all of them are missing the mark in some way. I've decided to homeschool. Thanks for the welcome!

[Maat]

72. Make a small donation and you can join DU Groups, and we ...

have a Homeschooling Group here!

[stopschoolpaddling]

73. I'll consider it

if they pay me.

[Maat]

74. Well, if you feel like you need some support ...

here's my email:
[e-mail]

[alp227]

71. I'm glad I got to have Kindergarten during 1996-97

a much better time to be an American, generally. If I did now, I would've been worse at my age (right now I'm a college freshman) than how I am now. This is so messed up. Kids can be conditioned to follow the rules, albeit to a point. Maybe the "school reformers" in Washington need to read Aldous Huxley's Brave New World Revisited.