Q
I teach a preschool reading program. Many parents ask me, "Isn't that what kindergarten is for?" How do I respond to parents' accusations that I'm "over-preparing" their children for first grade?
A
I'm very disturbed about preschool programs that emphasize traditional academic learning that is more along the lines of kindergarten or first grade curricula. Indeed, many parents choose such academically-oriented preschools in the hopes that their kids will get a "leg up" on the kindergarten/first grade "competition."
Early childhood development experts maintain that preschools should be caring, stimulating, child-centered environments dedicated to the overall social and emotional growth of young children. Teaching reading to preschool kids isn't on their or my developmental priorities list, especially since all kids are hard-wired on an individualized basis to learn something as complex as reading.
Teachers and parents have created a demand for kindergartens to teach what first grades used to do and for preschools to become kindergartens. I deplore this shift. Read David Elkind's classic, The Hurried Child for an expanded, brilliant exploration of the unnatural "speeding up" of childhood.